Getting car values online - want VIN or plate#

[AZjeff]

2 family members are thinking about selling or trading their vehicles in the near future and I'd like to get ballpark values for them beforehand. Every source I think should be valid wants you to input the VIN or license plate number to either continue or get the number at the end. A Carvana offer is a good tool but they don't need too much personal info until things get serious. Do these places have access to the owner's personal info from either the VIN or plate #?

 

[twouvakind]

NADA?

 

[GON]

When entering a plate, the vin is pulled from the plate registration. The vin is used to process the appraisal, not the plate.

The only tool that is unbiased and current is the black book. It tells what vehicles sold at auction the prior week. Any other online appraisal is not necessarily accurate by any means. With black book, you now know what the vehicle will sell for at a dealer only auction, and you can price the used vehicle based on that. Finding a site that will give free black book appraisals takes some work, but well worth it. I used to use a credit union site to get black book, but the link is dead.

 

[AZjeff]

Or Manheim Market Report (MMR). I have a friend in the biz back in Pa who I can call but hate to bug him too much. I'm more concerned if they can pull owner, address, etc from the plate or VIN.

NADA = National Automotive Dealers Association. Biased against owners and for dealers.

 

[GON]

Or Manheim Market Report (MMR). I have a friend in the biz back in Pa who I can call but hate to bug him too much. I'm more concerned if they can pull owner, address, etc from the plate or VIN.

NADA = National Automotive Dealers Association. Biased against owners and for dealers.

If they are willing to pay for the data, I am sure an online appraisal tool can pull owner name, address, etc from the vin or plate for some states. Does the state where the vehicle is registered at allow the sale of the data is the question.

Here is a link to a black book appraisal. Likely best to have a fake email address:

Site Maintenance

 

[GON]

That link I posted for black book appraisals at chevrolet dot com ended up being worthless. I tested two later model f350s and the response was value could not be determined. Looks like chevrolet is paying car and driver dot come for the use of the black book interface.

Can't believe Chevrolet's main web site would have such a possible nefarious link.

Of course, my fake email is now getting emails from Chevrolet/ Car and Driver (and of course I never request a credit score) Thankful for using a fake email and fake phone number:

If I could do this again, I would have entered Mary Barra (GM CEO) as my name, and her personal cell phone as my phone number (no I don't have her personal cell phone number). Then the salesman would have been calling Mary on her personal cell phone.....

​ Hello GON, Thank you for using the free Equifax® credit score tool. If we found a relevant dealer near you, we passed them your vehicle request and contact information.

​

​ Your dream vehicle

 

[CKN]

2 family members are thinking about selling or trading their vehicles in the near future and I'd like to get ballpark values for them beforehand. Every source I think should be valid wants you to input the VIN or license plate number to either continue or get the number at the end. A Carvana offer is a good tool but they don't need too much personal info until things get serious. Do these places have access to the owner's personal info from either the VIN or plate #?

If you have a drivers license, insurance, or register a vehicle you have zero privacy.

To think other wise is nonsensical.

 

[GON]

It appears potentially more nefarious from Chevrolet dot com. The site stated the could not process my online appraisal they offered, but they sure did send the vehicle I was test appraising to a local chevy dealer.

Bait and switch at Chevrolet dot com? @alarmguy - sell your GM stock, still a dirty corporation deep in its core. GM will be going BK again in the next decade....

​

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I look forward to speaking with you soon and the opportunity to earn your business. Sincerely, Casey​

 

[eljefino]

In 1997 Maine turned vehicle registration information private.

If your state has similar privacy laws, you're in a much better spot. If they don't, you aren't.

A lot of these online tools are fishing expeditions for dealeship leads. I thought, naively, that getting a new car quote from trucar.com would be an automated process and I'd be left alone after the fact!

You might as well put the VIN in, that way they know what motor you have and other details Sally Homemaker would get wrong. Don't be surprised if you invest 10 minutes of your time into increasingly invasive forms on the same webpage. Sunk cost fallacy and whatnot.

 

[AZjeff]

If you have a drivers license, insurance, or register a vehicle you have zero privacy.

To think other wise is nonsensical.

I don't want the dealer ads coming to family like GON is now getting because I provided a VIN or plate #.

Edmunds used to be good for this and was regionally accurate but no longer the case.

 

[CKN]

I don't want the dealer ads coming to family like GON is now getting because I provided a VIN or plate #.

Edmunds used to be good for this and was regionally accurate but no longer the case.

Use The Brave browser with the torrent pull down upper right. Problem solved with no anxiety. That's what I do.

 

[AZjeff]

We got away from the original question: does giving Carvana or Carmax or Edmunds the VIN or plate allow them to know the owner, address, etc of the vehicle. Apparently the answer is nobody knows.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

A LexisNexis VIN search could reveal the owner.

 

[GON]

We got away from the original question: does giving Carvana or Carmax or Edmunds the VIN or plate allow them to know the owner, address, etc of the vehicle. Apparently the answer is nobody knows.

The default answer is yes. An example of this is vehicle insurance. When I went to switch insurance from GEICO to USAA, USAA knew all my vehicles, without input from me. That means that USAA had access to a private database with my vehicle and other information, quite possibly a Lexus-Nexus database. Private firms pay secretary of states for the states DMV database, and then resell that information.

If Carvana, etc. want to pay for the data, or already have via a subscription, they more likely than not can have access to the owner's information based simply on a VIN.

 

[eljefino]

The default answer is yes. An example of this is vehicle insurance. When I went to switch insurance from GEICO to USAA, USAA knew all my vehicles, without input from me. That means that USAA had access to a private database with my vehicle and other information, quite possibly a Lexus-Nexus database. Private firms pay secretary of states for the states DMV database, and then resell that information.

If Carvana, etc. want to pay for the data, or already have via a subscription, they more likely than not can have access to the owner's information based simply on a VIN.

I suspect it's my own insurance company reporting to Lexis-Nexus. I, too, was unpleasantly surprised when I switched and they had all my info.

 

[CKN]

I ran my Lexis-Nexus report.This is what the insurance companies use. It has very in-depth information. Present mortgage, past mortgages, current residence, vehicles owned, owned past residences, claims history, EVERYTHING!

As I mentioned, you owned a vehicle, a house-you should no expectation of privacy of your financial information.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Just to add my two cents because I use it every day. LexisNexis shows everything which is permitted per state law. California for example prohibits the disclosure of some detailed information such as MVR.