Vehicle history reports offer extremely valuable information on used vehicles. These reports catalog repair histories so a buyer is fully aware of any known issues of a particular vehicle. Utilizing these reports can help consumers make better vehicle purchasing decisions.Services such as carfax.com and edmunds.com require the vehicle's VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) to access the proper
. database. The VIN number is usually located on the car's dashboard imprinted on a metal plate. It can be seen on the outside of the car toward the bottom of the windshield on the driver's side. The VIN is a unique serial number used by the automotive industry to identify individual motor vehicles. From 1954 to 1981, there was no accepted standard for VINs, so different manufacturers used different formats. In 1981, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration standardized the format to require a 17-character VIN, which does not include the letters I (i), O (o), or Q (q) (to avoid confusion with numerals 1 and 0). Services use these unique IDs to establish a vehicle's history.The popular vehicle history reporting service Carfax offers free reports at many car dealerships, but a buyer has to request the report on a particular vehicle. If using a private seller that does not provide a Carfax report, a buyer can purchase the report for themselves at carfax.com. The website does offer a free service called Lemon Check, which compares the VIN to state and federal databases that have flagged vehicles that violated lemon laws. However, lemon laws vary by state and may not necessarily cover all used or leased cars.If a buyer is shopping online, many vehicles listed on sites like AutoTrader.com and Cars.com include free Carfax vehicle history reports. This is the same same vehicle history information that is available for purchase on carfax.com.More reference links: http://www.carfax.com/entry.cfx http://www.autotrader.com/
