Vehicle History Check

Vehicle History Check Vehicle History Check is also called VIN number check or Vehicle History Report. It helps you find out what happened to the vehicle in the past. In order to run vehicle history check you need the VIN number, a unique 17-character letter-and-digit code that identifies a vehicle from all other vehicles. VIN number remains the same during the whole vehicle's life and is in most cases stamped on irreplaceable parts of the vehicle, like frame.

When Should I Do Vehicle History Check?

Vehicle history check should be at the beginning of pre-sale vehicle check That helps save much time and effort because in most cases the cost of traveling to see the vehicle is much more than the few bucks spent on the report, let alone the pre-sale inspection by an independent mechanic. And the car turns out to be rather a metal junk box that a 4-wheeled friend.

What Does Vehicle History Check Include?

Vehicle history check actually means getting a vehicle history report which includes all the information reported of a certain VIN number to authorities and special VIN data agencies. Vehicle history reports include the following essential data:

  • Vehicle Title check (Salvage, Clean, Water Damage, Rebuilt, etc)
  • Vehicle Ownership check (the number of owners)
  • Vehicle Registration check (In the narrow sense means states the vehicle was registered in. In combination with Title Check may help discover "title washing" scam. In the broad sense, this is the same as Vehicle History Check.)
  • Odometer check (intermediate odometer reading reports, odometer rollback or exceeded limits problems)
  • Airbag deployment check (prevents airbag scam, essential for your safety if the car was in an accident)
  • Accident check (major or minor accident, type of damage)
  • Vehicle Use check (police, taxi, driver education, rent, crash test and other use)
  • Lien/Loan check (if lien or loan is reported make sure it is fully paid off)
  • Theft check (or stolen vehicle check) the vehicle you are going to buy could be stolen)
  • State inspection records (e.g., emission inspection)
  • Lemon check (shows if the vehicle was deemed a manufacturer buyback because of a serious irreparable defect)
  • Water, fire, hail or other major damage check (which results in assigning a salvage (junk) title to a vehicle.
  • Vehicle maintenance records (lube or oil change, etc)
  • Registration in problem areas (e.g., storm area registration check)

Does It Take Long to Do Vehicle History Check?

No, vehicle history check can be done online and in most cases it takes just a few minutes. You can start with free vehicle history check to see the basic info about the vehicle and how may records were reported.

Basic Checks

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