About VinSleuth
VinSleuth exists to make official, free government vehicle data actually usable — and to be honest about its limits. No login, no paywall, no dark-pattern subscriptions.
What we do
You enter a 17-character VIN. We decode it into the full vehicle spec, then pull every safety recall, owner complaint, and crash-test rating NHTSA has on record — and show it all on one screen, with the dangerous "stop driving" recalls flagged clearly. It's the data the government already publishes, just organized the way a person buying or owning a car actually needs it.
What we deliberately don't do
We don't sell — or pretend to have — accident history, salvage/flood title brands, or odometer records. That's paid NMVTIS data, and we'd rather point you to an honest paid report than charge you for a "VIN check" that's mostly free government data with the price hidden. Plenty of sites do exactly that; we built VinSleuth as the opposite.
Who we are
VinSleuth is an independent service. We are not affiliated with NHTSA, the U.S. government, any vehicle manufacturer, or any history-report company. We use NHTSA's free public APIs as our data source and credit them throughout.
How we stay free
The core tools are free forever. We earn a commission only if you choose to buy a paid vehicle-history report or get an insurance quote through a partner link — never by charging for data you can get for free. Read more on our how we make money page.