The post Locating Motorcycle VIN Number first appeared on VinFreeCheck and is written by Jason Mason

Drivers Side Dashboard

This is usually the easiest way to locate the VIN on your car without unlocking the car at all.

Car vin number at bottom right windshield

Drivers Side Door

This requires a little more effort as you will need to unlock the car to do so. You can find the VIN on the side of the driver side door. The information is usually displayed on a sticker and a mounted plate. It may also contain additional infomration such as color/trim code, transmission code, model and production date.

Once you have located the information sticker or plate, please look for the VIN. It is usually located above the barcode. Here is an example for you.

Car Hood/Bonnet

Your VIN may also be located on the hood/bonnet. While you may search for it there, this is the least recommended way to find it. First, it requires you to pop the hood. The other issue is that it may be located at different places for different cars.

Summary

Overall, locating the VIN for your car is pretty straightforward. Just look at these locations and you should be able to find it.

• Driver side dashboard (easiest).
• Driver side door (easy).
• Car hood / bonnet (least preferred).

We hope that finding your car’s VIN will never be a mystery to you after reading this guide.

The post Locating Your Car’s VIN Number first appeared on VinFreeCheck and is written by Jason Mason

Knowing the VIN of a classic car is similar to knowing whether a painting is a Picasso or not. To art collectors, the authenticity of the painting is based on whether it was really by the painter they fancy. They cannot afford to have a replica—not only are they wasting money intended for the original—because the mistake also decreases their reputation among their circles. The same goes for classic or vintage car collectors. But it is hard to trace a car’s history when it is more than fifty years old. This is where knowing a car’s VIN is germane. Knowing a car’s VIN number, the history of the conveyance and ownership, care and maintenance and major modifications affect a car’s intrinsic value. For book collectors, the first ever publication of the book is where the book gets its value. The first printed edition is the most expensive. For car collectors, what makes a car more valuable than its original purchase price is that nobody produces that model anymore. The price even goes higher when the car is “limited edition,” only a few produced for those who ordered it or for the selected few who can afford it. Sometimes a car’s value could be worth more because it was owned by somebody prominent or famous or was part of a movie. For example, the James Bond Submarine Car was sold at auction for £550,000 or $1,000,000 in 2013.

Reasons to run a VIN check on Classic Car

1. It could be stolen. If you bought it in a private sale, as opposed to a public auction, the original owner might take action against you. You might be deprived of your car without being compensated for its value. You could even be mistaken for being a fence. You might end up spending more money on law suits than the value of the car, especially if we are talking about something as rare as a 1962 Ferrari.
2. The model might be wrong. Documenting cars from as old as fifty years is not easy, and resources could be scarce. You won’t even know the difference between a 1952 model from a 1953 one, or if it has been modified by body kits by its previous owner(s).
3. Condition. You don’t know if the hurricane Katrina swallowed the car and spewed it out again. Chances are it wasn’t, but it would be nice to know the history of the car, whether it was recovered from a flood or not. As we all know, cars submerged in water tend to have a lower value. The extent of the work done to restore a car might depreciate its value and might leave only a few parts original.

Summary

Researching about a VIN number of a classic car helps you gauge about how much money you are willing to spend on it depending on its condition and its authenticity. And you can sleep at night knowing you got the right model and you know its history. When you love a person, you don’t care about their past. But a classic car’s history is an entirely different thing. The right amount of money to be doled out for a classic car should be coupled with the right amount of vigilance in tracing a classic car’s history.

The post Classic Car VIN Search first appeared on VinFreeCheck and is written by Jason Mason

The Hornbook Rule

Hornbook rule: Always ask about a seller’s reason for selling. But there is a caveat: reasons for selling can be concocted—buying a new car, upgrading, or they need the money. These reasons might be false: there may be a problem with the engine, or the car participated in the most recent flood, or the car has been restored after being totaled. Nobody wants to get a totaled car.

Another way of saving money

Running a VIN check or otherwise known as a VHR (Vehicle History Report) can save you money and headaches in the future. Shelling out a few dollars can save you thousands once you get to know about your prospective car’s history. For those willing to pay less for a car that’s a little run down, even if a car has a lot of accident history, you may be able to bargain at a lower price. What’s more, for those who are into caring and maintenance of cars, you would know when to have it serviced. You would also know if the car is in good running condition just by obtaining a vehicle history report because some VIN decoding services include the car’s maintenance history.

The price is low, but why?

When the price is suspiciously low, chances are it might have been stolen. You don’t want anybody going after you and your car a few days after its purchase. Running a VIN check can also trace your car’s ownership history, or whether it was primarily bought from a dealership, or if it was part of a fleet of a company, or if it was a taxi at some point in its life. Knowing a car’s ownership and where it was located at different points in its lifetime would also let you know how much it was used. If it was in a city, you would know that it was probably used everyday going to and from work, so you can conclude that it was mainly utilized for city driving. If it was in sparsely populated states, or it moved from state to state, you could expect that it was either used sparingly or it has had its share of thousands miles of long drives.

Seller’s point of view

On the other side of the coin, if you are a seller, having a vehicle history report at hand can make your life easier. You could sell the car faster because you have proof of its history. If your prospective buyer finds your VIN check well, expect money to come your way.

The post Why Run a VIN Check? first appeared on VinFreeCheck and is written by Jason Mason

VinFreeCheck Salvage Database

To make sure that you are making an informed decision, you can also go to VINFreeCheck for a free assessment of your car’s background history, more particularly a salvage report. Millions of cars in America are reported as salvage and sellers often try to rebuild these cars to be sold again. VINFreeCheck helps protect buyers from unscrupulous sellers who try to pass off salvaged cars as cars in mint condition. VINFreeCheck’s database is updated on a daily basis. It can provide you a car’s damage images, the title, mileage or odometer reading, the loss type if the vehicle was involved in an accident or was previously damaged, primary and secondary damages (if any).

National Highway Transport Safety Administration and Safercar.gov

The NHTSA can provide information about recalls and salvage details. It should be considered mandatory to check this. Nobody wants to have a defective car. You can subscribe to the website’s notification system by signing up. Click on the tab “vehicles” and a drop down menu will make you choose the car’s year, make and model. Just click away and you will know if the car was the subject of a recall.

National Insurance Crime Bureau

Another way is to go to NICB’s website to check for theft and fraud records. If you are the adventurous type, maybe you wouldn’t mind having a car that was involved in a bank heist for a lower price. But that is not always the case. Checking the car’s history will let you know if the car was involved in a theft. You might be buying a car that is in the custody of a court, meaning, a car used in a crime which has to be under the court’s custody for evidence.

The post 3 Ways to Get a Free VIN Check first appeared on VinFreeCheck and is written by Jason Mason

Manufacturers have used VINs since 1954, although no standard format was ever adopted at the time. VINs would be found in several varieties based on who manufactured that vehicle. This changed in 1981 when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) mandated the standard 17-character VIN sequence that is used today.

Where is the Vehicle Identification Number?

The VIN can be found in several areas throughout the vehicle. Some of the probable locations include:

• The lower left corner of the dashboard, just in front of the steering wheel. This is a common area where the VIN is found.
• The front area of the engine block. Simply open the hood, and you will see it etched in front of the engine.
• Directly above the rear wheel.
• Within the driver-side doorjamb, usually underneath the side view mirror.
• At the driver-side doorpost, parallel to where the door latches.
• Underneath the spare tire.

VINs are also found in legal documents, such as the insurance card or policy, on the vehicle title and registration card/certificate, and body shop records, just to name a few. You can find detailed guides on locating your VIN based on your vehicle type here.

What Makes a VIN Unique?

The 17 characters of a VIN are not simply strung together from a random selection of numbers and letters. The standardized format it abides by includes various information that can identify various characteristics of the car in question.

We’ll briefly cover the structure of a VIN number.

• The first three characters represent the world manufacturer identifier (WMI) code. It contains information on the car’s country of origin, as well as its manufacturer.
• The fourth through ninth characters are the vehicle descriptor. They provide information on the car’s model, the engine type, and more. The ninth character is used as a check digit to screen invalid VIN numbers.
• The tenth through seventeenth characters is the vehicle identifier section. The tenth character is used as the model year identifier, while the eleventh character denotes which manufacturing plant the car was built. The remaining characters indicate the vehicle’s serial or production number.

How is a Vehicle Identification Number Useful?

Simply put, a VIN operates similarly to your Social Security Number. It represents a unique set of characters that point to your vehicle, including all attributes of its performance and usage history. As such, no two VIN numbers are alike.

Here are some benefits of having a VIN:

• Check a vehicle’s history report before making a purchase.
• Allows law enforcement agencies to locate a stolen vehicle or parts.
• Ensure that the Department of Motor Vehicles can track ownership of the car.
• Make sure you are getting the right vehicle parts and services.
• Be aware of any manufacturer’s recall for that particular model.
• Prevent car insurance fraud.

Why is the VIN Number Important?

Knowing your VIN number gives you significant protection when purchasing a used car. You’ll be able to spot potential red flags in a deal and save you a lot of legal and/or financial trouble. Feel free to use our VIN decoder to learn more about the car you’re interested in or even to find out any detail about your current vehicle.

The post What is a VIN Number? first appeared on VinFreeCheck and is written by Jason Mason

Stolen cars vs. Stolen VIN

A stolen car is different from a stolen VIN. It might be a little confusing since VIN and VIN checks are usually related to stolen cars and are performed to find out if a car was the subject of a theft and its history. A stolen VIN works like this: you have your vehicle in your possession along with its papers; a VIN thief duplicates the VIN of your car by registering it on another vehicle. The other vehicle is usually a stolen or totaled car, or an exported car or a restored car used in a different state.

The dangers of having your VIN stolen

The danger here is that a person in possession of your vehicle’s VIN can have duplicates made of your keys and register multiple vehicles with the same VIN. It is believed that VIN thieves usually acquire VIN at the point of import—they go to the port and check out vehicle dashboards and write them down. Another potential danger is when a VIN is duplicated and used for chattel mortgage purposes. This is especially worrisome if the cars are of the same makes and models. A lien may be created by the VIN thief over his car using your VIN. If there is a foreclosure against the VIN thief, your car might get involved. After all, VIN thefts are more of paperwork than the actual physical car. The original car’s description may be used by a VIN thief for the purpose of using it as a collateral for some loan or debt. If your car matches the description, it might be impounded depending on the issue in which your car’s VIN is involved. DMV in different states do not share databases so it is possible that a stolen VIN can be used on several different cars in several different states. There is even a possibility that even before an imported car has been released from customs its VIN has been copied and used by another, way before the original car is even registered. There is almost no way of checking it out especially if the stolen VIN is registered in a different state from the original car’s VIN.

Check before you buy

A helpful solution to avoiding VIN thefts would be to register the car immediately, especially when it has been imported. A VIN check can also be informative about a car’s history and provide you with details to help you check if the car you are about to buy has been involved in something fishy.

The post What is a Stolen VIN? first appeared on VinFreeCheck and is written by Jason Mason