Vehicle History Report: How and Why to Get One

Vehicle history reports help used-car buyers avoid potential problems down the road. They’re basically a background check on a car — including details such as past reported accidents, repair records and open recalls — to help you make an informed buying decision.

What’s on a vehicle history report?

A vehicle history report is tied to a car’s vehicle identification number or VIN, and data is collected over the life of the car. The vehicle history report pulls various records together into a single document.

Here’s some of the information you can find in a vehicle history report:

• Number of previous owners and how the car was used. Your goal may be finding a single-owner used car with limited wear and tear. A car’s history report tells you how many times it changed hands and whether it was driven for personal use or something else, such as a rental car. 

• Accidents. Serious collisions (and occasionally minor ones) that are reported to the insurance company are typically on a vehicle’s history report. If an accident was more recent, it may not show up on the report yet.  

• Maintenance records. Service visits  can be  listed on the vehicle history report, showing the routine maintenance or repairs performed by a mechanic. Service departments at car dealerships are more likely than an independent garage to report such maintenance. The service history could also have gaps if the car owner did some of the maintenance, such as oil changes. 

• Odometer rollbacks. It’s possible that unethical car dealers or individual sellers could spin an odometer back to lower the mileage and increase a vehicle's selling price. History reports can alert you to such a scam, by making it easier to check for any odometer discrepancies. 

• Open recalls. If a manufacturer determines that a car or part of a car doesn’t meet minimum safety standards, they recall the car to have it repaired. A vehicle history report can alert you to any recalls and whether the needed repairs were made.  You can also check for open recalls for free through the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration. 

• Salvage title. If a car has been in a serious accident, fire or flood and was “totaled” by the insurance company (declared a total loss), it still might be drivable. However, the insurance company will issue a salvage title to alert future buyers. In most cases, you want to steer clear of vehicles with salvage titles, because they may still have hidden problems and a lower resale value.

Vehicle history reports can provide a lot of information about a car, but they can’t give you an actual assessment of a car’s mechanical condition or wear-and-tear level. That’s why a vehicle history report should not be a replacement for a mechanic’s pre-purchase inspection.

Still, a vehicle history report can give you an idea of how a car was treated, the likelihood that it’s in good condition and whether it’s worth your time to pursue buying it.

How to get a vehicle history report

Vehicle history reports are available from several different sources, but be aware they aren’t all the same.

Popular providers. Carfax and AutoCheck are two of the most well-known providers of vehicle history reports. Their reports are among the most comprehensive, but they also aren’t free. The price for a single Carfax report is $45.00, and an AutoCheck report is $30. If you buy more than one report, the per-report cost is lower.

Other third-party providers. A Google search for “buy vehicle history report” brings up a list of companies that sell history reports. If you go this route, make sure you’re buying from a trusted source to avoid vehicle history report scams. At vehiclehistory.gov, the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) has a list of approved providers. Prices vary, and the NMVTIS-approved reports are shorter with less information about a car.

Dealer or online car seller. If you’re wondering how to get a free vehicle history report, your best approach to avoid scams is to obtain one directly from the dealership or online platform that’s selling the car. So, they’ve purchased it, but it’s free to you. Sometimes, you can even download vehicle history reports from online listings of vehicles. You can also ask private sellers to provide a vehicle history report. Although they aren’t obligated to do so, some will. Just make sure it’s the most recent report available.