Before you purchase a used car, it’s necessary to know some important details about the vehicle. One thing in particular is the vehicle’s accident records. If the car has suffered significant damage and was given a branded title¹, you should be very careful.

So how to track a car’s accident history? Is it possible to obtain a vehicle report for free? In this post, we’ll show you the best ways to get an accurate accident report by VIN, easily & quickly.

5 ways to get accident reports by VIN

Here are 5 ways to access vehicle accident records and history. Using a professional vehicle search tool is the most effortless and time-saving. It works like a powerful search engine, pulling up everything related to a car when you input a VIN or license plate.

Method 1 – Run a VIN search with BeenVerified

BeenVerified is one of the most all-around and noteworthy people search engines that features a variety of search tools. With billions of public records scoured from different legit sources, it helps you to search for any person, property, or vehicle with ease.

By running a VIN lookup with BeenVerified, you’ll gain a better insight into the desired vehicles.

The report will not only show you the vehicle specifications and owner details but also relevant accident and salvage data, including the report date, damage severity, and impact area. You can also check if there were vital repairs and maintenance on the vehicle.

Beyond just vehicles, BeenVerified is also efficient and convenient for verifying people. If you’re dealing with a private seller, you can verify the person’s background and real asset details by name, phone number, or email address.

Method 2 – Search accident records with Bumper

Bumper is a well-known online used car marketplace. To make the buyers and sellers learn better about their vehicles, it provides unlimited vehicle history reports covering accidents, recalls, market value data, in-depth ownership costs, and more. The data is collected from NMVTIS, JD Power, NHTSA, reliable industry leaders, and insurance providers.

Go to the Bumper homepage. Choose to search by VIN or license plate. Enter the digits and click SEARCH.

It may take a few minutes to load up the results. From accidents & salvage records, vehicle specifications, and market value to 15 segments of information, the report will give you an in-depth understanding of the vehicle.

Method 3 – Explore vehicle history with EpicVIN

As an NMVTIS-approved data provider, EpicVIN offers easy and affordable access to comprehensive vehicle history reports. It reveals the most relevant information ranging from odometer readings, title records to accident history and more. You just need to provide a VIN or license plate number and run the search instantly.

EpicVIN processes data at a fast speed and displays a user-friendly interface. The report outlines different sections and how many records are there in each one. From the accident history, you can all the reported incidents or damage to the car, where the damage is on the car, and its severity.

You can also scroll to Sales History to view the pictures of vehicle status when it’s on sale.

Method 4 – Take advantage of NICB VINCheck (free)

The VIN check lookup tool of the National Insurance Crime Bureau is a free resource that’s available to the public. It allows you to search for a vehicle’s theft and total loss records quickly. Simply go to NICB VINCheck page, type in the VIN number and you’re good to go.

You can verify if the car was stolen, or reported as salvaged by the participating NICB member insurance companies. It will also tell you the date of loss and cause of the damage, but no more information regarding safety or accident details. You can run up to 5 searches within 24 hours.

Method 5 – Request the vehicle report from your dealer (free)

If you’re ready to buy a car from a dealer, you could ask them for a complete vehicle report. Most dealers will purchase vehicle history report subscriptions from notable third-party providers like AutoCheck or Carfax and should offer them to interested buyers for free.

You can also obtain free history reports of your desirable cars from online used car listings like Cars.com or AutoTrader.com.

For example, on Cars.com, if you find a vehicle in your interest, click the details page and you’ll see the vehicle’s specifications, VIN, and mileage, along with a free history report, provided by Carfax or AutoCheck. 

With the report, you can see if the car has been damaged or repaired, as well as the damage severity and location.  

So this is how to get accident reports by VIN. In most cases, a vehicle history report will include relevant accident records. But if an accident is not reported or declared with the insurance companies, it won’t show up in the report. You should consider getting a professional vehicle inspection and test driving before making the deal.

1. A car’s title is a legal document that proves vehicle ownership and notes certain conditions in a vehicle’s history. A branded title indicates the vehicle has suffered serious damage and was declared as a total loss, when the repair cost exceeds the vehicle’s actual cash value. Common branded titles include rebuilt title, salvage title, junk title, lemon title, odometer rollback, flood damage title, etc.
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