As a car dealer, having quick access to accurate vehicle information is essential. Before listing a car for sale, you must be sure of its history and verify its condition.
That’s where the best VIN scanner apps come in. They help you instantly pull up key details using just the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), making your job easier and more efficient.
What Does a VIN Scanner App Do?
A VIN scanner app lets you scan a vehicle’s VIN directly from the car or its documents to instantly run a VIN check. Say goodbye to manually typing long VINs into websites and say hello to VIN scanner apps. It also helps reduce errors caused by mistyped characters.
While many VIN scanner apps are available, not all are created equal. So which ones are actually reliable and built for dealers? In this article, we highlight the 9 best VIN scanner apps for dealers in 2025 to help you find the right fit for your business.
How Does a VIN Scanner App Work?
VIN scanners work with Optical Character Recognition (OCR). With OCR technology, these apps can identify a VIN number directly from the car or from vehicle documents. VIN scanner apps with high-quality OCR technology can even identify handwritten VINs.
After proper identification of a VIN number, the app searches through various government databases, like the NHTSA and provides vehicle specs and history, including:
- Accident history
- Theft records
- Damage reports
- Service and maintenance records
- Title brand records
- Ownership details
- Vehicle specifications
- Odometer readings
- Recall information
- Auction and sales history
- Usage type, and more.
As soon as the VIN scanner app collates the records found, they are displayed to the dealer as readable text, leaving the dealer with valuable information on the vehicles in the dealership’s showroom.
The Best VIN Scanner Apps for Dealers in 2024
Here we will look at the top 9 best VIN scanner apps for dealers. They are
- The VIN decoder and vehicle history app.
- Classic Car VIN Decoder.
- Carbly VIN scanner.
- VIN Info.
- Smart Car Check
- EpicVIN Vehicle History Report.
- Consultar VIN
- VIN decoder by Toysoft, Inc.
- VIN Scanner.
The VIN Decoder & Vehicle History App
The VIN decoder & vehicle history app is one of the best VIN scanner apps for dealers. This car VIN scanner app, introduced by Vehicle Databases Inc., is developed with high-quality OCR technology and easily scan VIN numbers.
The VIN Decoder & Vehicle History app lets you scan and decode as many VINs as you want for free with no limits. Just scan or enter a VIN to view detailed specs and, by clicking “Check Records,” access a full, easy-to-read vehicle history report.
Dealers can instantly view:
- Vehicle specs and features
- Ownership and title history
- Odometer readings
- Accident and damage reports
- Auction records (with photos)
- Sales history
- Maintenance records
- Service and maintenance records
- Recalls, theft, liens, and more
The app also includes offline VIN decoding, license plate lookups for US cars, and 24/7 live chat support. It’s also available on both Android and iOS.
READ ALSO: How Does License Plate Recognition Work?
Classic Car VIN Decoder
Next on our list of the 9 best VIN scanner apps for dealers is Classic Car VIN Decoder. This VIN Scanner app is dedicated to scanning classic car VIN numbers that are about 5 to 14 characters.
If you have been looking for a 5-digit VIN decoder, a 7-digit VIN decoder, or perhaps a 13-digit VIN decoder, then the Classic Car VIN Decoder app can fulfill your needs. This app has really high OCR technology and can detect VIN numbers on cars and documents with high accuracy.
The free Classic Car VIN Decoder app is the first of its kind and is known for its free classic car specs checks. With this app, dealers can easily access the following:
- Free car specifications.
- Comprehensive history reports
- User-friendly, easy-to-follow interface
- Support for vintage and pre-1981 vehicles
- VIN scanning capability for fast lookups
It’s the first app built exclusively for classic car VIN scanning and decoding, and it’s completely free to download.
Carbly VIN Scanner
The Carbly VIN scanner helps to scan car VIN numbers from vehicles, printed texts, and barcodes. With the Carbly VIN scanner, dealers and individuals no longer need to type in VIN numbers, as they can utilize the OCR engine in the app and capture the 17-character VIN number with ease.
The Carbly VIN Scanner app provides fast barcode scanning, and they make sure they provide full vehicle details for app users. It eliminates errors by entering the VIN directly into the phone and helps dealers streamline their workflow.
Be aware that Carbly is an app designed for licensed dealers only, and supports Code 39 and Code 128 barcodes. This car VIN scanner is currently available for both iOS and Android.
VIN Info
VIN Info is a product of VIN01 apps and is one of the best VIN scanner apps available for dealers today. With VIN Info, any individual or dealer can access information on theft history, damage history, accident records, and vehicle specifications. With the VIN app scanner, dealers can also discover the market value of their vehicles.
EpicVIN Vehicle History Report
With the EpicVIN Vehicle History Report VIN scanner app, car buyers and sellers can boldly walk into a dealership and leave with a good deal and a reliable vehicle. With this VIN scanner app, you can check for odometer fraud, ownership history, and accident history.
Other details the EpicVIN VIN lookup app may offer are odometer readings, junk and salvage titles, flood damage history, accident history, lemon history, service records, and they alsp provide the EpicVIN license plate lookup service.
Smart Car Check
Another contender on this list is the Smart Car Check app. It is designed primarily for vehicles in the UK and is an effective VIN number scanner. Available on both Android and iOS platforms, it offers a user-friendly interface that allows users to access a wide range of vehicle data efficiently.
The Smart Car Check app gives users a complete overview of a vehicle’s history and condition. It provides access to:
- MOT history
- Tax status
- Logbook (V5C) records
- Mileage discrepancies
- Outstanding finance
- Write-off status
- High-risk checks
- Theft records
- Ownership history
- Scrapped records
- CO2 emissions
- Vehicle specifications, and more.
Consultar VIN
Consultar VIN has swiftly made a name for itself as one of the best Carfax alternatives, according to reviews so far. This VIN scanner app for dealers was introduced by Consulta De VIN and offers a variety of services.
With Consultar VIN, dealers and consumers can gain access to free VIN decoding and confirm their vehicle specifications.
The VIN scanner app offers online and offline VIN decoding, a high-tech Optical Character Recognition engine, a 5-star rated user interface, classic VIN decoding, unlimited access to decoded VINs and vehicle history reports, and more.
With Consultar VIN, you can generate a detailed vehicle history report containing information on accident history, damage history, ownership history, auction records with photos, theft records (if reported), title brand information, odometer rollback issues, inspection records, service records, repair history, and more.
VIN Decoder by Toysoft, Inc.
Users of Toysoft Inc.’s VIN decoder have the choice of manually entering or scanning their car’s VIN number.
The app, like the others on the list, is available for free download and offers free VIN decoding service and delivery of vehicle history reports to dealers and manufacturers in North America, Europe, Asia, and a few other nations.
READ ALSO: VIN OCR – Scanning Technology Saves Time, Reduces Errors, Labor, and Costs (Explained)
VIN Scanner
The VIN Scanner app was introduced by Autoniq and is available to automotive industry professionals only. The app provides access to leading pricing guides like NADA, Kelly Blue Book (KBB), etcetera, and market reports.
The VIN Scanner app identifies VINs with high accuracy and provides clear, comprehensive, and concise information that is passed across in an easy-to-use interface.
Final Words
Overall, vehicle history report companies are beginning to integrate high-tech engines into the process of generating vehicle history reports. With the introduction of VIN scanner apps and optical character recognition, customers and dealers can have their VINs decoded at anytime and place easily.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can easily find the VIN number of any vehicle on its registration documents and driver’s side door jamb. You can then use VIN check apps like Detailed Vehicle History to find details about your vehicle.
Yes, VIN number typically comes with a barcode that you can scan. Alternatively, apps like Instant VIN Reports or Detailed Vehicle History comes with optical image recognition (OCR) that can turn the VIN number into readable data.
There are plenty of excellent VIN decoder, but some of the most robust ones are Detailed Vehicle History, Instant VIN Reports, EpicVIN, and VinAudit.
A car barcode scanner app uses your phone’s camera to scan the barcode on a vehicle’s VIN plate or documents. It instantly decodes the VIN and provides details like vehicle specs, accident history, ownership records, and more.
Yes, some VIN scanner apps are free to use. The top on our list is the VIN Decoder & Vehicle History app.
