The Expert Podcast

Here's another way that scammers can sell you a bad vehicle, even if you do your due diligence and check out the VIN number. But also, it's a reason why DMVs sometimes require Vin verifications or inspections; it's to protect you. It's not something that is there just to give you a hard time.

Here's a case where a person happened to be in Texas and purchased a vehicle. They checked out the VIN number, ran a background check, did a VIN search, and ran a and ran a Vin history report—everything looked okay. But as they found out, the VIN number they were looking at wasn't the real VIN number for the vehicle. There was a replacement VIN number that was improperly put over the real VIN number.

Now, on a vehicle, the VIN number (and again, when I say VIN number, I know it's a redundancy because Vin stands for Vehicle Identification Number, so when you say VIN number, you're really saying Vehicle Identification Number number—I get it, but most people say Vin number, so it's a very common way of describing it)—there are at least eight or nine VIN numbers on vehicles. There's one on the cowl, one on the dashboard, and many on the frame; some are hidden, some are on the doorpost, and some are on the cowl or on the inside of the B pillar, and they're all supposed to match. Many times people just look at the one on the cowl by the dash, but there's other VIN numbers.

A person who's trying to conceal a vehicle will normally only change the one on the dash because that's what's looked at. There's even some that are hidden that nobody knows about except for police officers. Because if a car's stolen and somebody hides all the ones you can see, they know where to look to find the hidden ones. Also, the OBD plugin for the diagnosis of a vehicle also shows the VIN number. So you want to check that to make sure the computer matches. Otherwise, you could buy a vehicle that you think has a certain VIN number and, really, it's a stolen car, or even if it's not stolen, it could be one that's salvage or parts only, or for export only, which means you can't title it.

So make sure that when you're purchasing a vehicle, you get a good VIN check. But also, make sure that the VIN number that you are evaluating is the correct one for that vehicle and matches everywhere. Remember, it's illegal to move VIN numbers from one vehicle to another. So if you have a vehicle for which, for some reason, the VIN number is no good because it's salvage or parts only, don't think you can just get another VIN number and slap it on there. There are very serious federal statutes about VIN tampering that make that a no-no.

So if you have questions about how to make sure your vehicle has a proper VIN or if the history of that vehicle is eligible for a title, make sure you use our website as a free consumer resource. We'd be glad to make sure that we give you the help and assistance you need to improve your odds of getting the right kind of vehicle.