How we make money

The free tools are free, permanently

VIN decoding, recall lookups, complaint summaries, crash-test ratings, and the maintenance schedule are free and always will be. There's no account, no trial that auto-charges, and no paywall on safety information. Recall and crash data is too important to gate.

We earn from two optional, clearly-labeled links

• Vehicle history reports. When you want accident/title/mileage data we don't have, we link to a paid report provider. If you buy through that link, we may earn a commission.
• Insurance quotes. If you choose to compare car-insurance quotes through a partner, we may earn a referral fee.

That's it. Both are extra steps you opt into, both are marked as paid links, and the price you pay is never higher because you came from us.

Right now, none of those affiliate links are live yet. Until a program is approved, where that data exists we simply point you to the free, official vehiclehistory.gov list of NMVTIS providers — and earn nothing. We'd rather show no ad than a fake one.

What this never affects

Affiliate relationships do not change the recall, complaint, or rating data we show — that comes straight from NHTSA. We don't reorder, hide, or soften safety information based on who pays us, and we keep advertising visually separate from safety content (especially on high-severity recall pages).

FTC disclosure

In line with the FTC's endorsement guidelines (16 CFR Part 255), we disclose paid links wherever they appear. VinSleuth is reader-supported; some outbound links are paid affiliate links.