California license plate lookup

What a California plate lookup shows

Our free tool turns a California plate into the vehicle’s VIN and decodes it: year, make, model, engine and open safety recalls. From there you can order a history report on that VIN. Plate results come from a commercial vehicle-data provider.

The registered owner’s name and address stay out of it. The federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (18 U.S.C. § 2721) protects that information in DMV records, and only the state can release it, and only for the permissible uses the act lists.

Who issues plates and titles in California

The California Department of Motor Vehicles issues plates, registrations and titles; many dealers are also authorized to transfer titles and issue temporary registration. The DMV says that, generally, license plates remain with the vehicle they were issued to. Personalized, environmental, special recognition and special interest plates are the exception: the owner can have them reassigned to another vehicle for a fee.

California expects a front plate. Under Vehicle Code § 5200, when the DMV issues two plates for a vehicle, one goes on the front and one on the rear. A seller has 5 calendar days after the sale to file a Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability with the DMV; it ends their responsibility for later violations but doesn’t transfer ownership, so you still complete the transfer yourself.

Getting a California vehicle registration record

You can request your own vehicle record from the DMV online or, by mail, on form INF 1125. To ask for someone else’s vehicle record, you mail a Request for Record Information (INF 70) with the fee shown on the form to the address on it. See the DMV’s records requests page.

Vehicle Code §§ 1808 and 1810 let a requester get a vehicle registration record only for a permissible use. When the DMV releases information on an INF 70, § 1810(b) requires it to notify the person whose record was requested. Government and commercial requesters with a DMV requester code can get records for a legitimate business use without that notice.

California title brands to look for

On current California titles and salvage certificates, brands appear in a red box labeled VEHICLE HISTORY near the upper right corner. The DMV’s branded titles page lists Salvaged (wrecked or badly damaged by a crash, flood, vandalism or similar event, including former junk vehicles), Warranty Return (Lemon Law Buyback), Original or Prior Taxi, Original or Prior Police, Non-USA (Grey market) and Remanufactured.

Because flood damage falls under Salvaged, the brand alone doesn’t say what happened. Our California VIN check guide explains how a revived salvage car gets back on the road, and the DMV notes that every California dealer must show you a NMVTIS report.

Before you buy a car with California plates

• Check that the plate lookup VIN matches the dashboard, the driver’s door label and the title.
• Read the red VEHICLE HISTORY box on the title for a brand.
• If the car has personalized plates, expect the seller to keep them; the plates you see on a standard car generally stay with it.
• Run a history report for total losses, auction sales and brands from other states, and for odometer readings. See salvage title check and odometer rollback check.
• Decode the VIN with our VIN decoder and compare reports on pricing.

A CARFAX report is $8.99 with us, and auction reports with lot photos are on the same page.