EnglishVIN and vehicle history guides
Everything a VIN can tell you, and where to look it up: the 17 characters, earlier auction sales of the same car, odometer readings over time and the reports that sit behind them.
VIN & historyOdometer at auction: actual, not actual, exceeds limits, exempt
What actual, not actual, exceeds mechanical limits and exempt mean on Copart and IAAI lots, the federal 20-year disclosure rule, and how to spot a rollback across sales.
VIN & historyHow to check a car's auction history by VIN
How to find every Copart and IAAI lot of a VIN, read the photos, damage, odometer and title, and spot a repaired salvage car sold as accident-free.
VIN & historyHow to decode a VIN: what all 17 characters mean
What each of the 17 VIN characters means, how to calculate the check digit by hand and in code, and how to read the model year without the 30-year mix-up.
VIN & historyCarfax and AutoCheck by API: how vehicle history report APIs work
Whether Carfax and AutoCheck have APIs, how report resellers work, what a report contains and how it differs from an auction record by VIN.How these guides are written and checked: editorial standards. New articles by RSS.