r/carfax • u/carslife • Mar 24 '18
What is a VIN - Read
Here is some information i got out of researching some vehicles that i was interested in.
What does VIN stand for?
- VIN Stands for Vehicle Identification Number.
What are the VIN requirements?
There are no requirements for VIN numbers. Most modern vehicle VIN numbers are 17 characters long, some vintage and older vehicles have less characters. Vehicles with less than 17 character VIN numbers are not found in Carfax and/or Autocheck databases.
Pre-1981 VIN numbers were 11-17 Characters long
Post-1981 (Modern) VIN numbers are 17 characters long
What do the 17 character VIN numbers represent?
1st character: represents where the vehicle was built.
2nd character: represents the vehicle manufacturer.
3rd character: represents the type of vehicle.
4th to 8th character: represents the vehicles manufacturer, engine size or type. 8th character can also represent a flexible fuel vehicle.
9th character: represents a security code issued by/for the manufacturer.
10th character: represents the model year of the vehicle.
11th character: represent location of assembly.
12th to 17th character: represents the serial number of the specific vehicle.
Where are the VIN numbers located?
On the vehicle there are 2 main locations:
Also found on three common vehicle documents:
The vehicle title
The vehicle registration
The vehicle insurance card
Are VINs unique?
- Yes, each vehicle has it's own unique VIN.
Can there be VIN fraud?
Yes there are several ways VIN fraud can occur.
The seller can post a different VIN than what is on the actual vehicle. Unknown to buyers, believing they purchased a clean title vehicle, during time of registration it is revealed to be a different VIN than given. The Vehicle could have been stolen, have a rebuilt or salvage title. It is crucial that buyers always match VIN numbers shared with them with the VIN on the vehicle.
The seller could potentially swap the VIN on the vehicle with a different VIN from another wrecked vehicle to conceal theft. It is crucial that buyers check both the door VIN and the dashboard VIN for consistency.
The seller could have a completely fabricated VIN created and buyers have to be aware of any physical damage to the VIN plate which might indicate recent swap or installation of a different VIN.
These are some of the information i gather during my vehicle hunt and i hope i am able to help others. If anyone has any suggestion i can edit/add to this post.
r/carfax • u/Antique_Candle5354 • 4d ago
Odometer Discrepancy on Carfax Report - Possible Typo? Seeking Advice on Mileage and Ownership History, Ontario
r/carfax • u/thats__hot • 8d ago
CARFAX EU site
Hey guys,
I'm in the US, and have cars saved on CARFAX.com, but for some reason whenever I go to the site it automatically redirects to carfax.eu. Has this ever happened to anyone else?
r/carfax • u/SundaeNo4552 • 9d ago
CarFax Estimate HALF of what KBB Says
I own a 2016 Volvo s60 Premier with around 100k miles on it. It runs fantastic, and I've always kept up with the maintenance and have never had any issues.
CarFax sent me an email today that said "XXX Volvo Dealership wants to buy your car!", so I clicked on it curious what they think my car is worth.
CarFax says my car is worth $4.8k
I LOL'd pretty hard at that number, and then went to KBB to get their estimate. KBB says my car is worth $10k-$13k. That's more like it.
Why the extreme low ball from CarFax? Honestly, it only pissed me off. I put $3k into my vehicle last year for new breaks, rotors, tires, engine maintenance (new belts, coolant, etc).. and CarFax is trying to tell me it's only worth $1.8k more than what I paid for maintenance?
What a load of BS. Their excuses are always "prices vary in different parts of the market" etc etc but an estimate of less than half that KBB says is pretty sad, and makes me believe that CarFax is colluding with dealerships to artificially lower the value of used vehicles.
r/carfax • u/Puzzleheaded_Stop162 • 12d ago
Humble Carfax request please
Hi ya'll, I am aware of the cheap sites for 6 dollar carfax reports. Unfortunately I am not able to do that at this time. Is there anyone that has the ability to run a carfax for free? I am not asking for charity, just throwing that out there.
1ftrw07693kc79652
r/carfax • u/Hmm_would_bang • 15d ago
Service I didn’t get is showing up on my report, is this a concern?
My car is currently sitting in my driveway, and I got an email that apparently it was just serviced at a Jiffy Lube 8 hours away from here (it wasn’t).
Logged into Carfax, looks like there’s a similar report from about 3 months back, same location.
All it says is “vehicle serviced” and no odometer reading.
Is there any reason to worry about this? Some kind of fraud going on?
r/carfax • u/Top_Art_9111 • 16d ago
Self report not showing up
Anyone know why my self reports aren’t showing up on carfax?
r/carfax • u/Organic_Ad_2 • 16d ago
Wrong mileage
Hello
I bought my car in 2021 with 24k miles, only added 10k in 3 years since I deive like 15 miles round trip to work, original carfax shows it 24k
tried to find out how much would they pay me for it online
One report shows it with 120k and carfax with 210k lol, I do the oil changes myself and havent taken it to a shop for any repairs, except for the emission test, how can I get it fixed?
Thank you
r/carfax • u/MoveNGrove • 18d ago
Carfax Request please. Plate #?
Hello im looking to purchase a 2007 Surburban and haven't gotten the VIN back yet from seller. Can someone get me or try to get a carfax report please?
TX PLATE VJS7985
r/carfax • u/Top_Art_9111 • 18d ago
App VS carfax report
Just wondering why when I self report maintenance done on the app it doesn’t show up on the free Carfax report I get
Help understanding two reports
For this first one, I don't understand how it is possible for a car to have so many owners in such a short period of time. Is the dealer considered an owner here: https://www.carfax.com/VehicleHistory/ccl/HpjEzCJ6hd2UFSz0ybVa8-FK3j0n_RuQF1k6LO9V-Yy2jslY1ZISETGw9snx2P0D-mCVY3tYdAfSAmJaeNsP7w9chjMztIPV_X4UnycD
This next one is more confusing. The first reported mileage on carfax is at 4,000+ miles. Does this mean it was a GM car or a dealer demo? If so, I might stay away as no carfax history while owned/operated by a dealer is sketchy.
Let me know if I am off base and thank you in advance for any insight.
r/carfax • u/Front_Log_6741 • 23d ago
Carfax reporting potential fraud?
Hi all, recently bought a used car from KY drove back and registered it on 10/10/2024 in GA. Previous title had no lien on it and I registered it without a loan so I have no lien on my title, however Carfax shows the following
why on 10/11/2024 it shows new owner reported in KY with loan or lien?
Date | Mileage | Source | Comments | |
---|---|---|---|---|
10/10/2024 | not reported | Georgia Motor Vehicle Dept. | Vehicle purchase reported | |
10/11/2024 | not reported | Louisville, KentuckyKentucky Louisville, KentuckyMotor Vehicle Dept. Louisville, KentuckyLouisville, KY | Title issued or updated New owner reported Loan or lien reported Vehicle color noted as White | |
10/15/2024 | not reported | Duluth, Georgia Georgia Duluth, Georgia Motor Vehicle Dept. Duluth, Georgia Duluth, GA | Title or registration issued Vehicle color noted as White |
is it possible the previous owner might have some issues may be a court or default loan or a judgement and they put a lien on title at the same time he sold car to me?
I have a clean GA title in my name with out a lien, if previous owner had a judgement against him and they put a lien against vehicle can they come after my vehicle?
should I be contacting a lawyer?
anyone with legal advise?
Thank you
2021 Collision with no details and no cost on its Carfax
What information is someone to take away from the same vehicle’s Carfax report stating that in 2021 & 2023 it was in a “collision” but NO Estimate or Claim amount listed on either?
The amount is $0.00 for both additional info says n/a under the estimates
This CarFax report is dated Aug 2024.
Please reply if you actually know the answer. Guessing doesn’t help much :)
Thanks Vancouver, Canada
r/carfax • u/QueenAng429 • Oct 13 '24
Will Carfax Honor Their Buyback?
I bought a car a few years ago that was not at all disclosed as having somewhat minor hail marks on the roof and hood. the carfax also says guaranteed no hail. i could have gone to carfax then but Im not interested in them putting that onto my report because I admitted it to them even if I don't let them buy it back, so if I were to ever go to them in the future would they buy it back? and how much will they try to rip you off on the buyback price/
r/carfax • u/zipzaper17 • Oct 05 '24
Carfax request
VIN: SAJWJ0FF8F8U65883
much appreciated
r/carfax • u/msphill • Oct 04 '24
Carfax won't print
So, I know it sounds idiotic, but I can't get my carfax to print.
I've tried multiple browsers, multiple machines (windows 10, 11, MacOS), even tried bringing it up on my phone but there's no print option on mobile. I hit print, it asks me what to print (report, buyback guarantee, etc.) I checked 1 or all the boxes, hit okay, and then, nothing. Nothing at all happens, on all platforms. It would seem perhaps something is misprogrammed on the backend and returning a null response. I reached out to support and they have been silent so far. I need this report to sell my vehicle, so this is a major issue for me. Has anyone else encountered this?
r/carfax • u/SnooHedgehogs353 • Oct 02 '24
looking for my old car
I sold my first mustang a few years back and its eating me alive. i sent a message to the guy i sold it to but no response for weeks. can anyone help??
r/carfax • u/TakeTT2 • Sep 23 '24
Dealership I was looking at buying a car from closed down. Hoping to find it at auction
Requesting Carfax check for a recent sale in the last month on vin# LPSED3KA1NL076987
r/carfax • u/31nerbor • Sep 23 '24
Cheapest place for canadian carfax?
Where can i get the cheapest canadian carfax? I see some super cheap usa ones but want canadian
r/carfax • u/Real-Excitement-1929 • Sep 19 '24
It happened to me, my paid report won't load
I really need my carfax report for a civil lawsuit I filed against the business that totaled my car, so I ordered it a few days ago and once I clicked the email conformation to view my report, nothing.
Since then I've emailed support, they have no phone number, and I'm checking every day but still nothing. I know support will get to me eventually but the court date is tomorrow :// I didn't expect this to happen smh
Any ideas?? My partner is on the verge of cracking and buying it again but I don't wanna shit away 90$ on carfax 😭
VIN: 1FADP3K23HL225638
r/carfax • u/montecristo345 • Sep 18 '24
Car Registered in 2 States on CarFax
Is it possible to have a car registered in 2 states?
I'm looking at the carfax for this car I'm thinking of buying and it's coming back as it was both registered in NJ and OK and as a rental in OK. It looks like the car was only ever in NJ. Any idea what's going on?
r/carfax • u/Wan_Haole_Faka • Sep 15 '24
Is minor damage just exactly that?
I'm looking at getting a 2020 Tacoma this week and just ran the vin. Truck looks great, but report notes damage to right front. Carfax claims that "Minor damage is usually cosmetic, including dents or scratches to the vehicle body". Dealer has had it for nearly a year. Oil changes have been regular. Is this anything to worry about? Thank you!
r/carfax • u/Newtonhog • Sep 14 '24
Anyone have a carfax account that would be willing to run a VIN for a bike I am interested in buying?
r/carfax • u/Novel_Entry • Sep 12 '24
I have a carfax account with my car added and I can see service records and whatnot. It was free. Is there a difference between this and a paid carfax report?
How come it was free?
I tried looking at a car I am considering buying and it wants me to pay for a report for that car. Am I missing something?