CENTREVILLE, Va. - Carfax has been celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2014, and before turning the corner into the new year, we took a look at the company’s first three decades and where it is headed from here, reported AutoRemarketing.

On its website, the company’s mission from the onset was clear: “to be the leading source of vehicle history information for buyers and sellers of used cars.”

These days, it has millions of monthly visitors and pulls data from 92,000 sources that include everything from state motor vehicle departments and auctions to police departments and rental agencies, just to name a few.

And as Carfax would share with Auto Remarketing, the company spent its first three decades honing in on vehicle history, and is now putting a combined focused on used-car listings with vehicle history.

In essence, it boils down to building confidence, something Carfax intends to continue fostering with its online listings.

“Used-car shoppers need lots of questions answered before they feel confident about buying a used car, especially when they’re online. The most successful dealers work to answer all the basics, including questions about a vehicle’s history. For decades, Carfax has been helping dealers build consumer confidence on the lot and wherever dealers list their inventory for sale online,” said Bill Eager, vice president, dealer business unit at Carfax.

“Earlier this year, we launched Carfax Used Car Listings, a trusted marketplace that helps Carfax Advantage Dealers immediately build confidence with online shoppers without ads or gimmicks. It also connects them with millions of in-market shoppers — another result of working together with our dealers for 30 years building a brand people trust,” he continued. “We’ll continue working to find additional ways to support our dealers and help them build confidence with potential buyers.”

Dealers, of course, have been a big part of the company’s efforts thus far, with vehicle history being an integral key to the car-buying process.

As Alex Hafer puts it, there are two things that consumers want to know before they buy a car.

“Am I buying a good car, and am I getting a fair price?” said Hafer, who is the general manager at Koons Lexus of Wilmington (Del.). “With Carfax, it’s not a guarantee that the car hasn’t been in an accident, but it does give you peace-of-mind and tells you the vehicle history.

“It’s just more pieces of data that will make you feel more confident you’re making a good decision to buy a car,” he continued.

Hafer later added, “The customer feels that they’re empowered today because of all the information, and Carfax just gives them even more information.”

In today’s car-buying environment, the savvy dealers are the ones providing as much information as possible to consumers to help them make the decision, Hafer said. And Carfax is one of those tools that helps in the process.

But it has also provided aid on the wholesale side of the market.