The Expert Podcast

If you're going to do a VIN check or vehicle history check for a title, make sure you're only doing it through an official government source. Things like Carfax, VIN, or other online sources can often have serious omissions and errors, so you might not get the information you need. Here’s an example of a government source: the Illinois Secretary of State. Make sure that the website you're using for a VIN check is a .gov website, not a .com or any kind of commercial website. You want it to be an official government source.

But if you use a third party, you're not going to get the official registration and title status, and it won't be 100% accurate. Only government records are 100% accurate, as many of these online VIN checks don’t have access to the official government records. Access to these records requires a legitimate reason, and simply making it available to the public isn’t sufficient. If you're accessing a government source, you’ll get the true information about your title, not partial information.

Some states, like Illinois, allow you to do this online, but in most states, you have to go in person. This requirement exists because they want to verify who they're giving this information to; they're not just going to give it out to random people on the internet. Some of this information, like vehicle ownership and liens, is private and confidential. To access it, you must show ID and sign a form. If you're looking up records in a state like Illinois or even New York, you may be able to get online records after verifying your identity with your name and phone number, but it should still be from a government source.

Online lookups from non-governmental sources are notoriously inaccurate. These are non-primary record sources, meaning you run the risk of missing liens, a stolen record, or even a salvage title that hasn’t been reported. It’s best to get this information directly from the source to avoid buying a vehicle with hidden issues that could prevent you from obtaining a title in the future.

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