Does Bank of America Give You a Free CARFAX When You Buy a Car?

No. Bank of America doesn't give car shoppers or borrowers a free CARFAX or AutoCheck report, at least nowhere on its auto loan pages as of October 16, 2026. The most it does is tell you to get one: its used-car buying article says to "check the vehicle's history with AutoCheck or CARFAX." Bank of America is only the lender. A dealer sells you the car, and BofA won't finance a private-party sale at all, so you get the report from the dealer or buy it yourself.

I read Bank of America's auto loans home page, auto loan FAQ, rates page, Shop and Finance page and two of its car-buying articles on Friday afternoon, October 16, Pacific time. Two gaps. The Shop button takes you to a Dealertrack-run site, Digital Car Shopping, and when I fetched it I got only the landing page, so I couldn't see whether any individual listing has a CARFAX link. I also didn't call Bank of America. A loan officer might mention something the website doesn't, but I can't confirm that.

Who sells the car, and where BofA fits

The auto loan FAQ says Bank of America offers "dealer purchase financing for new or used vehicles." It finances cars from franchised dealers, EV makers that sell direct such as Tesla and Rivian, and many used-only dealers like CarMax, Enterprise Car Sales and Carvana. It also says plainly that it doesn't finance purchases from private parties or individual sellers. (A note on the main loan page still mentions applying for a "private party loan," but the FAQ is the clearer statement.) If you're buying from someone on Facebook Marketplace, our post on CARFAX for private-party sales is the one to read.

The Shop and Finance page says Dealertrack and the dealers listed on its site are "responsible for all content, products, and services listed." The main loan page says you can search over 1 million vehicles at select Bank of America authorized dealers. When I checked, the shopping page also said California dealer inventory was temporarily unavailable.

The loan rules a history report helps you check

The FAQ lists vehicles Bank of America won't finance. Among them:

• cars older than 10 calendar years, or with 125,000 miles or more
• cars worth less than $6,000, based on a used-value guide such as J.D. Power
• salvaged or branded-title vehicles
• gray market or lemon law vehicles
• vehicles used for commercial or business purposes

The minimum loan is $7,500, or $8,000 in Minnesota. Almost every item on that list is something a history report can bring up. CARFAX's report page lists last reported mileage, odometer rollback, flood or lemon titles, and type of use, such as rental, commercial or police. If a car looks eligible on the dealer's paperwork but its past says otherwise, you're the one stuck with a loan on a car that should never have qualified. Our post on lenders and clean CARFAX requirements on branded titles explains how that tends to go.

What Bank of America does offer

The perks are all on the loan side. BofA Rewards members get a rate discount of 0.10% (Member), 0.25% (Preferred Plus), 0.35% (Preferred Honors) or 0.50% (Premier). Digital Car Shopping's disclosures put the tier balance minimums at $0, $30,000, $100,000 and $1,000,000. It also says the discount doesn't apply to applications that come through a dealership. The FAQ says applying is free, BofA charges no prepayment penalty, and an approval is good for 30 calendar days. This week the site was also running a limited-time 0.25% rate reduction for applications submitted between October 8 and October 19, 2026, so treat it as expired if you are reading this after that date. I'm not quoting an APR. The rate figures load by script and only showed up as placeholders in my fetch, and your rate depends on your credit anyway.

How BofA compares with other lenders

Bank of America looks a lot like Chase. Our Chase Auto post also found a dealer-only lender with no free report and similar age and mileage limits. Our PenFed post found no free report either. Capital One is a bit different: our Capital One Auto Navigator post found summary history data on listings and CARFAX links that send you to carfax.com, but still no free report from the bank itself.

Getting the report yourself

Start by asking the dealer for its CARFAX or AutoCheck on that exact VIN, and read our post on whether a dealer's free AutoCheck is enough. Look up title brands free on NMVTIS, and check that the VIN on the dash and door matches the paperwork. Be careful with a PDF report someone emails you. It's easy to edit, and we've seen it done. We're a licensed CARFAX and AutoCheck reseller and aren't affiliated with CARFAX, AutoCheck, Experian or Bank of America. In October 2026, one report through us costs about $5.50 without an account or $4.50 with a membership, and both brands together run about $6.75. Buying direct is usually $39.99 to $44.99. Use the price you see at checkout.

Sources

• Bank of America: auto loan FAQ
• Bank of America: Shop and Finance
• Bank of America: buying a new or used car
• Digital Car Shopping (Dealertrack): BofA Rewards disclosures, connections.digitalcarshopping.com
• CARFAX: vehicle history reports
• NMVTIS (U.S. DOJ)