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Save Money with a Free VIN Search When Buying a Used Car in California

Choosing to buy a used car rather than a brand new one can be a great way to save money on your next vehicle purchase in California. But did you know that you could save even more money with a free VIN search? That’s because not doing thorough research on a vehicle’s history before you buy can lead to costly repairs. It could even lead to buying a car that lasts only a fraction of the time that you were expecting.

What Can You Learn from a Free VIN Search?

When you perform a free VIN search online, you’ll gain access to a number of records that will help you learn about that vehicle’s history. You’ll get a California vehicle history report, which will tell you about who has owned the vehicle, who the title currently belongs to, and more. You can even find out whether the vehicle had routine smog tests. To learn more about that vehicle before you buy, you should also run a free license plate search. In addition to information about who owns the vehicle, you’ll learn about any insurance claims that have been filed.

How Can the Information from a VIN Search Save You Money?

While the information that you’ll learn from a free VIN check is useful, you’re probably wondering how it could save you money. But depending on the vehicle and its history, there are many things that the California vehicle history report and insurance information will tell you that can save you money down the road.

• Has the vehicle been properly maintained? Routine maintenance is essential to keep any vehicle running well. So if you are looking through a car’s history and notice that it has never been serviced, or has been serviced very rarely despite being ten years old or older, you might want to ask the seller the reason. Is the owner a mechanic? If so, you probably don’t need to worry much about this detail. But if he or she isn’t, you might want to consider whether you want a car that has been repaired by a potentially unexperienced owner or that may not have received maintenance that it needed at all. This can shorten a vehicle’s lifespan or lead to costly repairs.
• Is the seller the owner listed on the title? If you’re buying from a used car dealership, you probably won’t need to check this. But if you’re buying from an individual and notice that their name isn’t on the title, you might want to ask who the owner is. Buying a stolen car means that the title can’t be legally signed over to you, so you won’t be able to insure it. Also, once it is reported stolen, the vehicle will be seized, and it can be tough or even impossible to get your money back.
• Is the VIN number the correct one for that vehicle? If you notice that the California state history report that a free VIN check provides doesn’t seem to match the vehicle that you’re looking at, you might be dealing with VIN tampering, where the VIN number from a similar vehicle has been plastered over the real one. This means that the history and insurance claims for that car won’t be accurate, and there’s likely something wrong with the vehicle that the seller is trying to hide. If you suspect fraud, you’ll need to report it to the California government.

A quick and free VIN search can save you loads of money when buying a used car in California. When you run a free VIN search or license plate search on VINCheckPro.com, you’ll be getting access to some of more than 40 million government and insurance documents stored in VINCheckPro’s database. That means that the information you receive will be comprehensive, so that you can make a smart decision on your next used car purchase.