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.
Same as y’all… I’m selling a truck… Got a text with apologies for a bad phone connection.
Sent me to CarLemonChecker.com which forwarded me to Official.vin website… All a scam. LillianNewmanSC@yahoo.com was the email address they used.
Yep, same. Number that texted me was 570-306-4315. Email address was LukeThomsonUE@yahoo.com.
scam call from 570-652-5318: “bad connection” followed by texts resulting in a request for me to email a report carlemonchecker.com “recommended by his brother who in a car dealer, ” then email the report to KyliePowellKg@yahoo.com Then we can schedule a time to for a test drive… I am glad that I found this site before I got scammed..
EXACTLY THE SAME…EXACTLY!! MY BROTHER works at a car dealership BS I have a bad phone connection blah blah
Such a scam number they were calling from was 540-991-1883 they called at 9:30 pm and then text sorry his phone was dropping calls but he is very interested in my Jeep advertised in autotrader and he said his brother works at a dealership and recommends the official vin website I told him no I can use car fax as it’s been around forever and he emailed back he would be awaiting my vehicle check from that website thru his email. What a complete dumb ass does he not get the fact I am not going to order and it smelt way to fishy. Go scam some other pool soul out of money. I hate this !!! It’s sad that u cannot even advertise a car without this crap going on. Thanks so much for the helpful info
Just got this one from 484-738-1186 and the email associated with it was RichardCameronFP@yahoo.com asking for a VIN check at carbgchecked.com
So thankful I found all of these comments first. As soon as the page asked for payment I was very suspicious.
Same story as all the rest of you. I received the phony call/texts from 484-852-2960 and the email JakeBakerkK@yahoo.com. My car was listed on Craigslist.
Just had the hang up/bad connection scam happen to me as well. Thank goodness this site was up and I was able to find these reviews before going to the site they referred.
The info they used:
(717) 403-5628
SallyLawrencelCk@yahoo.com
Another number : +1 (717) 403-3139
And email :SamWilsonTOjw@yahoo.com
Forgot to add, .vin the domain name for this site, was intended for sites having to do with wine – thus, .vin – scam from beginning to end…
Please add gabriellePooleKQ@yahoo.com, 540-866-1274. I am in VA and I assume they know this from my phone number on cars.com, so they called from a VA exchange (540) to appear local. Be careful.
Same scam call from 717-366-3296: “bad connection” followed by texts resulting in a request for me to email a report carlemonchecker.com “recommended by his brother” to lukeoliverbl@yahoo.com.