If you've recently bought a used car, then you might want to begin your examination of that vehicle's history by checking your car title. A car title gives you an incredible insight into what the car has been through before you got your hands on it. In other words, you can learn everything from how many repair jobs and what kind of maintenance the car has undergone, to whether it's ever been in an accident. Unfortunately, if you've never looked for a car title before, then you might have some trouble when it comes to tracking it down for the first time.
In the following, we'll give you a quick insight into how you can go about checking your car title in a way that is fast, convenient, and safe.
Start By Finding The VIN:
The first thing you'll need to do to start checking your car title, is to find your vehicle identification number, or VIN. The VIN is a seventeen-digit long collection of letters and numbers that is completely unique to the car that you are checking on. A good way to find this set of digits is to look at the insurance information that you received with the car. If someone drove your car before you, you can even ask that person about the insurance details if you can't find the VIN yourself.
You can also check the registration card for the vehicle, or check the sticker located to the driver's side of the car on the front windshield. If the VIN isn't there, remember that it might also be located in various different places, so you might need to do a little hunting. Try checking below the windshield, in the door jamb on the driver's side, and at the front of the engine block.
Checking Your Car Title Using An Online Search:
Once you've successfully found the VIN number for the vehicle that you want to research, you should be able to head online and visit a local government website so that you can conduct a full title search. In many countries, including the United States, the government keeps a rather reliable database of information regarding vehicles. All you need to do is go to a government history website and click on the check vehicle history button to find an approved solution.
If you're not using a service that was provided directly through a government website, then you might want to exercise some caution. Most of the time, conducting a title search for a used vehicle is not a free process, so it's important to make sure that you trust the website that you are using. After all, these websites require you to enter some personal information to get the data that you need. This is one of the many reasons why experts typically suggest avoiding a car lookup solution that has not been recommended and approved by a government site.
Once you have chosen the website that you want to use, your next step will simply be to follow the directions that are given to you on the website itself. This should require you to have your VIN number ready.