Before buying a used car, a free VIN check is essential to uncover its history.
We’ll show you how to obtain a vehicle history report at no cost, ensuring you make an informed purchase.
Best Websites Offering a Free VIN Check
VinAudit
VinAudit offers free features such as market value checks and ownership cost estimates. These tools help users determine a vehicle’s current market value and estimate ownership costs over five years, providing valuable insights for automotive enthusiasts and businesses.
VinAudit Summary
- Affordable pricing a single report – $9.99
- Lifetime access to purchased reports
- Top-notch customer service
- Lots of free tools and resources
EpicVIN
EpicVIN is a leading provider of free VIN check that offers a comprehensive view of a vehicle’s past. Its platform is powered by a vast database of information from various sources, including the DMV, insurance companies, and auctions. This information is compiled into a detailed report that includes vital information about a vehicle’s history, such as accident reports, title information, ownership history, and more.
Reports are highly reliable and accurate, enabling car buyers and sellers to make informed decisions about the vehicles they consider purchasing or selling. The platform’s user-friendly interface makes it easy for users to access and understand the information in their reports.
Whether you’re a private buyer or a dealership, EpicVIN’s reports can help you make informed decisions about the vehicles you’re considering. With EpicVIN, you can have peace of mind knowing that you have access to all the essential information about a vehicle’s past.
EpicVIN Summary
- Easy to request reports
- Affordable pricing starting at $14.99
- Includes most relevant information
- Offers free services
ClearVin
ClearVin is a great option for those looking for affordable and comprehensive vehicle reports. The reports include information that other services don’t provide, such as lien and impound history, auction sales information, and Window Sticker Lookup. ClearVin is also a good choice for title processors, towing companies, and automotive dealers.
The price of a ClearVin report is $14.99 for a single report, $7.33 for a 3-pack, and $5.80 for a 5-pack. You can also get a free sample report to see if the data is what you’re looking for.
ClearVin Summary
- Affordable pricing
- Report contains car photos
- Free tools-recalls lookup and VIN decoder
- Has a 100% money-back guarantee
Bumper
Bumper offers a detailed vehicle report containing the car’s history, title, and accident reports. This can be especially helpful if you’re selling your car, as having this information can help you get the best price for it.
While a VIN report from Bumper is technically not free, it offers a 7-day trial for $1, allowing you to get a report for just $1. If you want to extend your membership, a one-month membership, which includes 50 reports, will cost you $19.99.
Bumper’s comprehensive reports can provide the information you need to make a sound decision when buying or selling a car.
Bumper Summary
- Check your car’s value with 99% certainty
- A single report or monthly membership
- Easy-to-use mobile app
- Rewards and promos for members
NICB
The NICB (National Insurance Crime Bureau) is among the best places to obtain a free VIN check. This platform is straightforward to use and can help you check a vehicle’s history.
When you enter a VIN and agree to the terms, you’ll need to enter a verification code before you’ll see the results of your VIN search.
This record details the vehicle’s theft and total loss records. It will show if the car was stolen at some point in its history or damaged by an accident, flood or fire.
The site provides a Free VIN check tool that will inform you if the vehicle you’re searching for has been:
- Salvaged
- Reported as stolen or lost
- Proclaimed a total loss after an accident
You can utilize the following easy steps to get your report:
- Head to the website’s page
- Under the “Look Up a VIN” search box, type in your Vehicles VIN
- Accept the site’s terms and conditions by clicking on the user’s check box
- Verify that you’re not a robot
- Lastly, click on the search VIN to start the search process
The National Insurance Crime Bureau summary
- The website limits the searches to five in a day per IP address
- Provides a free VIN check
Vehicle History
Vehicle History is a good option for a more detailed free vehicle history report. This site offers far more information about the vehicle according to its VIN. This includes:
- Selling history
- Any current recall information
- Detail list of manufacturer warranties expiration
- Price predictions for the best time to purchase the particular make and model
- Fuel economy
- Price analysis for costs to own.
Once you enter the VIN into the Vehicle History site, click “Research” to view the report for your vehicle.
Its reports are free, well-structured, informative and detailed—it doesn’t matter if you want to buy a vehicle or just learn more about it. As a result, you can leverage this information to make a wise decision that can save you about $39.99 per report.
Some of the details in the free report include:
- Multiple owner histories
- Damages from different environmental issues such as impacts, floods and fires
- Service History
- Odometer readings
- Gas mileage
Researching a vehicle using the site is pretty straightforward.
You simply:
- Pop in a valid VIN within the free preview dialogue box
- Then, you can obtain a full VIN report for free.
VehicleHistory.com Pros
- Provides a full free car report by just inputting its VIN
- Offers accurate reports enabling responsible car selling or purchasing decisions
- The website is free to use
- It has a friendly user interface
- Guarantees no spamming
- It doesn’t require any login information
VehicleHistory.com Cons
- It does not provide buyback protection
- Not available on Messenger or Facebook
VehicleHistory.com Summary
- Provides a free thorough report
- Offers a limited search per day
- Well-known for its customer service satisfaction
ISeeCars
iSeeCars is another site offering more than a free vehicle history report. This site uses 200 data points to generate a comprehensive free car report. This includes:
- Price history
- Depreciation projections
- Price analysis
- The best times to buy or sell.
The site is easy to use. To access it, enter the VIN at the top of the page and click the “Analyze” button.
An iSeeCars VIN report provides you with the following details:
- Accident history
- Price Analysis
- Estimated Market value
- Projected depreciation
- A Free theft check
- A Free recall check
- A price vs. mileage graph
On top of that, you can obtain “the best times to buy and sell reports” if you accumulate 200 data points.
To obtain your completely free VIN check from the site, you only need to:
- Type your VIN in the search box provided at the top of the page
- And click on the search button.
Alternatively, you can use the iSeeCars VIN reports mobile app to get a free VIN check online report by scanning your vehicle’s VIN.
Other information you can get from the site includes:
- The fastest-selling used and new cars from the previous month
- The best cars to sell
- The most popular used electric vehicles by state
- Worst Cars to purchase currently as used car prices continue to increase, etc.
iSeeCars Pros
- The site puts together a comprehensive list of about 75 percent of all the used cars in the US
- Each of its listings is scored, analyzed and ranked with dealership and pricing information
- Allows you to check out a vehicle based on different data points and specs, such as legroom, automatic transmission or manual, and power to weight ratio, etc.
iSeeCars Cons
- Flood-damaged vehicles are not explicitly detailed
iSeeCars summary
- Allows 5 searches per month
- Aggregates car listings from different seller websites
What is a VIN?
A VIN is a 17-digit unique code assigned to each new vehicle sold in the US. This system began in the 1950s and allows you to decode when and where the car was manufactured, along with information about the engine size, safety equipment and other details.
A VIN is a unique code assigned to each new vehicle
A VIN can also indicate the vehicle’s history and life events like a person’s Social Security number. It can indicate past collisions or damage, if it has been stolen or if any recalls need attention. You can also discover previous registrations for the vehicle. So, you can assess whether it has spent time where there may have been regular exposure to road salt and, therefore, potential corrosion damage.
Why Should I Check the VIN Number When Buying a Car?
When planning to buy a car, running a free VIN check is crucial to understanding the vehicle’s history. A free VIN check DMV report will help you verify the vehicle’s basic history, including previous claims or accidents, and confirm that the car is legally available for purchase and roadworthy.
While reputable dealerships often provide a VIN report, buying a comprehensive one is generally a good idea when purchasing from a private seller or if the dealership doesn’t offer one. These inexpensive reports can give you confidence in the car’s legitimacy and condition. A comprehensive report can provide information about recalls, servicing, repairs, and an overall condition evaluation, ensuring you pay a fair price.
However, for brand-new cars, a basic free VIN check is usually adequate since there won’t be any accident or ownership records to review. Even when using a car-buying platform, it’s still wise to thoroughly investigate the vehicle’s history.
