About BidHistory

BidHistory is a free VIN lookup tool that consolidates vehicle auction records from Copart, IAA, Manheim, ADESA and other auction houses worldwide into a single searchable database. We help buyers, dealers, exporters and curious owners verify a vehicle’s auction history before bidding, buying, or accepting a trade-in.

What we do

Every day, hundreds of thousands of vehicles change hands at auction. Each sale generates a structured record — VIN, sale price, lot photos, condition report, mileage, damage codes, auction date and lot number. Insurance carriers and auction houses publish these records, but the data lives across dozens of separate platforms in different formats with different access models. We pull it together so anyone with a 17-character VIN can look up the auction record in one place, free.

For the technical detail of how we collect, update and verify the data, see our methodology page.

Who uses BidHistory

Salvage buyers

Verify damage descriptions, sale prices and lot photos before bidding at Copart and IAA. Spot vehicles that have been re-listed multiple times.

Dealers

Check whether a trade-in or wholesale acquisition has hidden auction history before pricing it for retail. Compare comparable sales for valuation.

Importers

Verify Japanese, Korean and European auction lots before shipping. Cross-reference VIN history to detect title-washing across borders.

Our tools

  • VIN auction history search

    Look up any 17-character VIN to see auction sale records, prices, photos and damage details.

  • Free VIN decoder

    Decode any VIN into its ISO 3779 structural parts — manufacturer, year, country of origin, plant and serial.

  • Browse by brand, auction or country

    Catalog index that links to every brand, top model, auction house and source country in our database.

  • Auction & VIN glossary

    Plain-English definitions of title brands, damage codes, auction terminology and VIN structure.

Our promise

  • Free: VIN search, decoder, browser and glossary are free with no signup. Always will be.
  • No reselling your searches: We don’t sell, share or remarket your search history.
  • Honest about coverage: We publish our data sources and limitations openly.
  • Mobile-first: Every page works on a phone. Most of our users search from their phones at the auction yard.
Contact us