Marketplace makes it easy to find a car and easy to be fooled by one. Ask the seller for the VIN in your first message, then enter it here. The free preview shows whether loan records, past photos, theft records or title brands exist before you drive anywhere.
Whether loan or lien records are on file against the vehicle. A private seller who still owes money cannot hand over a clear title, and the lender can take the car back.
Photos previously published for the VIN, on 70% of the reports we hold. Compare them with the seller’s photos: different damage, colour or plates is a question to ask.
Active theft records reported against the VIN, and the decoded year, make and model to compare with the car, which is how a cloned VIN is caught.
Salvage, rebuilt, flood and junk brands from any state or province, including brands that did not follow the car across a border.
The recorded ownership timeline, on 75% of reports. Several short holds in a row is how a flipped car looks.
Readings captured at titles, inspections and sales, in date order, so a rollback shows as a reading lower than an earlier one.
Ask for the 17-character VIN in your first message. A seller who will not give it, or sends a blurred photo of it, has answered your question.
Run it here before you arrange a viewing. The preview shows which loan, theft, title, photo and ownership records exist.
At the car, match the VIN on the windscreen plate, the driver’s door label and the title, character for character.
Check the name on the title against the seller’s ID, and look for a lienholder printed on it, before any money changes hands.
Ads for cheap cars posted by people who do not own them are common enough that the FTC has warned about them. A loan record, or a title in someone else’s name, settles it before you travel.
Scammers reuse photos of a clean car to sell a damaged one, or a car that does not exist. Photos on record for the VIN, and a reverse image search of the listing, show whether they match.
A stolen car can wear the VIN of a legitimate one of the same model, so a clean history comes back for the wrong car. Matching the VIN in three places on the car, and checking for theft records, is how it is caught.
Never use a history report, or a "free check" link, that the seller sends you. Fake report sites exist to take card details. Run the VIN yourself, on a site you chose.
A request for a deposit, a gift card or a wire transfer before you have seen the car is the most common Marketplace car scam of all. No VIN check fixes that; walking away does.
The free preview lists which records exist for the VIN: loan or lien records, theft records, title brands, accidents, owners, odometer readings and photos. The full report, $19.99 once, shows the records themselves. It tells you that loan or lien records exist, not who holds them; the lienholder is printed on the title. Photos exist only when the car was listed or auctioned before, so a car only ever sold privately may have none. A clean report is not proof the car is sound, so still have it inspected.
See a full sample report| Seller profile and listing | Free NICB VINCheck | Vektracer report | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Theft records | No | Yes, from participating insurers | Yes |
| Loan or lien records | No | No | Yes, where on file |
| Title brands by state | No | Total-loss records only | Yes |
| Past listing and auction photos | The seller’s own photos only | No | Yes, where published |
| Owners and odometer readings | No | No | Yes |
| Price | Free | Free | Free preview, $19.99 report |
Ask in your first message. Many sellers include it in the listing or will send a photo of the windscreen plate or the door label. If they refuse, or the photo has it cut off or blurred, treat that as the answer.
Partly. NICB’s VINCheck shows theft and some total-loss records for free, and the preview here shows which other records exist at no cost. Loan records, title history by state, photos and odometer readings are in the paid report.
Yes. The report shows whether loan or lien records are on file against the VIN. Then ask to see the title: a lienholder printed on it means the loan must be paid off before the title can transfer to you.
Do not use it. Fake report sites are a known scam pattern. Type the address of a history service yourself and enter the VIN there.
Yes. Canadian vehicles are a large share of what we look up. For liens in Canada, also search the provincial registry, because our lien records come from title data, not provincial registries.
Then nothing has been reported in the sources searched, and you have not paid for an empty report. It is not proof that nothing happened, so still inspect the car and check the title in person.
Enter the VIN to see which records exist. The preview is free.