When you’re buying a car, it is important to check whether it has previous theft records since a stolen and recovered vehicle often loses its original value. It should draw your attention as some swindlers tend to remove, hide or change the salvage designation to earn more money out of it.

What’s worse is that if you bought a stolen car without knowing it, you could face punishment for Possession of Stolen Property, even though you obviously didn’t steal it.

If you don’t want to end up buying the wrong car or getting ripped off purchasing a stolen car, let’s check out 5 stolen car checkers to find out whether your ideal car has a stolen record.

What Is VIN and Where to Look for It

A vehicle identification number (VIN) is the unique identifying code for a specific automobile, composed of 17 characters (digits and capital letters). It reveals basic information about a vehicle, such as its engine type, country of region and model year. More importantly, a VIN contains a car’s past as many data registries record details and keep track of an automobile using it. With a VIN number, you are able to find out whatever has happened to this car, whether it has been stolen before or in an accident.

Here are some tips on how to find a car’s VIN:

1. The front of the engine block (under hood);

2. The driver’s side interior dashboard;

3. Inside the driver’s side door jamb;

4. In the rear wheel well;

5. Underneath the spare tire in the trunk;

6. Check vehicle’s title records or insurance card.

Search If a Car Is Stolen by VIN

Option 1: Check a VIN Number with the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) for free

NICB is a fraud prevention organization and government agency. It provides free VIN check services to the public that allow you to find a vehicle’s reported stolen records. The NICB has access to a database of vehicles which were reported as stolen within the past five years and remain unrecovered or declared as salvage in the United States.

1. Go to NICB‘s VIN search page.
2. Enter the VIN, tick the agree to terms and conditions checkbox, complete the captcha and then click SEARCH VIN.
3. Wait a few seconds for NICB to search the databases. Once it locates a match, it’ll generate a result page revealing the car’s basic information on theft and loss records.

As you can see from above, the NICB’s report would display only basic information on theft and loss records. If you would like to gain more info about the car, such as automobile features, accident history and safety recalls, please read on.

Option 2: BeenVerified VIN Lookup

As one of the most popular VIN lookup tools, BeenVerified is able to compile detailed information on a vehicle’s past from just a VIN number. Searching with BeenVerified allows you to explore theft and loss records, salvage records, title status, accident records, maintenance history and so much more!

Follow the steps below to lookup a VIN:

1. Go to BeenVerified‘s VIN search page.
2. Enter the VIN and click SEARCH.

3. Wait as BeenVerified scans its database and scours all the available information on the vehicle. You will then be provided with a neat and in-depth report on the vehicle.

Option 3: Find out If a Car is Stolen with Bumper

Bumper is a VIN checker with a trustworthy database that is able to discover a vehicle’s reported accident history and salvage and/or theft records. Its report may include not only theft and loss records, but also some other information that you may be interested in when purchasing a car, such as liens, sales listing history, title registrations, estimated costs of repairs needed and estimated market values for similar vehicles.

To use it for VIN check:

1. Go to Bumper’s Vehicle History Search Page.
2. Enter a VIN number and hit SEARCH.

3. It may take a few seconds for Bumper to search its database. Bumper will ask you to choose what information you need and then provide you with it.

Option 4: Get a Vehicle Stolen Report with EpicVin

EpicVIN is a VIN lookup engine that will provide you with complete, truthful and up-to-date vehicle history reports. They aim to help the public feel confident in potential purchases of automobiles. Run a search with EpicVIN and you will get useful information such as theft records, previous owners, damages, accident history, safety recalls, title information, etc.

Here’s how to run a search with EpicVIN:

1. Go to EpicVIN’s official website.
2. Enter the car’s VIN Number and click Check VIN.

3. You’ll see a complete report of the vehicle in just a second. Apart from the car’s possible stolen records, you may also check whether there is any other hidden information.

Option 5: Detailed vehicle report with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)

Pay a service fee and request information on a vehicle’s past through DMV. There are several ways you can request a vehicle’s record: through DMV’s online system, by mail, in-person and by phone.

Here, we would recommend you to make a request online, as it is cheaper and saves more time compared to the traditional ways of driving to DMV’s office or mailing your form to their address.

Follow these steps to get your vehicle history information:

1. Google DMV’s official website in your region.
2. Create an online account.
3. Fill out a Request for Record Information form to request a copy of your or another person’s vehicle/vessel records.
4. Upload your completed form and patiently wait for DMV to get back to you.

Note that this comprehensive report may take up to 5 business days for the DMV to generate and require a service fee (around $2). Please make sure all the information regarding the vehicle and your contact details is correct, as you will only have one opportunity to submit your record after your fee payment.

That’s the end of this post. Hope you’ll find these stolen car checkers helpful in searching your ideal car’s past information. If you have any questions or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to leave us a comment below, thanks!