When you are buying yourself a used car it’s important to check its vehicle history report. You don’t want to be scammed with a bad transmission or a fake odometer reading. To avoid this you should use the vehicle identification number (VIN) to check on the car’s history. This can tell you if it has been stolen, been in any serious accidents or if there’s money still owing to it.
How to check a car’s history
There are sites out there that can check a car’s history by running its 17 digit VIN (vehicle identification number) through their own database of thousands of vehicle information. If there is nothing wrong with the car, you can go ahead and make the purchase or the seller could give you a discount on the car if there are problems showing up on the report.
What can a Vehicle History Report tell me?
Having a vehicle history report of a car is going to show you how the previous owner or multiple owners have treated it. Any police reports or insurance claims will certainly come up in the search, along with information about:
- Accident history
- Ownership history
- Structural damage
- Maintenance records
- Previous sales history
- Odometer reading
- Most of the vehicle’s history and information
Has the car been in any serious accidents?
Normally it’s important to know if the car you’re interested in has been in any serious accidents. Vin free check and other history report providers will show you all the data of the car’s accidents and if it had any severe structural damage or airbag deployments.
If you see this kind of history in a car, you should be careful when deciding to buy it, have a mechanic of your choice assess the quality of repairs the car has received or if it has any other unattended damages. Of course, you don’t have to quit the purchase right away if there hasn’t been any worrying and serious damage you can use the history of the car to bargain for a much lower price.
Has the car suffered any other damage?
Note that not all damage to the car is from accidents. Vehicle history reports show damage from flooding, fire or even hail. While hail is nothing to be worried about and it’s easy to repair, flood and fire damage is almost always irreversible and can cause a problem at any time in the future. This can cost you a lot of money, so your best bet is to simply avoid these kinds of cars.
How many owners have had this car?
A used car with only one previous owner is usually much better valued than a car that’s had more than one owner. Finding a car with one previous owner is your best option and think twice before buying one which has had multiple owners. You may also consider buying a car that was owned by a business or a rental company because they probably had scheduled maintenance and have treated the vehicle properly.
Now that you know the importance of checking a car’s VIN number, you are ready to buy your next car.
Nina Smith 
Kim Marks