The cheapest vehicle history reports, and what each leaves out

Free: the government and insurer checks

Three checks cost nothing and take a minute each. Run them on every car you’re serious about. Our free VIN check guide explains each in more depth.

• A VIN decode. Our VIN decoder reads the U.S. government’s vehicle database (NHTSA’s vPIC) and returns the year, make, model, engine and plant. It tells you whether the ad describes this car. It says nothing about the car’s past.
• Open recalls. NHTSA’s lookup shows safety recalls that haven’t been repaired on that VIN.
• NICB VINCheck. VINCheck searches theft and salvage records from participating member insurers. It allows five searches per IP address in 24 hours.

What you give up: almost all of the history. NICB itself says VINCheck isn’t a comprehensive history report and shouldn’t be relied on when buying: it doesn’t search police records or insurers that don’t take part. No free check shows accidents, owners, mileage over time or service.

Free, if you ask: the seller’s report

A dealer may hand you a CARFAX or AutoCheck report they already ran. What you give up: control. You don’t know when it was run or whether it was changed. Check its VIN and date against the car, and order your own if anything doesn’t match.

A few dollars: an NMVTIS title report

The National Motor Vehicle Title Information System is the federal database that states, insurers and salvage yards report into. You buy its reports from providers the Department of Justice approves; each sets its own price. By design, an NMVTIS report covers five things: the current title and last title date, brand history, the odometer reading, total-loss history and salvage history.

What you give up: the Department of Justice notes that repair histories, recall information and other care and maintenance data aren’t meant to be in NMVTIS. Some providers add records of their own, so read what each one includes.

Full reports, bought here

The full reports add what the cheaper checks can’t: reported accidents, owners and use, mileage readings over the car’s life and, depending on the report, service visits or auction events. Here’s what each one adds, and what it still leaves out.

Auction report, $7.99. The Copart or IAAI record: lot photos, recorded damage, and the title and odometer at sale. What you give up: everything outside the auction. Use it with a history report, not instead of one.

AutoCheck, $7.99. Experian’s report, with the AutoCheck Score and auction records. What you give up: the service records CARFAX is known for.

CARFAX, $8.99. Title, accident, ownership and service records reported to CARFAX. What you give up: the AutoCheck Score, and any records only Experian holds.

Both, $12.99. Two independent sets of records for the same VIN. What you give up: only the auction photos, if the car was ever at Copart or IAAI.

Checking several cars? In a pack, a CARFAX report costs $6.29.

An AutoCheck report in a pack costs $5.29.

Pick by the car, not by the price

Don’t pay twice for the same thing

• Run the free checks first: a theft or salvage hit can end the search before you’ve spent anything.
• Decode before you pay, so a mistyped VIN doesn’t cost you a report.
• If a report can’t be produced for the VIN, its cost goes back to your account automatically.