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.
Got the same as everyone else. Got a truck for sale on Craigslist. Call and then texts from 740-849-1613 asking me to run a report on vinchecksupreme.com . It forwards to official.vin According to Whois vinchecksupreme was just registered on May 13, 2018. That’s the same day he first texted me. Clearly scammers!!
Mine was MeganTurnerni@yahoo.com. Same text as everyone else. Phone number 636-944-9574. I texted back that I googled it and said it was a scam and heard nothing else from her or him or it or scum bag!
Posted a car on craiglist. Got a text from (856)440-8452 today indicating they’re interested if I could provide a VIN history report from premiumvinncheck.com, sending it to RebeccaDyerOsoY@yahoo.com. Would not take a carfax report that I had, wanted the premiumvinncheck.com. Looked up the domain name with ICANN Whois and the domain premiumvinncheck.com was just created today, with the same info as Official.vin. Obviously a scam.
I got the call that dropped immediately. Phone number 781 923 9088 then the texting started. I’m supposed to email audrey Wilkens-Dg@yahoo.com
selling my car on cars.com. Got a call, then text today from (631)479-0812 referring me to pull a history report from vinelitecheck.com (redirects to Official VIN.com) and email them ChristianMetcalfeCl@yahoo.com. I asked if I could instead pull a Carfax report and all I got back was “Just LMK when you pulled the report and we can make a time to meet up.” Safe to say I will not be doing either of those things thanks to this article and these other comments.
Exactly the same thing here – I listed on Cars.com and got a call and then a text asking me to pull a report from VINPremiumcheck.com and email to JasonTaylorpH@Yahoo.com
call and texts from 857-520-1664.
Same here, just reported them to the FTC : reference number: 95595047
Same story here. Received a call asking if I still had the car. I said yes, and he hung up and sent me a text from 774 593 0692. Said go to this site, run the report, and send the report to him at MadeleineHillCT@yahoo.com. To each of my text responses, it did not appear that they were even read. It just seemed to be auto responses that did not match up to my text responses.
I just got one from 951-388-1292 to email vinnpremiumcheck report to CarolineHillea@yahoo.com. I got the same text messages as all of you.
contacted today. Same pattern, call then hangs up and texts directing to this site:
vinnpremiumcheck.com email: LukeBellSb@yahoo.com
I’m in Burleson and I got a call from a guy about my jeep and he hangup and text later with all the same pattern that everyone is complaining about. he text me later and ask to run a vin check on vin elite check. his email is LeonardrandallQH@yahho.com phone number (817) 839-1726
scam, 951-527-8784 kevinhartYM@yahoo.com reqeusting report from vinnelitecheck.com which redirects to official.vin, which seemed suspicious and thus prompted my search and findings here.