By Russ & Tiña De Maris
Looking to buy a used RV? How about a tow vehicle, or even a toad car? Knowing the rig’s history can go a long way toward peace of mind. The last thing you want is a car, truck, or RV that’s been “totaled” in a wreck, perhaps stolen, or changed hands so many times that it might be suspected of being a lemon. Or maybe you just want to know a bit more about the rig, to ensure a seller isn’t making stuff up. A VIN check, based on the vehicle identification number (VIN), can tell you a lot. But beware. Like a lot of things in life, there are scammers and dishonest folks who’d take advantage.
RV VIN checks: Finding a legitimate provider
If you do an internet search for “VIN check,” you’ll get a ton of results. Many websites will tell you they’ll give you information for free. Give many of these sites a try, and you could get a tiny bit of information, with a “we can tell you more for …” a little, to a lot, of money.
What’s worse, maybe you’re trying to sell your RV. A buyer contacts you and tells you they’re interested, BUT ONLY if you provide them with a VIN check report, and ONLY if it comes from a certain VIN check provider. You log onto the site, enter the VIN of your rig, plug in your credit card number and, hey, presto! Your money is gone—but you get no report. And guess what! That prospective customer has vanished.
First, about those “scam” sites. Be suspicious of anyone who demands a VIN check from a specific website. And be particularly alert if the site is something like lookup.vin. That “vin” extension in the URL is a red flag. Most legitimate VIN lookup sites DON’T use that extension.
Here’s how to find a legitimate (but not necessarily a “good”) VIN check site. The U.S. Department of Justice has a website that lists (with links to) all approved NMVTIS (National Motor Vehicle Title Information System) data providers. Click here.
What information will you get?
Once you’ve found a legitimate source for an RV VIN check, what kind of information can they provide? In return for payment, you’ll typically get information about the vehicle’s history, which might include details like major accidents, rolled-back odometer readings, how many previous owners, and damage. Has the rig ever been a “leaser” or used as a taxi? Has the rig been “totaled out”? Rebuilt? Suffered flood damage? Had the airbag deployed? Used enough that the odometer has rolled over? Been officially labeled as a “lemon”? Even some vehicle service and maintenance information might be included.
Not all the providers will have information on RVs. But once you log onto the site and enter the VIN number of the rig, you’ll know in a hurry. If the outfit doesn’t have information for a given VIN, the system will tell you, before you plunk down your money.
And how much will it REALLY cost?
How much money? Prices vary widely. We found typical rates for a single report from the upper $9 to $20 range. Some cost much less—some as low as $2.95. But there’s always a catch. Some of the low-end-charge outfits want you to read their “privacy policy” and agree to it.
We looked at one, and it promised it would add “beacons” and “cookies” to our internet browser, put us on their email list, and even run “push notifications” if we bought their cheap reports. One site had a “terms and conditions” page that ran 12,000+ words, and an additional “privacy rights” agreement that ran almost 4,000 words. Whew!
We finally picked one outfit, checkthatvin.com, that didn’t have a lot of stuff we couldn’t abide by and paid $3.95 each for two reports. One was an RV VIN check report for a travel trailer, which yielded some useful information—never been reported “totaled,” “stolen,” “salvage,” etc. However, it only showed one title as having been issued. We knew the owners, and were aware that they were at least the second owner.
The same was true with a pickup truck we searched. It showed two title transactions. In this case, the owners had bought the truck used, titled it in one state, and then moved, and titled it in another. The report noted both these transactions, but no other. Again, they were the second owner, so at least one more title note should have been shown.
An RV VIN check can be useful, but don’t count on it necessarily reflecting everything. The accuracy of the information is based on what the reporting agencies actually provide.
A truly FREE first step you can use
There may be a genuinely free first step that you can take when shopping for a used rig. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has a VIN decoder. Enter the VIN number on their site and, in return, you’ll get information on the year, make, model, and manufacturer of most RVs. Enter the VIN of a motor vehicle and you’ll get information in great detail, from the engine to the braking system, vehicle weight, etc. Again, it’s free. Click here.
Shopping for a used RV can be complicated. Shopping for an RV VIN check report shouldn’t be. Look for authorized providers, but read the fine print carefully before you plunk down your credit card.
##RVT1180