How to check whether a car was involved in an accident

How to check a car for involvement in an accident online and for free

When buying a car secondhand, it is important to know whether it was involved in an accident. It is very difficult to visually determine this fact, since the vehicle undergoes serious preparation for sale. Therefore, before purchasing it, it is necessary to check the car for an accident using servers, where the fact of an accident that occurred with a particular vehicle is recorded.

Basic verification methods

There are two ways to check whether a car has been involved in an accident. First of all, you need to check with the owner of the car for its VIN code. It represents the number assigned to the vehicle at the factory. It is entered into the traffic police or insurance company database, where information about accidents is stored. Numbering is used to designate them. However, information about an accident by incident number is only available upon a personal visit to the traffic police.

Visual inspection

An expert will tell you how to find out if a car has been in an accident using a visual inspection. He will conduct a thorough examination of the car for defects. If it is not possible to contact him, you can arrange an examination yourself. In this case, it is necessary to act in stages.

Inspect the car's covering. Pay attention to the roof, hood and sides. It is better to study the latter by squatting down. This makes it easier to notice the defect.
Review the quality of the joints. Their width should be uniform throughout the entire connection.
If you think there is putty on your car, apply a magnet to the suspicious area. Having fallen, he will confirm your guesses.
Try opening and closing doors. If the geometry of the body is broken, your actions will lead to the formation of extraneous sound.
Pay attention to the uniformity of the car's paint.
Check the glass production dates using the stamps located on them.

The vehicle inspection is carried out in good lighting and without time restrictions. In this case, the vehicle must be clean. You need to check your car for involvement in an accident using the database even if no defects are found.

Checking the traffic police database online

Checking a car by VIN code for an accident through the traffic police is free. To take advantage of this opportunity online, you need to complete the following steps.

Login to the page of the official website of the traffic police.
Go to the topic “Vehicle check”, which is located in the “Services” section.
Enter the vehicle code in the “Vin/body/chassis” field.
Selecting a line that checks for participation in an accident.
Continue the operation by clicking on the “Request Verification” button.

The information becomes available after the captcha is entered. The database stores information about road accidents committed no later than 2015 and recorded by traffic police officers. If during the accident the owner of the vehicle did not resort to their help, information about this incident will not be there.

It is worth noting that accident statistics in Russia for 2019 indicate an increase in the number of road accidents with victims. Thus, most incidents do not happen without calling the traffic police.

By car VIN code on third-party sites

Information about an accident by VIN code can be obtained not only through the traffic police website, but also on third-party Internet resources. The services are convenient because the information is available without leaving home and for free. It records not only the number of accidents in which this car was involved, but also information about its theft or search. Let's take a closer look at several servers.

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“Autocode” is the most complete database of road accidents, the information of which is based on information from the traffic police and insurance organizations. The server covers all regions of the country, offering visitors not only to familiarize themselves with information about road accidents, but also to view photo reports of the incidents. The advantages of the server are as follows:

saving time;
accuracy of the information provided;
providing access to information by car number or VIN code;
providing the most complete information about the car.

In “Autocode” you can “check” a car for an accident using the VIN code for free. If you wish, you can purchase the most complete information at a low price.

Other services

You can also “break” a car into an accident using the following Internet resources.

Vincar. Here, information about an accident appears 15 days after it occurred. You can access information about it using the car code. Information is constantly processed by specialists who receive it from insurance companies.
Carfax. It is easy to use. All information is processed at high speed, forming a reliable and competent report. If necessary, you can create an electronic copy of it.
Vinonline. Here you can check your car for an accident using the body number or car code. This server records not only the fact of damage received as a result of the accident, but also the degree of its severity.

The most necessary data can be obtained for free. If you need access to extended information, you will have to register on the server and top up your balance in your personal account. You can give preference to online resources where registration is not required. There, information is sent via SMS, and payment is made mainly using a bank card. The cost of access to extended information does not exceed 500 rubles.

Through the Gosuslugi website

The easiest way to check a car for involvement in an accident is through the government services server. It has already become part of everyday use and no additional registration is required to receive information. You just need to go to the “Transport and Driving” section and enter the vehicle’s VIN code.

Checking for an accident through the State Services website will not take much time. It takes no more than 2 minutes to complete one operation. The car accident database here is compiled based on information received from all government departments of the Russian Federation.

Is it possible to contact the insurance company?

You can check your car for accidents by contacting insurance companies. They created their own database (RSA OSAGO), which contains all information about road accidents. However, only insurers have access to it.

Checking an accident under the MTPL policy is carried out if the client has a copy of the insurance policy of the car for which information is requested. If it is not there, then the information about the insurance policy is found out through the Russian Union of Auto Insurers. In this case, you need to know the car’s VIN code, its registration plate, body and chassis numbers.

Is it possible to check by license plate number?

It is impossible to check a car for an accident using its license plate number for free. The official website of the traffic police, which provides free information, suggests entering not only the state number of the vehicle, but also its code. Other online resources can provide the necessary information, but you will have to pay for it. However, the cost of such a service, as mentioned above, does not exceed 500 rubles.

One of the servers where you can check a car for involvement in an accident using its license plate number is Avtobot. He provides a full report, sending it via SMS or email after payment using a Yandex wallet or bank card.

The server is very convenient and fast. However, the information obtained with its help is relevant until the car is serviced at the dealership.

Another way: checking the driver

Checking the driver for an accident on the driver's license is another way to prevent the purchase of a damaged vehicle. The best place for this is the official website of the traffic police, where all the information about fines and deprivations is collected. Once on the server, you need to do the following:

Select the “Services” section.
Study the list that appears on the screen.
Click on “Driver Check”.
Enter your driver's license information in the window that appears.
Check that the information entered is correct.
Send a request.

After some time, data on fines and deprivations will appear on the screen. The fine for an accident confirms the participation of the car in the accident.

You can find fines for road accidents by car number through other servers. This is a government services website, Yandex browser and mobile applications. However, in addition to the state number, they ask for the series and number of the vehicle registration certificate.

Advice for future car owners

It is better to entrust a visual inspection of the car to a professional mechanic. If it is not possible to contact him, then you can organize this procedure yourself. A thickness gauge will help in identifying defects. It shows the thickness of the paint applied to the car, which allows us to draw conclusions about the car's involvement in the accident.

If you use a program to check a car for an accident, then you need to pay attention to the reliability of the source. Searching for facts about an accident involving a car on the Internet or through a personal visit to the traffic police is equally reliable. Only the Internet allows you to save time and does not require the provision of piles of documents.

When buying a car, you should pay attention to the clarity of the VIN code. If its contours are poorly visible, it is possible that it is fake. It is better to check a car with such an identification number especially carefully.

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Checking the car's participation in accidents and traffic accidents

As practice shows, more than 75% of vehicles offered for sale have been in an accident at least once. But the seller often hides this fact so as not to lose money. Therefore, before concluding a deal, it is recommended to check the car for accidents. Check the car for an accident by VIN or state license. number in just 5 minutes using the Autocode service.

How to find out if a car has been in an accident

If you decide to purchase a used car, be sure to check the selected vehicle in advance. This way you will avoid empty views (which is especially important if the car is located in another region) or you will be able to bargain based on the results of the inspection. You can find out whether a car has been in an accident by its VIN or state registration number. number online.

What other information can you get:

Number of owners
Mileage
Presence of encumbrances
Being hijacked
History of fines
Cost of compulsory motor insurance, etc.

With all this data it will be much easier to make a choice.

Why is it important to check your car for accidents?

Denis Lukin, auto expert

“It is necessary to have your car damaged in an accident not only because you don’t want to overpay for a damaged car. Deception is an unpleasant thing, but it’s one thing to simply have a painted bumper, on which one day the varnish begins to peel off and the paint and putty fall off. It’s another matter if the car has been in a serious accident and is welded from several parts, or the geometry of the body has not been completely straightened, and therefore its structure is weakened. The car can be torn apart while driving. If two parts are welded, the airbags may not deploy during an accident or may deploy randomly without any collision. Therefore, checking a car for accidents before purchasing is the first and most important necessity.”

Dmitry, did not check the car before purchasing

“I purchased a one-year-old Kia Sportage in excellent condition and with low mileage. I was incredibly happy! A little later, while driving in the car, something began to tap and noises appeared. A few more months later, when replacing the wheels, I saw cracks on the bottom. I looked under the engine and there were dents on the crankcase protection. When I took it off, I realized that almost everything inside was cracked, as if from a good blow. And from above the car looks like new. It is necessary to do an examination, and this costs a lot. In the salon, of course, they say that everything was intact when it was sold. And you can't prove anything. Looks like the repairs will cost me a pretty penny. Or you’ll have to sell the car at half the price.” I haven't decided yet. I still had to check the car for accidents online in the showroom.”

Mikhail, didn’t check the car before buying

“Two years ago I bought a car in Moscow. When they began to conduct an inspection with the seller, it was already dark outside. I didn’t know how to check the car otherwise. We entered into a simple written purchase and sale agreement. In general, I saw that the car was damaged already at home. There was hidden damage on the car - the gearbox and the left side of the car were broken. While driving, you can hear the suspension cracking. There is not a word about this in the DCP. The seller says he didn't know about the damage. I am the third owner according to documents, I found and contacted the first owner. He said that he sold the car to a dealer in a very bad condition. I really want to return the money, but the reseller has disappeared. Until he is found, the issue with the car will not be resolved.”

Why is it better to get your car in an accident using Autocode?

Most online services do not allow you to check whether a car is damaged or not without a VIN code. This confuses those who are faced with buying a used car for the first time. On the Autocode portal, it is possible to both check a car for an accident by vin, and check only by state number.

What other advantages of the service are:

Checking cars for accidents from any region;
Request by state number, vin code and body number;
Generating a full report in one click;
Convenient mobile application, you can take it with you to the transaction;
It has been operating on the market for more than 7 years, thousands of drivers have already appreciated all the advantages of the service.

Separately, it should be noted that since 2017, information on a Japanese car can be accessed on Autocode. Previously, this information could only be found through the traffic police using the body number (remember that cars from the land of the rising sun do not have a VIN code).

The report is compiled on the basis of data from government and commercial sources, including: checking the car for accidents on the basis of the traffic police, executive authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, judicial authorities, large insurance companies, etc. Thus, you receive data about any officially registered incident: date, location, type of accident.

Checking accidents by VIN or state number on the portal is much faster than searching for data on several sites. By requesting a full report on the Autocode website online, you can be sure that you will not make a mistake with your choice.

Checking whether a car was involved in an accident

Sometimes when purchasing a car, it becomes necessary to check the car for any registered road accidents. This is done in order not to fall for the scam of scammers and to buy a good car instead of a beautifully restored, battered wreck.

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And here the main question becomes: how to do this, and which method will be more reliable? In this article you can find a detailed and detailed answer to this question.

Verification methods

There are actually not many ways to check, and they are not particularly difficult.

So, there are 2 methods of checking for an accident:

Checking against the traffic police traffic police database.
Checking against the insurance company database.

The only disadvantage of these checks is that only facts recorded by office employees are included in the database. That is, if the seller had situations where the issue was resolved without the “cops” or “insurers,” then this is more difficult to identify.

Through the traffic police

Today, before purchasing a car, our government agencies provide such a service as checking the “cleanliness” of the car. That is, if you wish, you can find out all the official information and history of the item being purchased.

More specifically, using this method, you can find out:

Debts and unpaid fines imposed on the car.
Number of previous owners and information about them.
External and technical characteristics of the machine
Number of technical inspections, dates of inspections and final conclusions
Participation in traffic accidents. Severity of damage.

Also, an online service has been developed for checking through the traffic police database. Here you can carry out exactly the same diagnostics, only without leaving your home and using your home computer. This is a great option for the buyer. Before a personal inspection, you can understand whether it is worth going to it at all.

Through an insurance company

Not long ago, insurers created a common database of RSA OSAGO. It lists cars that have ever used insurance services. Since, according to the law, these conditions are mandatory for the owner of the car, we can say that 85% of Russian cars are listed there.

But here everything is a little more complicated. Due to the fact that access to this register is open only to insurers, you can only find out the necessary information by contacting them. In principle, there is nothing unrealistic about this. Typically, insurance companies treat every request of their client with trepidation.

Other verification methods

There are many online services that can be used to determine whether a car was involved in an accident or not.

Among them are the following resources: Autocode, Vincar, Carfax and Vinonline.

A resource of Russian origin, with which you can check your car for damage. You can do this in two ways:

By state number.
By vin number.

As a result, complete information that is available on the Internet in general should be provided. This includes: credit information, data on accidents involving a car, repairs after accidents, customs information and other information about the car.

Vincar service

Data search through the service occurs only based on the vehicle’s VIN code. The main block of information for Vincara is the registers of the traffic police and insurance services.

Cars are included in this register within two weeks after the incident is recorded by specialists.

There have been cases when the site crashed and provided incorrect information.

The easiest, most convenient online Carfax service

All detailed instructions are written on the website in an accessible form.
Here, even the information found is generated into a separate report for printing. Just like on Autocode, the car is checked using state marks and the VIN number of the body. But the app sometimes doesn't work properly.

As the name implies, the check on the site is performed using the vehicle’s VIN code. By the way, if this option does not work, you can check using the body number or the assigned chassis number of the vehicle. In addition to the fact of damage, the service shows the degree of its complexity.

The website has a detailed user manual.

Recommendations

Testing a new car can take place not only in these ways. For example, every experienced or even novice driver should have his own mechanic or a person whom he trusts to repair his car. Also, it could just be a friend who is well versed in vehicle repair and will help with the inspection.

Many drivers take their potential purchase to a trusted service station, where specialists perform an independent inspection.

It’s quite possible to determine this point by eye: you need to pay attention to body gaps, chips, cracks and other irregularities. First of all, they appear on painted parts.

For such cases, a device was invented - a thickness gauge. Thanks to it, you can accurately determine whether the car was involved in an accident and which element was painted. Also, with certain knowledge, one can conclude how badly it was broken, whether the geometry was damaged and how severely the body was deformed.

It is highly not recommended to practice this method for those for whom this car will be the first.

Among all the methods, the most optimal and most reliable is checking through the traffic police. They provide the most accurate and verified information from the depths of the state register.

We advise you to approach the issue of vehicle inspection with the utmost care and attention. It is better to fully study the car, carefully inspect every millimeter of the body, check for serviceability, and only then conclude a purchase and sale transaction, so as not to regret the choice you made.

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Checking a car for an accident

Checking a car for accidents is something that should not be neglected when purchasing a used vehicle. Thanks to the online service "AutoHistory" you can find out whether the car was involved in traffic accidents, what damage it received, and also see photos from the scene of the accident (not always available). Thanks to photographs, information such as the degree of damage received, damage to the engine, chassis or body becomes available.

Why is this information needed?

If the car was involved in traffic accidents, then this is a direct indicator of a decrease in selling value. Moreover, despite the restoration work carried out, the seller must indicate that the car was damaged. This information will certainly put off many buyers, but will attract resellers demanding lower prices.

You need to check the car for accidents before buying, so as not to discover an unpleasant surprise under the hood later. If the traffic accident was minor, then there is no need to worry, especially if repairs and restoration work are carried out in a timely manner.

How to find out if a car has been in an accident?

You can check a vehicle for an accident using the VIN code through the State Traffic Inspectorate. And here there are two options:

Contact the department directly and request information about whether or not the vehicle has been involved in accidents. Information is provided free of charge, but for quite a long time due to waiting in queues and wasting time on requests.
In an accident according to the state. number, VIN number or chassis, you can check any car on the State Traffic Inspectorate website. But this method also has its drawbacks. First of all, the imperfection of the system, which often experiences failures. Plus, the information is provided for a relatively short period of time – since 2015.

How to check?

Checking your car for an accident through AutoHistory is quick and easy. All that is needed for this is the state. number or VIN of the car that needs to be punched.

How to check a car: you need to insert the number into the form, and then click “Check”. A few minutes after payment, you will receive a full report on the desired car by email.

From the report you can find out the date and exact time when the accident with the vehicle being checked was recorded, its type and the region in which the incident occurred.

It also happens when the traffic police database does not contain information about whether any of the vehicles under investigation took part in an accident. However, this does not mean that the car is not damaged. Don't let your guard down - before purchasing, you should spend a little time thoroughly checking the car for damage.

How it works?

Checking a car for an accident by VIN and license plate number is possible thanks to the interaction of the Autocode online service with databases from the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate, ROSSTAT, VAS RF, FSSP, RASA and NBKI, which allow you to find out all the information about the car of interest:

car history;
legal purity;
general information and detailed configuration of the model;
technical inspection information;
exact mileage;
average market price and other information.

The information that can be obtained through the service is more than enough to make the final decision - buy a new one or look for another car.

Why is this beneficial?

Checking a car for an accident through our service is quite simple. You get rid of the need to personally contact government agencies. It is beneficial to have your car checked for accidents for several reasons:

a few minutes to enter data;
1-15 minutes – waiting for verification;
a few minutes to study the report.

The time spent at this stage will save a lot of effort and nerves in the future. If an inattentive buyer purchased a damaged car without knowing it, the blame lies not only with the seller, but also with the new owner, who did not bother to check the history of the car. Be more careful and know how to check a car before purchasing through the AutoHistory online service!

How to check a car by VIN before buying

Buying a car on the secondary market involves some risk: the car may be in collateral or be restored after an accident. In this article, I will tell you how not to buy a pig in a poke and check the vehicle for legal cleanliness and accidents before drawing up a sales contract. Moreover, this can be done both free and quickly, but for a small fee.

Collecting information on free services

We just need access to the Internet and government. car number (you can find it out from the seller by phone or look at the photos of the car). If you want to feel like a super agent and know everything in advance, then you need to get the full name and date of birth of the potential seller.

1. Checking the car for an accident according to the state. number

In fact, the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate has long taken care of motorists and has developed a convenient car checking service https://gibdd.rf/check/auto/. Here you can get free complete and reliable information about registration actions, traffic accidents, prohibitions and restrictions related to the car.

The only problem is that you need a VIN code to run the check. Therefore, if you choose a car remotely, for example through Avito, or the seller does not have documents with a VIN in his hands, the traffic police website will be useless. But there is one “trick” that will help us a lot - knowing the state number of the car, we can easily get the VIN code!

I once wrote about buying a diagnostic card online. So, to check its authenticity, I had to use the EAISTO database. The meaning of its work is that by using the state number you can find out about the current diagnostic card for the car, while the EAISTO check service issues the coveted VIN.

Just write the car number and press the “find” button. As a result, we get something like this (I painted over the number):

In addition to the code we are looking for, we can find out whether we will have to pay for a diagnostic card after purchasing the car or whether we can use the old one. Also, by the date of diagnosis, you can find out how long ago the car was insured (usually the card and insurance are done at the same time), and therefore indirectly understand the owner’s plans for its sale.

So, let's move on to the next stage.

2. Find out the history of the car by VIN code

We go to the above-mentioned traffic police website https://gibdd.rf/check/auto/:

We write the VIN at the top and click on all the links “request verification”, not forgetting to enter the numbers from the captcha pictures.

The State Traffic Inspectorate will tell us a lot of interesting things. For example, registration history:

What can you learn from this example? Firstly, the car has been traveling around Russia since 2003. Secondly, she changed many owners. Frequent “re-registration” at short intervals may indicate that there is a “jamb” in the car, which, when identified, each subsequent owner tries to get rid of the car as quickly as possible. This, at a minimum, should alert you, or better yet, serve as a reason to leave this option “on the shelf.”

Go ahead. Here is the most interesting thing, namely, the car is “not broken, not painted” or has a history of accidents (the database contains data from the beginning of 2015):

This information should be compared with the dates of re-registrations. If the car was sold after an accident, then most likely the damage was serious. Knowledge of the places of damage, coupled with a careful inspection of the body, will force the silent seller to tell where and how he “scratched” the bumper. It should be understood that the car could have received very minor damage, but knowing about them, you can reduce the price.

Now the most interesting part is checking for wanted status and the presence of restrictions (arrests):

In our example, the car is not wanted, but restrictions are imposed on it - a ban on registration actions. Until this entry disappears, you don’t even have to talk about buying this car with the seller. The seller has a debt recognized by the court and is being executed by the bailiffs. This could be mortgage debt, or maybe car loan debt.

Remember at the beginning of the article I talked about super agents? I hope you already know the name of the seller...

3. We break the seller into debt

Everything is simple here, go to the website of the Federal Bailiff Service http://fssprus.ru and enter the seller’s data into the form:

Click the “Find” button and enjoy your powerful results:

In the example, issuance by full name without date of birth. The more data, the more accurate the result. What is worth paying attention to here? First, look for the presence of writs of execution against the seller - if there are many of them, then restrictions may be imposed on the car. It will be difficult to register such a car with the traffic police. Secondly, pay attention to the number of traffic police fines.

4. Checking the car for fines

If you have the number of the registration certificate and the state license plate of the car, you can find out all the ins and outs about the fines of its owner using the resource https://govtdd.rf/check/fines/.

Perhaps our seller is a fan of “driving”, and this leads to an assumption about how the car was operated. In addition, if there are a large number of unpaid fines (depending on the traffic police department and the subject of the Russian Federation), a problem may arise when deregistering the car.

5. We look to see if the car is pledged

In order to check whether a car is pledged, you need to open the website of the register of pledges of the Federal Notary Chamber: https://www.reestr-zalogov.ru/search/index

On this site we will be interested in the “Find in the registry” item. Next, select the search tab “By information about the subject of collateral”, enter the vehicle VIN in the input field and click the “Find” button. If the search returns an empty result, then everything is fine and the car is not pledged.

Comprehensive verification through a paid service

You can also obtain detailed information about the history of ownership and operation of a particular vehicle through the paid service “Autocode”.

This official service can provide a complete and accurate report on any car operating in the Russian Federation, by VIN, chassis number or state registration plate. In addition to information from the traffic police databases, you can find out there: