How VINorNOT Works

Basic Scan (Instant)

Point your camera at any VIN — dashboard, door jamb, registration, title document. AI reads the 17-character VIN and instantly decodes it using the free NHTSA federal database:

• Year, Make, Model, Trim
• Engine type, displacement, cylinders
• Body style, drive type, transmission
• Manufacturing plant and country
• Open recall check (NHTSA)

Deep Scan (AI Search)

Deep Scan uses AI-powered web search to find publicly available vehicle history:

• Theft reports and stolen vehicle databases
• Accident and total loss records
• Auction history (Copart, IAAI, Manheim)
• Lemon law complaints and buybacks
• Odometer rollback reports
• Flood and salvage title records
• News articles about specific VINs

Your Privacy

VINorNOT uses a Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) architecture. Your phone talks directly to the AI (Groq) and the NHTSA API. There is no VINorNOT server — just static code on Cloudflare's CDN. We never see your API key, your scans, or your results.

Data Sources

NHTSA (free, no key needed): The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provides free VIN decoding and recall data for every vehicle sold in the US.

Groq AI (your key): Used for reading VINs from camera images and for Deep Scan web searches. Get a free key at console.groq.com/keys.

This tool is free forever. Buy me a coffee if it helped. Close