Official VIN (officialvin.com) is a web-based platform which performs vehicle history reports.
The site was registered on January 2nd, 2018 by OfficialVIN Service.
Official VIN Overview
Official VIN’s operation is based around the principle of creating a more secure vehicle acquisition experience in terms of being able to perform history reports on any vehicle within a few short minutes.
While Official VIN fails to provide information regarding their origins, according to their domain, they are actively operating in a partnership with the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System along with undisclosed government agencies and industry partners.
These various partnerships enable Official VIN to obtain a designated vehicles history report and provides them to the consumer for a rate of $18.95 a piece.
How does Official VIN Work?
According to research, Official VIN appears to function as an intermediary service platform for their partnered organizations.
As stated at their domain, the majority of vehicle history reports acquired are obtained through affiliation with the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS).
Those looking to research the history of a particular vehicle are able to enter the vehicles VIN number along with the designated zip code.
Within a few short minutes, Official VIN obtains the report from NMVTIS and renders the obtained history report in an order form which prompts the user to order their vehicle history report for $18.95.
Among the criteria covered in a vehicles history report would be title problem checks, prior damage checks, odometer checks, salvage/theft/lien checks along with historical events such as impound, export, recall and online sale records.
Due to operating in affiliation with the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, Official VIN infers and supports that each obtained vehicle history report is backed with 100% transparency.
Question Marks and Red Flags
Official VIN is only compatible with US citizens which likely infers that their operation is based out of the United States. Official VIN is allegedly owned by OfficialVIN Service, although we were unsuccessful in finding any records at the Better Business Bureau to support their claim.
While the footer of their site incorporates a cumulative total vehicles checks widget of over 13.8 million, it raises speculation in regards the accuracy of this claim due to the fact that according to a WHOIS report, officialvin.com was a privately registered site that has a creation date of January 2nd, 2018.
Whether the alleged total vehicles checked is through Official VIN or through the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, we are uncertain, but it seems highly unlikely it would pertain to Official VIN’s operation.
Among of the most pressing concerns regarding Official VIN that should be answered would be what is their corporate number and why the site doesn’t incorporate identifiable features regarding their operation.
In order to find anything of value regarding identity we had to scrounge their Privacy Policy which only disclosed OfficialVIN Service along with support@officialvin.com as identifying features.
Community Feedback
When we first published this review, Official VIN was only a couple of months old and had yet failed to acquire much community feedback.
A couple months after composing the original publication though, we have received many reports of unethical business practices in regards to Official VIN.
Shared below this review are some of the disturbing reports and the professional courtesy one could promptly expect from Official VIN.
Phone Numbers Reported
- 767-907-8606
- 573-539-4979
- 573-401-9686
- 573-389-0593
- 740-901-6526
- 215-560-0989
- 708-779-1747
- 805-678-1756
- 484-983-6473
- 484-983-6431
- 607-354-5504
- 760-249-0712
- 267-794-1455
- 470-615-8516
- 573-562-0431
- 573-574-9389
- 762-524-8923
- 470-274-9630
- 708-640-8439
- 740-330-1602
- 909-686-3058
Email Addresses Reported
- NatalieMcLeanGuU@Yahoo.com
- TheresaClarkNY@yahoo.com
- PeterKerrSC@yahoo.com
- AngelaHamiltonpD@yahoo.com
- SamRobertsonCZ@yahoo.com
- PhilWilkinsoYt@yahoo.com
- RachelDaviesaC@yahoo.com
- JasmineClarksonEN@yahoo.com
- AmeliaParrPEY@yahoo.com
- sophielnceYRE@yahoo.com
- TheresaPaigeoYf@yahoo.com
- VaughanWandaeG@yahoo.com
- AnthonyRutherfordHo@yahoo.com
- PeterRutherfordpbT@yahoo.com
- michelleNorthwyp@yahoo.com
- BrianGibsonbi@yahoo.com
- JoanneMacLeodZHy@yahoo.com
- WatsonAlexandrasR@yahoo.com
Complaints regarding the disclosed telephone numbers and email addresses have been filed against Official VIN.
Popularity
OfficialVIN.com has reflected an unnatural and unprecedented surge in growth according to SimiliarWeb.
Reflecting a global rank of 423,066 with a US rank of 91,591, Official VIN went from supporting 9,000 monthly visitors in January 2018 to over 150,000 as of February 2018.
During the time of writing this review (March 2018), Official VIN receives approximately 44.48% of their traffic from referral based sources while 17.90% is composed from e-mail based sources.
During the time of updating this review (May 1st, 2018), OfficialVIN.com has significantly loss traffic circulation and went from reflecting a global rank of 423,066 to 1,505,472. Previously, Official VIN was reflecting signs of utilizing inorganic traffic acquisition practices to acquire additional traffic but according to recent research and community feedback their site has declined in popularity and trustability.
Should Official VIN be Trusted?
Official VIN functions as an independent and nearly anonymous operation which are normally indications one should avoid when considering using any incentivized platform.
At first, we found Official VIN trustable due to their affiliation with the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System although troubling consumer feedback has made us reconsider our position. Therefore, we are no longer suggesting that Official VIN is trustworthy.
Official VIN Review – The Ruling
When it comes to utilizing or fulfilling a purchase through a newly created domain such as officialvin.com, we always encourage to exercise caution and check for insightful community feedback before committing.
Combining the updated community consensus in accordance with the research we disclosed in the review above, we are not recommending Official VIN.
Scammer texted me off of my Craigslist add:
Scammer phone number 610-686-2264
Hey there! I’m hoping your Cadillac is still available…
I’m in Reading…
Also, I want to make sure that everything checks up with the car. Do you mind getting a car report from trackingtires.com/hZsvxgy/c304…
I just want to see if your car is clean and if there were any previous accidents/title issues…
and forward the document to my email AmeliaParrPEY@yahoo.com…
I texted them and asked if the website was legit? Didn’t get a response.
Anyway, the website looked suspicious so I went to KBB to get a VIN history report and sent them that – still thinking that the person was legit. The email was rejected. Then I saw the email on this blog. I am glad I didn’t put my info into the trackingtires website – lesson learned.
I listed a motorcycle on Craigslist and had a call from 717-619-4107. I normally don’t answer, but did and a male voice said, “Can you hear me?” I said yes and then there was a disconnect. Shortly after the same number texted me. Here is a copy of our text conversation-
THEM-“Hey there! Im hoping your 2017 Harley hasn’t sold yet.”
ME-“Did you just call me? Because someone from this number called me and asked if I was there when I said yes, hung up”.
THEM-“If not maybe I can come check it out in the next few days? Im in Elk Mound”
ME-“When would you want to look at it? Did you try calling me?”
THEM-I can’t talk right now do you mind just texting for the time being please, I am at a church function but want to buy that 2017 Harley”
ME-Buy it without looking at it first? Why did you try calling if you can’t talk right now?
THEM-Also, some family members want me to make sure that everything checks up with your bike. Do you mind getting a motorcycle report from “http://mobilfacts-report.com/28nm/0872 I just want to see that your bike is clean and if there were any previous accidents/title issues”
ME-I have never heard of that site. I don’t want to put any information in there without knowing that is it safe and without meeting you in person first, since there are a lot of scam artists out there. You can talk to my husband as it is his bike.”
They did not respond after this, and I thought it was fishy that they did not answer any of my questions, so I assumed it was some sort of robotext. I tried calling and got an answering machine with a male voice that said,”This is me, leave a message after the beep”. I tried to leave a message but it gave me about 10 seconds to finish. I am all worried that when they asked if I was there when I answered and I said yes, that they copied that so they can steal something from me or use it to say I agreed to something as I Googled it and some people are doing that. :-/
same thing just happen to me the number was 18144928333 and his email is cameronhartbr@yahoo.com he wanted me to go to mobilfacts.com
240-546-5097 ericjohnstondk@yahoo.com was the scammer via AutoTrader ad I posted.
gordonmacleodmj@yahoo.com wanted me to send him paid VIN results from autoofvalidation.com