Are you looking forward to purchasing a used car? Are you afraid that the car dealer will give you an accidental car? Are you afraid he is going to hide essential details about the past of the car from you? Do you find it difficult to trust a car dealership? VIN can help you get a reliable history sheet of the car so that you can make a sensible decision while purchasing your next car. Don’t know what VIN is and how it can help you? This article will guide you through the entire concept of VIN, where to find it on a car and what are the best websites that allow you to access meaningful information from the 12-digit alpha-numeric code.
VIN stands for vehicle identification number that is inscribed on every vehicle that is legally produced around the world. It contains 12 characters and each character represents some unique identification factor of that particular vehicle. Thus, the 12-digit code becomes the most reliable source of identification for a vehicle which can be used to access some crucial information about it.
The VIN tells you a lot of information about the car. Here’s a list of all information it holds:
- Where the vehicle was built
- Name of the manufacturer
- Portrait of the vehicle. Example: sedan
- Engine type and capacity
- Model year
- Plant at which the car was assembled
- Serial number/chassis number
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VINCheckFree
Not much can be determined about a vehicle from 12 alpha-numeric characters therefore one might need an online platform, essentially a website that holds a huge database of vehicles and their VIN so that you can check your VIN against a list and extract meaningful information that will help you in making a well-informed purchase.
VINCheckFree is one of the best platforms available on the internet that lets you conduct a free VIN check. VINCheckFree has a visually appealing homepage that carries a breezy pastel blue theme with slight hints of white and grey. To use a free service on the internet can only mean one thing in general and that is a boatload of advertisements cluttered in a messy manner all over the website so much so that it’s a hassle to navigate through ads and get the actual service. Luckily, that’s not the case with VINCheckFree. The homepage is ad-free and you can see the big white VIN search dialog box right in the middle of your screen. As we scroll down, we get to see a diagram explaining how the platform works, frequently asked questions, and a breakdown of VIN showing what each character stands for.
What information is included in the VINCheckFree report?
VINCheckFree not only provides you with the information that VIN carries but also supports you in conducting a vehicle condition search with your license plate. By visiting VINCheckFree, you can conduct a free license plate or VIN check which shows you the additional information that can be even more helpful than the specifications of the vehicle provided by its manufacturer. You will get pretty much all the information that you need while making a purchase. The report includes:
- Vehicle specification: The foremost part of the report shows all the officially registered information that the VIN itself carries like the chassis number, year of production, country of origin, and so on.
- Accidental or salvage records: The second part tells you whether the vehicle was reported as stolen or was involved in an accident. This helps you steer away from cars with a concerning past. It is highly recommended to choose a vehicle with zero salvage or accidental records.
- Safety evaluations: The next part of the report 0is added keeping in my the security of the driver. It tells you the safety rating the vehicle was manufactured with and the impact any accidents have on it. It also tells you how the vehicle performed under various safety tests (if any were conducted).
- Market value: The reports also include the last price at which the vehicle was sold and the last price at which it was listed. It tells you how many owners the vehicle has had in the past. This gives a good estimate of the vehicle’s performance.
VINCheckFree is a tool to access all the VIN databases of various car manufacturers at the same time. This means that you can look up a VIN without knowing anything else about the vehicle like its model name or even brand. All the information that VINCheckFree displays is available in the public domain.
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How to Check VIN for Free via VINCheckFree?
The vehicle Identification Number of any vehicle is a 12-digit alpha-numeric code generally found on the left corner of the dashboard behind the steering wheel. It can sometimes also be found under the hood, behind the engine, and ascribed on the chassis of the vehicle. Many car dealers will try to tell you that the VIN is the same as the chassis number which can also be found on the registration certificate but in reality, the chassis number is a part of the VIN while the VIN itself consists of the chassis number and some more information.
Once you have the VIN of the car you want to purchase, go to the VINCheckFree website and you will find the VIN search dialog box colored in white at the center. Simply enter or paste the concerned VIN and click the search button. It generally takes a few seconds to go through all the databases and display your results.
It provides you with all the photos of the vehicle that are available. All the necessary information is presented in form of a table. This information includes the model year, and brand. Model name, engine type, and capacity. Moreover, VINCheckFree provides an additional table of information collected from public sources like social media and car listings. It tells you the last recorded odometer reading, last price tag, accidental status, engine rating, and sales record.
VINCheckFree has a database of over 200 million vehicles from around the world which is more than what a lot of paid services offer. This makes it a highly recommended platform for VIN lookups.
Pros
- Visually appealing website
- Ad-free homepage
- 200 million records
- Easy-to-use interface
- Additional information
Cons
- Redirects to a paid website for a detailed report
Other recommended websites to search for a VIN include:
- Ford VIN decoder – highly recommended for vehicles (especially pickup trucks) manufactured by Ford.
- VINPIT – use this if you want to search VIN categorically. For example VIN lookup by state or by brand.
- VINfreecheck – get detailed reports at an affordable price.
- NICB – Best for looking up criminal records related to the vehicle
Conclusion
Conclusively, running a VIN check before dealing with any unknown vehicle is important. It helps you to identify the vehicle and also gives a quick insight into the vehicle’s health and past. A VIN check can save you from ending up with a car that was reported stolen. However, avoid malicious websites while trying to decode your VIN online. Instead, use one of the above-mentioned VIN check tools.