Colorado license plate lookup

What our Colorado plate lookup covers

The free lookup matches a Colorado plate to a VIN and decodes it: year, make, model, engine and open safety recalls. If it’s the car you’re considering, you can order a history report on the VIN. Plate data comes from a commercial vehicle-data provider.

It doesn’t show the owner’s name or address. The federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (18 U.S.C. § 2721) protects that information in state motor vehicle records, and only the state may release it, for the permissible uses the act sets out.

Who issues plates and titles in Colorado

The Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles, part of the Department of Revenue, sets the rules, while titles and registrations are issued at the county motor vehicle office where you live, or online through myDMV.

The DMV is blunt about plates: they are tied to the registered owner, not the vehicle, and sellers should always remove them. Regular plates go back to a county office or get recycled; personalized plates can move to the seller’s next vehicle. Within 5 days of the sale the seller may report the transfer, which removes them from liability for what the buyer does with the car.

As the buyer, you need Colorado-compliant insurance before you drive, and you have 60 days from the purchase date to title and register before late fees apply. If you can’t do it right away, your county office gives you a temporary permit, which you need to drive on public roads.

Requesting a Colorado vehicle record

Vehicle records are requested on Form DR 2489A, the Motor Vehicle Requestor Release Affidavit of Intended Use, by mail, in person at DMV Vehicle Services in Lakewood, or online through myDMV. A record search prints the current owner and lienholder; a title history reproduces every document filed when the car was titled, one history per owner. The form lists a fee of $2.25 for each, plus $0.55 to certify a record.

To buy a record other than your own, you either attach the owner’s written consent or declare one permissible use from the form’s list. The form says plate searches are allowed, with documentation, only for the vehicle owner, law enforcement, insurance companies and attorneys.

Salvage and Rebuilt from Salvage titles

When a car with a Colorado salvage title is repaired, its new title is branded Rebuilt from Salvage. The DMV’s checklist (DR 2415) requires the owner to stamp the words REBUILT FROM SALVAGE into the car, on the driver’s door B pillar for most vehicles, in letters at least a quarter inch high.

A certified law enforcement officer or P.O.S.T. certified inspector then completes a Colorado Certified VIN Inspection and signs off on the Salvage Title Statement of Fact (DR 2424). The inspector checks basics such as lights, tires, mirrors, the windshield, that parts and seats are permanently attached and that there’s no torn metal. That’s a roadworthiness check, not a review of how well the structure was repaired. See salvage title check.

Checks before buying a car with Colorado plates

• Make sure the VIN on the title matches the VIN on the car, as the DMV advises, and the VIN our plate lookup returned.
• Look at the driver’s door B pillar for a REBUILT FROM SALVAGE stamp, and ask for the parts receipts given to the inspector.
• Expect a private seller to remove their plates; plan for a temporary permit from your county office.
• Run a history report for brands from other states, insurer total losses and odometer readings. See odometer rollback check.
• Confirm the engine and trim with the VIN decoder and see report prices on pricing.