How we test VIN check services

Every service in our ranking is judged the same way: reports for the same cars, scored on six weighted criteria. This page explains the method, what the scores mean and what we do when a provider changes something.

Updated 16 September 2026 Prices checked on 15 September 2026

In short

In each test round we buy reports for the same cars from every service on the list, as ordinary customers.
Six criteria with fixed weights. The score on the ranking is the weighted total.
Prices are checked every month and every page shows the date they were checked.
The order of the ranking is the order of the scores. Commissions do not move a service up or down.

What we score

A report is only useful if it tells you something true about the car you are about to buy. The record criteria below are judged on real cars, against documents we hold for those cars. Price, usability, user feedback and support are judged on what an ordinary customer sees, never on what a provider says about itself.

Data coverage, 25%. How many of the countries and record types a service claims actually return records for our test cars. A country list on a homepage counts for nothing here.
Report depth and accuracy, 25%. Mileage readings with dates, damage records with amounts and photos, service entries, registration events, and whether they match the paper trail. A wrong record costs more points than a missing one.
Price and price transparency, 15%. The price of one report in local currency, whether it is visible before you enter a VIN, bundles, countdown discounts and how VAT is shown.
Speed and usability, 15%. Time from payment to report, languages, how readable the report is on a phone, PDF and sharing.
Verified user feedback, 10%. Reviews on independent platforms, weighted by how recent they are and whether the reviewer bought a report.
After the sale, 10%. Refund and credit rules when a report comes back empty, and how support answers a real question.

How a test round works

Choose the cars. A typical used import, a car that never left its home market and a car with a known incident in its past. We use cars whose history we can document from registration papers and inspection records.
Buy every report as a customer. Our own money, ordinary accounts, no press access, and no contact with the provider about the purchase. The provider receives the VIN the way it does from any customer and is not told it is a test.
Compare each report with the documents. Every record a report shows is checked against what we know. Every record it misses is noted too.
Score each criterion. The six scores are weighted and added. That total is the number you see on the ranking, out of 10.
Repeat when something changes. A new data source, a price change or a redesigned report means that service is tested again.

What a score means

9 to 10: a high total across the six criteria at a price that is fair for that depth; a gap in one record type is still possible.
8 to 8.9: strong on most criteria with one clear weakness, usually coverage of one country or thin service history.
7 to 7.9: useful for a specific case, a home market or a niche, but not our first choice for an imported car.
Below 7: a lower total in this comparison. The service can still be the right one for a specific country or car; the tag next to it on the ranking says where.

Prices

Prices are taken from each provider's own pages and checked every month, in the local currency where we could verify it; where we could not, we show the provider's euro list price and say so. The price we show is what an ordinary customer pays on the day we check, including a standing sale price where a provider runs one; a discount that exists only behind a countdown is not counted. Every page that shows a price also shows the date we checked it.

A price shown only after you enter a VIN or a number plate is noted as such. We think you should know what a report costs before you start.

Affiliate links and the order of the ranking

When you buy a report through a link on this site, the provider may pay us a commission. It costs you nothing extra. The commission does not change a score: the ranking is sorted by the weighted total, and a provider that pays more does not move up. There are no paid placements.

We say which service we would pick and why. The same six criteria and the same weights apply to every provider.

When a provider changes

Providers add data sources, drop countries, change prices and redesign reports. When we notice a change, or a reader points one out, we run the affected checks again and update the score. The date at the top of each page tells you when it was last reviewed. When we find an error in something we published, we correct it and note the correction on the page.

What this page will show next

The test log: one line per service and per test car, with the date, the masked VIN, what the report found and what it missed. It will be published here once the current round is complete.

Questions people ask

Do you buy the reports yourselves?

Yes. Every report in a test round is bought as an ordinary customer, with our own money. We do not use press accounts or samples supplied by a provider.

Why is the cheapest service not first?

Price is one of six criteria and carries 15% of the score. A service can rank above a cheaper one by scoring higher on the other five. The price page shows what each one costs and what you get for it.

Do providers know which cars you check?

A provider receives the VIN when we buy the report, the same way it does from any customer. It is not told the purchase is a test, and we never use press accounts or samples a provider offers.

How often do you test again?

Prices every month, reports at least once a year for every service, and sooner when a provider changes its data or its product.

Prices, features, and report contents may vary by provider and region. Ratings reflect publicly available reviews, our own testing on matched VIN samples, and aggregated user feedback. This site may earn a commission if you purchase through affiliate links, at no additional cost to you.