Know before
you buy.

Public records on used cars, motorcycles, RVs and ATVs, in one place. Federal recalls, owner complaints, crash ratings and documented failure patterns, straight from government databases and written in plain English.

Federal data, sourcedNo signupNo dealer moneyNo ads, no affiliates
Read this first
What this is, plainly
A free reference tool. Public information that already exists, gathered into one place so you do not have to visit four government websites to check one car.
Where every number comes from

Reproduced as published Safety recalls, owner complaint counts and crash ratings are pulled live from federal databases run by NHTSA and the CPSC. We do not edit, rank or interpret them. Every one links back to the government source so you can check it yourself.

Compiled and reviewed The known-problem notes are a written summary of failure patterns that are widely documented for that model, each tagged with an evidence tier so you can see how solid it is. That part involved a human deciding what was well enough documented to include. It is a summary of what has been reported on the model. It is not a finding about the vehicle in front of you.

What this is not

It is not an inspection, an appraisal, or a vehicle history report. It has not seen the car. It holds no opinion about whether you should buy it and it will never tell you to.

It cannot check title brands, accident history, odometer rollback or market value. That data is not free to anyone. Rather than guess, the report names each gap and points you where to go.

Nothing flagged does not mean nothing wrong. It means nothing was on the record. Get a pre-purchase inspection from a mechanic before you buy anything.

Free to use. No account, no email, nothing stored on a server, nothing sold, no ads, no affiliate links, no dealer or manufacturer money. Built and operated by MCC LLC because no free tool did this without an email gate. Questions or corrections: usedcarinformer@gmail.com
Start here
Check a vehicle
About 20 seconds. No signup, nothing emailed to you, nothing stored on a server.

On the sticker inside the driver's door. Fastest way, no typing.

or enter it yourself
More, if you want it
Where every number comes fromsources
Everything here is public government data, gathered in one place and written in plain English. Open the sections below if you want the detail.
Why this exists, and exactly where every number comes from

Before you buy a used vehicle you're supposed to check the recalls, read what other owners reported, look up the crash ratings, find out what breaks on that engine, and understand what the title actually says. That means five different websites, and most people check none of them.

Every number on this site comes from a public source you can go verify yourself. We don't have secret data, we're not guessing, and we're not selling you a report. The federal government publishes all of it. We just put it in one place and wrote it in plain English.

Where the information comes from
SOURCENHTSA vPICDecodes the VIN into year, make, model, engine and body. U.S. Department of Transportation. Check any VIN yourself ↗
SOURCENHTSA RecallsEvery open safety recall campaign. Look up your VIN at nhtsa.gov ↗
SOURCENHTSA Owner ComplaintsWhat actual owners reported going wrong, filed with the federal government. Search complaints ↗
SOURCENHTSA Crash Ratings (NCAP)Government crash-test results. See the ratings ↗
SOURCEOur own failure-pattern notesWritten by us, and every single one is graded so you can see what it rests on, a federal recall number, a manufacturer bulletin or settlement, or documented repair-industry consensus. Where we're unsure, we say so.
NOT OURSTitle brands, accident history, market valueThese are not free anywhere, and we will never invent them. Every report lists exactly what it could and couldn't check, and tells you where to go for the rest.
Why it exists

It started as a private cheat sheet, one person tired of looking up the same things over and over before going to see a car. It turned out to be worth more as a public one. There's no signup, no paywall and no dealer money, because the moment a dealer pays for placement the verdicts stop being worth reading.

Scan the car yourself with an OBD2 reader3 minutes
A seller can clear a check engine light with a $15 scanner five minutes before you arrive. This is how you catch that.
The driveway OBD2 protocol
What you need: a Bluetooth ELM327 adapter (about $15 to $25) and a free phone app. Car Scanner ELM OBD2 is the one most people use and it does everything below on the free tier. The port is under the dash on the driver's side, usually just above your knees.
The order matters
1. Plug the adapter in with the engine OFF
2. Turn the ignition ON but do not start it (key on, engine off)
3. Connect the app over Bluetooth
4. Read I/M readiness and all three code registers
5. Now start the engine and watch live data
Step 1: the readiness trap, this is the one that catches liars

Not Ready monitors mean codes were just cleared

When someone clears codes or disconnects the battery, the computer resets every emissions monitor to Incomplete or Not Ready. Those only return to Ready after specific drive cycles, cold starts and sustained highway driving, which takes days of normal use.

The red flag: two or more monitors Not Ready, especially catalyst, EVAP and oxygen sensor, on a car the seller says has been driven daily. The light is off because it was turned off, not because nothing is wrong. Ask directly, then walk if the answer is vague.
Step 2: check all three code registers, not just one
Active / Stored: currently triggering the dash light.
Pending: the fault happened but has not hit the threshold to light the dash yet. This is where a problem shows up before the seller even knows about it.
Permanent (Mode 0A): cannot be cleared by any scan tool or by disconnecting the battery. Only the car's computer clears these, after it verifies over multiple drive cycles that the fault is actually fixed. If active codes are empty but permanent codes are present, someone cleared them recently and the problem is not fixed. Most cheap scanners skip this register entirely, which is exactly why you should check it.
Step 3: live data with the engine running
Fuel trims (STFT and LTFT): add the short and long term numbers for a bank. Beyond roughly plus or minus 10 percent means a vacuum leak, a failing MAF or MAP sensor, or a fuel delivery problem. Check both banks on a V6 or V8, a big difference between banks narrows it down fast.
Coolant temperature: compare what the computer reports against the dash gauge, and watch it climb from cold. A thermostat stuck open never reaches operating temperature. Stuck closed climbs too fast.
Misfire counters: per-cylinder counts catch an intermittent misfire long before it sets a hard code. One cylinder climbing while the others sit at zero tells you which one to look at.
O2 sensor activity: upstream sensors should swing quickly. A lazy or flat-lining sensor is both a repair and a reason the readiness monitors may never set.
What this does not do

A clean scan is not a clean car

OBD2 monitors emissions-related systems. It will tell you nothing about the transmission's mechanical condition, suspension, rust, frame damage, or whether the timing chain is stretched but not yet throwing a code. A perfect scan and a bad car are entirely compatible.

Use this to catch what is hidden, then still get the pre-purchase inspection.

We are not affiliated with any scanner or app maker and we do not take money from them. Any ELM327 adapter and any app that reads pending and permanent codes will do the job.

Title types in plain Englishsalvage, rebuilt, lien
The title is the single most important document in a private sale. Here's what the words mean before someone uses them on you.
Clean titleNo insurer has ever declared it a total loss. What you want.
Salvage titleAn insurer totaled it. Usually can't be legally driven or insured until repaired and re-inspected.
Rebuilt / reconstructedWas salvage, repaired, passed state inspection. Legal to drive, worth roughly 20-40% less, and harder to insure and resell.
Flood / fire / hailBranded for the damage type. Flood is the worst, electrical problems surface for years.
Lemon law buybackManufacturer repurchased it for unfixable defects. The defect often followed the car.
Odometer rollback / not actual mileageMileage is unverified or known false. Federal estimates put losses over $1 billion a year.
Bonded titleIssued when ownership can't be fully proven. A surety bond covers claims, extra risk for a buyer.
Lien on titleA lender still has a claim. Never hand over cash until the lien is released in writing.

Two rules that never change: the seller's name on the title must match their photo ID, and the title must be physically present at the sale. "I'll mail it later" is how people lose thousands.

Your state's title, tax and registration rules50 states
Title transfer deadlines, sales tax on private sales, emissions requirements, and bill-of-sale rules all change at the state line. Pick your state for the official source.
Free buyer's guides by model161 guides
Plain-English buyer's guides for the most common used cars in America, the known problems, what they cost, and what to check. Same notes that power the tool above.
Browse the buyer's guides Keep Your Car Alive, free DIY maintenance guide
How this worksthe short version
The information that protects used car buyers is scattered across a dozen government sites, forums, and paywalls. We pull the free public parts into one place and put them in plain English.
1You enter a VIN or a year, make and modelNothing is stored. No account, no email, no sales call.
2We pull the public federal recordsVehicle build details, open safety recalls, and every complaint owners filed with NHTSA about that model.
3We add what that model is known forThe transmission that fails at 100K. The engine with a recall history. The hybrid battery quietly aging out. With rough repair costs.
4You get a plain-English summary and a checklistWhat to inspect, what to ask, and links to verify everything yourself.

Where the information comes from: NHTSA vPIC (vehicle decoding) · NHTSA Recalls · NHTSA Owner Complaints · NHTSA Crash-Test Safety Ratings · publicly reported model reliability patterns. Public safety data exists because of decades of consumer-protection law. We just made it readable.

Contact, corrections and feedbackwe read everything

Accuracy is the only thing this site has. If a year range is off, a cost band looks wrong, a statute has changed, or a verdict does not match what you found on the actual car, we want to know and we will change it.

Questions, comments, corrections or feedback:
usedcarinformer@gmail.com

We read everything. We cannot give advice about your specific car or your specific deal, and nothing we write back is legal advice or a substitute for a pre-purchase inspection.

Want to support this?

The site is free and it costs nothing to run, so there is no subscription and there never will be a paywall. If it saved you from a bad car and you want to throw something in the hat, that will be an option here soon.

Donations, if and when they exist, will never buy influence over a verdict. No manufacturer, dealer, insurer, warranty company or additive maker can pay to soften what this site says about a vehicle. That is the whole point of it.

Staying freeno paywall
The check will always be free. Down the road we may add optional extras, deeper model reports, printable inspection sheets, seller listing sheets. The core check stays exactly as it is: free, no signup, no catch.