My son bought an old non running truck about 5 years ago. The VIN plate was missing off of the door so i looked at the frame stamped one which didn’t match the title. We went to the PD and they ran the number but only in TX and the surrounding states. There is/was no national database for stolen vehicles. Unbelievable.
I bought a Firebird Formula 350 on eBay some years years ago from a guy out of State. Picked up the car, shook hands and drove it home. When I went to register it, the DMV lady handed me back the paperwork and said she can’t register it. I asked why, she said it was stolen.
So I took it to the police. They looked it over and told me the Pontiac had more than one VIN number on it. Hood and fender stamps were different. Long story short, the car was stolen and an insurance claim filed. The stolen vehicle had been crashed, sold, repaired, and a salvage title issued. The vehicle was later sold to the guy I bought it from. During the process of finding out what happened, the State Police took my car for about 3 months….
In the end it didn’t really bother me. I was too busy wearing perma-grin while doing brake stands and burnouts every time the light turned green.
I believe carfax and similar services search all the databases at the same time.
It’s a few dollars.
Actually, there is, and most state DMVs use the system. NMVTIS (National Motor Vehicle Title Information System) has a contract now with Bumper.com for the public to use.
NMVTIS is what CarFax has been using for years.