Frequently Asked Questions

BidHistory is a free VIN lookup tool for vehicle auction history. Enter any 17-character VIN to see sale prices, condition reports, photos, mileage, damage details and lot information from auctions worldwide — Copart, IAA, Manheim, ADESA and others. No login or fees required.

Type the VIN into the search bar on the homepage and press enter. If a record exists, you’ll see the auction listing with price, photos, condition, mileage, damage codes and lot details. If no record exists, the VIN may not have been sold at an auction we cover, or it may have been sold under a different VIN format. You can also browse the catalog by brand, model, country or auction.

Yes. The VIN search, the catalog browser, the VIN decoder and the glossary are all free with no signup. We don’t resell your search history and we don’t require an account. If we ever introduce a paid tier, the existing free tools will stay free.

The fastest way is the contact form. You can also email [email protected]. We typically reply within one business day.

A Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is the 17-character serial number assigned to every modern road vehicle. It encodes the manufacturer, country of origin, model year, plant code and production sequence. Every VIN is unique — no two vehicles share one. See our VIN glossary entry for the full structural breakdown.

Vehicles built before 1981 use shorter, manufacturer-specific VIN formats that pre-date the ISO 3779 standard. Some auction records from Japanese and Korean domestic-market vehicles also use shorter chassis numbers, sometimes with a dash separator. If your VIN is shorter than 17 characters and you’re sure it’s correct, our search will accept 11–17 character inputs with optional dashes.

Three common reasons. First, the vehicle may not have been sold at an auction we cover — we focus on insurance salvage and wholesale dealer auctions in North America, Europe and Asia. Second, the VIN may be mistyped: the digits 0/1 are commonly confused with the letters O/I, which never appear in real VINs. Third, the vehicle may be too old or too new — auction records typically appear in our database within a week of sale. Try our VIN decoder to verify the VIN format is correct first.

The letters I, O and Q are never used inside a VIN. They were excluded by the ISO 3779 standard to avoid visual confusion with the digits 1 and 0. If a VIN you’ve been quoted contains any of those letters, it’s either mistyped or fabricated. The letters U and Z are also skipped in the model-year code at position 10.

Position 10 of the VIN is the model year code. The letters A–Y (skipping I, O, Q, U, Z) and the digits 1–9 cycle every 30 years. The disambiguation rule: if position 7 is alphabetic, the year is from the newer cycle (2010 onwards); if position 7 is numeric, the year is from the older cycle (1980–2009). Our VIN decoder handles this automatically.

Our database includes records from the major North American salvage auctions (Copart and IAA), the major wholesale dealer auctions (Manheim and ADESA), plus a long tail of regional auction houses across Europe, the UAE and Asia. Coverage is broadest for vehicles sold from 2018 onwards.

Copart is a salvage auction — most of its inventory comes from insurance carriers liquidating total-loss vehicles, and most lots carry salvage titles. Bidding is open to the public via licensed brokers in many states. Manheim is a wholesale dealer auction — the inventory is mostly clean-title trade-ins, off-lease returns and fleet rotations, and bidding is restricted to licensed dealers only. Different inventory, different audience, different price levels.

Run and Drive means the vehicle started under its own power, could be put into gear, and could be driven a short distance under its own propulsion at intake inspection. It is not a roadworthiness certification — just confirmation that the vehicle moved on the inspection day. Vehicles not meeting that bar are categorised as Starts (engine starts but won’t move), Engine Start Only, or Stationary.

Primary damage is the auction’s single-line description of the most significant damage observed at intake (Front End, Rear End, Side, Roll Over, Hail, Water, Burn, etc.). Secondary damage is a second area of impact, recorded separately. A vehicle with both primary and secondary damage has usually rotated post-impact, indicating energy absorption across multiple structural points — a bigger rebuild risk than a single-impact car.

Auction hammer prices reflect what licensed dealers and salvage operators are willing to bid — not retail value. Salvage vehicles typically sell at 20–60% of clean-title comparable value depending on damage severity. The buyer also pays buyer fees, lot fees, transport and rebuild costs — the hammer price is rarely the all-in cost.

A salvage title is issued when an insurance carrier declares a vehicle a total loss — the cost to repair exceeds a state-defined fraction of the vehicle’s pre-loss value. Salvage-titled vehicles cannot be legally driven on public roads in most US states until they’re repaired and pass an inspection, after which the title is re-issued as rebuilt. The salvage brand follows the title for life.

A salvage title is issued when an insurer totals a vehicle. A rebuilt title is issued after the salvage vehicle has been repaired and passed a state safety inspection. Rebuilt vehicles can be legally driven and registered; salvage vehicles cannot until they’re rebuilt. Both brands follow the title for life and reduce resale value, though rebuilt vehicles trade closer to clean-title comparables than unrepaired salvage vehicles.

Liability insurance is generally available on a rebuilt-title vehicle, but full comprehensive and collision coverage is harder to get and usually more expensive. Some major insurers refuse physical-damage coverage on rebuilt vehicles outright. Before buying a rebuilt vehicle, get a written insurance quote — don’t assume coverage will be available at the same rate as a clean-title comparable.

Frame damage is structural damage to the load-bearing portion of the vehicle — the body-on-frame rails of a truck or the welded structural sections of a unibody car. Once frame geometry is deformed, restoring it to factory spec is extremely difficult and rarely fully successful. Insurance carriers reflexively total any vehicle with confirmed frame damage. For salvage buyers, a frame-damaged vehicle is usually worth more for parts than for rebuild.

Generally no, unless you have specialist rebuild experience and a sharp discount. Flood damage causes corrosion in the wiring harness, ECUs, airbag computer, transmission and differential that progresses for months or years after the visible repair is complete. Symptoms include intermittent electrical faults, premature transmission failure, mould smell, and unreliable safety systems. Even a competently rebuilt flood car typically loses 40–70% of its clean-title value, and the flood brand follows the title forever.

Partially. Copart and IAA both have a public-bidding tier for lower-value or non-titled vehicles, open to anyone over 18 with a deposit. Their full inventory — especially titled, higher-value lots — requires a US dealer licence or registration through a licensed broker. State rules vary; check the auction’s help pages for your specific state before registering.

For a typical $10,000 hammer-price salvage car at Copart or IAA, expect $700–$1,200 in buyer fees, $25–$200 in environmental and gate fees, $50–$150 in title-processing fees, plus storage (lot fees) if not picked up within 2–3 days. Add transport ($200–$2,500 depending on distance) and rebuild costs (varies). Always model the total landed cost, not just the hammer price, before bidding.

Often, but the rules are strict and country-specific. The US 25-year rule bars most foreign-spec vehicles from import until 25 years after their build date. EU import rules vary by country and emissions standard. Many destinations require the vehicle to pass a roadworthiness inspection on arrival. Shipping, customs duty, VAT and registration fees can add 30–80% to the all-in landed cost. Work with a licensed import broker in your destination country before bidding.

Treat them as starting evidence, not the full story. Auction intake inspectors describe what they see externally and from a quick run-and-drive test — they don’t open the engine, scan the OBD computer or pull interior trim. Hidden damage (internal engine, transmission, frame stress, water intrusion) often isn’t catalogued. For valuable lots, pay for a third-party physical inspection at the yard before final bidding.

Auction records typically appear in our database within 1–7 days of sale. Each VIN page shows a "last updated" or "auction record from" timestamp at the bottom so you can judge freshness. Older records (pre-2018) have patchier coverage especially for non-North-American auctions.

We source directly from auction-house APIs and from physical auction docket scrapes; the data is as accurate as the original auction record at the time of sale. We can’t guarantee post-sale events (rebuild quality, secondary damage discovered during teardown) or correct mistakes in the original auction intake. Cross-reference with an NMVTIS report and a physical inspection before any high-value purchase decision.

We focus on auction sale records, not the full vehicle history. We don’t cover: dealer-private sales, off-auction wholesale moves, accident reports that didn’t result in an insurance total loss, service records, ownership history, theft and recovery records. For those, cross-reference with Carfax, AutoCheck or NMVTIS reports. Each captures different slices of the vehicle’s past.