How to get a Carfax report for free
There's no free button on Carfax.com, but there are legitimate ways to read a car's Carfax report without paying for it. Here they are, plus the free checks worth running when none of them work.
By the Carfax Vin Check team · Updated
Dealer listings
Many dealers subscribe to Carfax, and plenty of them attach a free report to every car they list. Look for a Carfax link or badge on the dealer's own website and on the big listing sites. Carfax's own used-car listings include a free report for the cars on them too.
If a dealer's listing has no report, ask for it. Most will send it, and a dealer who won't is telling you something.
Ask the seller
Private sellers sometimes buy a report before listing, precisely because buyers ask. It costs nothing to request it. When you get one, check that the VIN matches the plate on the windshield, and look at the date it was run. A report is a snapshot: anything that happened after that date isn't on it.
Your own car: myCARFAX
myCARFAX is Carfax's free service for owners. Add your car and it shows the service records Carfax has on file and alerts you to open recalls. It's useful for keeping track of maintenance, but it covers cars you own, not the one you're thinking of buying, and it isn't the full history report.
Free checks that aren't Carfax
These won't replace a history report, but each one answers a real question for free:
- NICB VINCheck. The National Insurance Crime Bureau's free lookup shows whether a car has been reported stolen and not recovered, or declared a total loss by a participating insurer.
- Recall check. Our free recall check lists the safety recalls NHTSA has issued for the model, from public government data.
- VIN decoder. A VIN decoder confirms the year, make, model and engine, which catches listings that misdescribe the car.
- VIN validator. The VIN validator checks the VIN's check digit, so you know you've copied it right before you pay for anything.
Free reports to avoid
Search for “free Carfax report” and you'll find sites promising one for any VIN. Treat them with suspicion. The common patterns:
- A “free trial” that asks for your card and turns into a monthly charge.
- A summary from some other data source dressed up to look like Carfax.
- An old or edited PDF passed around, sometimes for a different car.
A real Carfax report has Carfax's layout, the VIN, the vehicle and the date it was run. Our sample report shows what one looks like, page by page.
When it's worth paying
If you're about to hand over thousands for a car and no one will show you its history, a report is cheap insurance. Here it's $7.99 for one. If you're comparing several cars, the 20-pack brings it down to $3.50 a report, and unused credits never expire.
For every price in one place, see how much a Carfax report costs.
Questions
Not the full report, unless someone else has already paid for it: a dealer who links one from a listing, or a seller who shares theirs. Free VIN tools can decode the vehicle and check recalls and theft records, but not its accident or title history.
Usually, but check two things: the VIN on the report matches the car, and the report date is recent. A report run a year ago won't show anything that happened since.
If nobody will give you one, buy from a reseller. Here one report is $7.99, or $3.50 each in the 20-pack, against $44.99 at Carfax.com.