The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) offers free reports on safety recalls of a vehicle, but it only offers VIN lookup. If you’re curious about a car’s safety details, recalls, and history but don’t have its VIN, you can run an NHTSA license plate lookup. In this post, we’ll share how.
Does NHTSA support license plate lookups?
The short answer is No. As a source of vehicle safety information, NHTSA can provide you with safety-related details of a specific vehicle based on its VIN. But it doesn’t support license plate lookups yet.
If you’re curious about the safety information of a vehicle but don’t have access to its VIN, you can resort to other services. Read on to find out how.
How to run an NHTSA license plate lookup?
To get an NHTSA report by license plate, you can use license plate lookup tools like BeenVerified, Bumper, and EpicVIN. All of them are NMVTIS-approved data providers that can retrieve safety details sourced from NHTSA.
Beyond vehicle recalls and specs, you can also find title status, accident & theft records, odometer readings, warranty, and price history in their reports, as they collect data not only from NHTSA, but also from state-level government agencies, insurance providers, and auto industry partners.
1. BeenVerified
BeenVerified is a strong vehicle search tool. With access to a variety of data collected from state-level government agencies, insurance providers, and auto industry partners, it can provide you with all the available information associated with a vehicle. Enter the license plate number, and it will generate a report that contains available recalls, titles, and a detailed history.
- Visit the BeenVerified vehicle search page.
- Enter the license plate number and state, and click SEARCH.
- Wait as BeenVerified runs the search and compiles a report.
- On the report page, you’ll see a navigation bar on the left to help you easily access the section that you’re interested in. For example, the Recalls section.
- To view the safety details, you can go to the Recalls/Accident History section. Note that BeenVerified is a subscription-based service and you’ll need to purchase a membership plan to view the report.
What do we like about BeenVerified?
BeenVerified is an all-around search service. With one subscription, you can access its other search services like phone number, email address, and address lookups.
2. Bumper
Bumper is an Approved NMVTIS (National Motor Vehicle Title Information System) Data Provider. It’s a leading vehicle search tool that gathers information from government authorities, insurance providers, and more. Apart from safety details, it can show you title records, accident & theft records, and more.
- Go to Bumper.
- Select License Plate, enter the number and state, then click SEARCH.
- Wait for Bumper to check through its database. Then it’ll give you everything it can find that is linked to the vehicle, including recalls, odometer readings, and more.
3. EpicVIN
EpicVIN is also an NMVTIS-powered vehicle data provider. With over 350 million data records sourced from reliable resources (including NHTSA), it’s capable of offering you much information like warranty details, recalls, odometer readings, theft records, hidden damages, and more. Here’s how to use it:
- Go to EpicVIN.
- Select by US License Plate, enter the number, and click Check Plate.
- Wait as EpicVIN finds the information related to the plate number. Then you’ll receive a report containing everything you need to know about the vehicle.
You may also want to know…
2. What information is included in an NHTSA VIN report?
NHTSA offers a recalls check page that shows any unrepaired recalls and a VIN decoder that tells you whether its title is clean and some basic specifications. Typically, you may find the following details:
- Unrepaired safety recalls
- Complaints and investigations
- Title status
- Basic specs
Note that the above information can only be obtained through NHTSA’s VIN lookup feature.
1. Where do license plate lookup services compile information?
Generally speaking, license plate lookup platforms like the ones we mentioned above claim that they gather information from the following sources:
- NHTSA, NMVTIS, and other government agencies
- JD Power, NADA, and other auto industry partners
- Insurance companies
- Vehicle manufacturers
Final thoughts
Even though running an NHTSA license plate lookup can reveal much information related to a certain vehicle, it should not take the place of a thorough mechanical inspection in person. Especially when you’re buying a used car. We hope you find the post helpful!