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.
Just had the same thing on 9-16-18. Call from 412-314-7394. Meeksport, MA. Seemed very interested and then request I send a report from accurateautoreports.vin and send to BorisPiperXg@yahoo.com
Similar stories. I got a text to request report from asapautoreports.com then redirects to official.vin I had a question on what city they live. Same response twice…Like a chatbot. What a scam
Phone: 814-414-4304
Email: StewartGloverYN@yahoo.com
Official.vin is a SCAM. I fell for it the first time back in April but not again. The number this time was 814-399-2558 and email address was listed above. I told them I’d pay for the VIN check after they came to look at car of which they had inquired when we would be available. No more text messages after I told them I was onto this scam.
Same happened to me. Number was 717-563-1462 and email was ChloeSutherlandYXV@yahoo.com
The best site to get BMW GROUP VIN Info and History Reports is
auto-records.com
also here you can check and validate bmw vin using decoder “Free BMW VIN Decoder”
mdecoder.com
Is this a scam like all the others? Id rather just use Carfax. Thanks
DONT DO IT!!!
Same exact thing:
(717) 281- 3617
YvonneWalkerhk@yahoo.com
Just got scammed by telephone number 1(412)717-4683. Missed a call and they texted me if we can text instead. I did purchase it, since it was only $20. Now I have to cancel my credit card, frustrating… The email they used is JuliaSutherlandMCc@yahoo.com
all this from some craigslist loser, from 570-774-9706
saying: now isn’t the best time for me to talk on the phone, ok if we text?
Sorry at mall and lost connection!
I have some ?s about your car if it is still for sale?
how many miles are on it?
Sorry to bug you, are you still here though?
—–
anyways the email address for the request for the vehicle history is PaulLymantp@yahoo.com
anyways the person told me to go to autovinncheck.com which goes to the site official.vin/
anyways I knew there was something up cause I posted the miles in a picture already and suggested to the person that I can give the VIN code and have them look at the report for themselves there was a link on here to check the title status for free even before I went on this BBB page
bbb.org/en/us/article/news-releases/17576-avoid-the-latest-scam-with-this-bbb-tip-vehicle-title-scam
1-(570) 712-3599
EdwardRobertsKc@yahoo.com
Same thing here. Almost word for word texts compared to one the posts above.
Number was 570-306-5101 and email was vanessabakerxdt@yahoo.com