Data sources & methodology
Where the information on try.vin comes from, how often it's refreshed, and what it can — and can't — tell you about a car. Most of it is public data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Last reviewed
At a glance
Every dataset on try.vin, where it comes from, and how it stays current.
| Data | Source | How it stays current |
|---|---|---|
| VIN decode | NHTSA's vPIC decoder | Requested on a VIN's first lookup, then saved |
| Recall campaigns | NHTSA's recall flat files | Imported daily |
| Owner complaints | NHTSA's complaints API | Copied daily |
| Crash-test ratings | NHTSA's 5-Star Safety Ratings (NCAP) | Copied daily |
| DMV offices | OpenStreetMap, plus each state agency's main office | Imported monthly |
| Lemon-law guides | Each state's lemon-law statute | Last-reviewed date shown on each guide |
| AI-written content | Models from Anthropic and OpenAI | Saved when generated; guides show the date |
| Full history reports | A commercial vehicle-history data provider | Requested when you run a report |
VIN decoding
When you enter a VIN try.vin hasn't seen before, it sends the VIN to NHTSA's Product Information Catalog and Vehicle Listing (vPIC) decoder and saves the year, make, model, engine, and plant country it returns. Later lookups of the same VIN reuse that saved decode. If vPIC can't decode a VIN, try.vin says so instead of guessing.
A decode describes the vehicle as it was built. It says nothing about what has happened to the car since. The REST API and the MCP server's decode_vin tool use the same NHTSA decoder.
Recall campaigns
Recall pages list the campaigns NHTSA has on file for each make, model, and model year, with NHTSA's description of the defect, its safety consequence, and the manufacturer's remedy.
NHTSA publishes its recall campaigns as bulk flat files. Once a day, try.vin downloads those files and imports the campaigns into its own database, and the recall pages read from that copy — so a slow or failed request to NHTSA can't make recalls disappear from a page.
If a new download holds noticeably fewer campaigns than the previous import, it isn't imported, so a bad export can't delete recalls overnight. A separate daily check compares our recall counts for a sample of the most-complained-about vehicles with NHTSA's recall API and flags any differences.
Latest import: , from NHTSA files dated October 16, 2026
The MCP server's lookup_recalls tool answers from the same copy for the model years the import covers, and asks NHTSA's recall API only for other model years, keeping each of those answers for up to 24 hours.
Reading a recall count
How we state recall counts
- Counts are per model year. A recall page counts the campaigns NHTSA lists for a make, model, and model year. A campaign can cover only part of a model year, such as vehicles built in a certain date range.
- Recall pages don't show one car's repair status. They can't tell you whether a specific vehicle still needs a recall repair. Enter its VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls for that.
- Zero means confirmed zero. A page says a model year has no recall campaigns only when NHTSA data checked within the last 8 days confirms it, and it shows the date of that check.
- Otherwise, the page tells you. When we can't confirm the list — NHTSA didn't answer, the data is too old, or the model name isn't one NHTSA files recalls under — the page says the recall list couldn't be confirmed and points you to nhtsa.gov/recalls instead of showing zero.
Owner complaints & crash-test ratings
Owner complaints and crash-test ratings come from NHTSA's public APIs at api.nhtsa.gov. A daily job copies them into try.vin's database, and the recall pages read from that copy.
Each complaint is one owner's report to NHTSA — what they say happened, not a confirmed defect. Crash-test ratings are NHTSA's 5-Star Safety Ratings from its New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), shown for each tested version of a model year as NHTSA publishes them.
DMV offices
DMV, MVD, BMV, and RMV office listings come from OpenStreetMap, the free, editable map of the world built by volunteers. Once a month, try.vin queries OpenStreetMap for motor-vehicle offices in each state and imports their names and addresses, plus phone numbers, websites, and opening hours where mappers have added them.
Each state also has one entry for its motor-vehicle agency's main office — the agency's name, main phone number, and website — from try.vin's own state reference data.
Listings can be incomplete or out of date, because OpenStreetMap only knows about offices someone has mapped. Call the office or check the agency's website before you go. Edits made on OpenStreetMap are picked up by the next monthly import.
Attribution
Office data © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License (ODbL). Details: openstreetmap.org/copyright.
Lemon-law guides
Each state guide summarizes that state's lemon-law statute in plain English: what it covers, how many repair attempts or days out of service count, the remedies, and how to file. Every guide names the statute, links to its text where we have a link, and shows the date we last reviewed it.
Statutes and court rulings change, and every claim depends on its facts, so the guides aren't legal advice — confirm the current law with a licensed attorney in your state. The lemon-law qualifier is an AI chat; it gives an estimate, not legal advice.
Where AI is used
try.vin uses large language models from Anthropic (Claude) and OpenAI for the features below. Which provider handles a feature is a setting that can change, so we don't list model versions here; the inspection and reliability guides show the model that wrote them. AI output can be wrong, so treat it as a starting point.
- Free
VIN photo scanner
Reads the 17-character VIN from a photo of the dashboard plate or the door-jamb sticker.
- Free account
AI photo condition check
Reviews 3–8 photos for visible damage, rust, paint mismatch, and tire and interior wear, and suggests questions for the seller. It can only judge what the photos show.
- Free account
AI listing analyzer
Reads a pasted listing and up to 6 photos, scores the deal, and lists red flags and questions for the seller.
- Recall pages
Recall summaries
Some recall campaigns carry a short plain-English summary and an urgency label written from NHTSA's recall notice. NHTSA's own defect, consequence, and remedy text appears below it.
- Free
Inspection checklists & reliability outlooks
Written from the NHTSA recall campaigns and owner-complaint counts on file for one model year. New ones are only generated when that year has at least 10 owner complaints or 3 recall campaigns, and older ones below that bar carry a limited-data warning. Repair-cost ranges and mileage figures are AI estimates, not NHTSA data.
- Free
Lemon-law qualifier
A chat that asks about a car's repair history and estimates whether it may qualify under the state's lemon law. It gives an estimate, not legal advice.
- Paid reports
Report AI briefing
A plain-English summary of a paid report's records, with questions to ask the seller. The records themselves follow it.
Photos you upload to the VIN scanner, the condition check, or the listing analyzer go to the AI provider with that one request, and try.vin doesn't keep them. Condition reports and listing analyses are saved so you can come back to them and share them.
Paid vehicle history reports
A full report comes from a commercial vehicle-history data provider. It shows the records the provider has on file for that VIN — title brands, accidents and damage, odometer readings, ownership, and service records — as they were reported to it.
try.vin requests the report from the provider when you run it, and your prepaid balance is only charged once the report comes back. Sections the provider didn't check are left out, so a missing section isn't a clean result. Records exist only when someone reported them, so pair any report with a pre-purchase inspection by a mechanic.
An AI briefing at the top sums up the records; the records themselves follow it. Empty reports are refunded in full — see the refund policy. Pricing is on the about page.
Vehicle photos
Photos on a VIN's page, when there are any, come from a public dealer or marketplace listing for that VIN. They show the car as it was listed for sale, not necessarily its condition today.
Corrections
If something on try.vin looks wrong, email [email protected] or use the support form with the page link and what you expected to see.
- Our mistakes we fix: a bad import, a mismatched model name, a wrong office, or an outdated lemon-law summary.
- NHTSA records stay as published: recall, complaint, and crash-test details are NHTSA's own, so an error in them has to be corrected at NHTSA.
- Office details can be fixed on OpenStreetMap: the change reaches try.vin with the next monthly import.