Wyoming license plate lookup

What our Wyoming lookup returns

With Wyoming selected, a commercial vehicle-data provider matches the plate to a VIN. We decode it into the model year, make, model and engine, check for open safety recalls, and offer history reports on that VIN for the car’s title and damage past.

The registered owner isn’t shown. The Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (18 U.S.C. § 2721) restricts personal information in state motor vehicle records, and WYDOT notes that federal law may prohibit releasing it.

Who issues plates and titles in Wyoming

The Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) oversees motor vehicles, but the work is local. The county clerk issues titles, including salvage titles, and the county treasurer issues registrations and plates (W.S. 31-2-204).

• The county is on the plate. The left end of a standard plate shows the number of the county that issued it, followed by the bucking horse and rider and the vehicle’s own number.
• Front and rear plates. Under W.S. 31-2-205 most vehicles display one plate on the front and one on the rear. Motorcycles, trailers, antique vehicles, street rods, custom vehicles and cars built without a front plate bracket are among the exceptions.
• Yearly validation. Plates are changed or validated each year.

Searching a Wyoming title or plate record

WYDOT Motor Vehicle Services in Cheyenne runs record searches on the MV-220 Title Search form. Each search is $15. A title search needs the VIN, the title number or the legal owner’s name; a plate search needs the plate number plus the type of vehicle, make and year. WYDOT also lists a Vehicle Record and Privacy Disclosure Release for requests that involve personal information, and fees are waived for government agencies with a reciprocal agreement.

Salvage, rebuilt and flood titles in Wyoming

A salvage vehicle is one an insurer declares a total loss or, with no insurer involved, one whose repairs would exceed 75% of its actual retail cash value. Its owner or insurer applies to the county clerk for a title branded “salvage” across the front. WYDOT says the requirement doesn’t apply to vehicles titled in Wyoming with more than eight years of service, commercial vehicles or trailers.

After repairs, a salvage car gets a “rebuilt salvage vehicle” decal, placed on the driver’s door jamb of a car, and a title branded “rebuilt.” Law enforcement inspects the car and signs a Certification of Correct VIN Number form. A car that took water over the door sill into the passenger or trunk compartment, without enough damage to be salvage, is a flood vehicle: the seller must disclose it at the sale, and the next title carries the word “flood.”

Two more points from WYDOT: it brands a vehicle based on information in the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System even when the current title shows no brand, and a seller of a branded car must disclose the brand on a Branded Title Disclosure Statement.

Checks before you buy a car with Wyoming plates

• Compare the VIN on the dash and door with the title and our lookup, and run it through the VIN decoder.
• Look for “salvage,” “rebuilt” or “flood” on the title, and for the rebuilt decal in the door jamb.
• An older car may have been totaled without a salvage title because of the eight-year exemption. A salvage title check can show the total loss.
• For any car that might have been in water, read our flood damage check guide and compare the mileage with an odometer rollback check.

An AutoCheck report on a Wyoming car is $7.99 with us.