The vehicle identification number (VIN) tells the whole story of a car, but a criminal may have altered it to hide the fact that the car was stolen or flood-damaged. Here’s how to review a car’s VIN to ensure you’re getting what you think you’re getting.
A criminal may try to hide a car’s history by:
- Removing the VIN plate
- Scratching out the VIN
- Altering the VIN (for instance, turning a 3 into an 8)
- Replacing a real VIN with a made-up (or fake?) one
- Replacing a real VIN with a copy of another car’s VIN (this process is sometimes called “cloning”)