The National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) is an electronic system that provides consumers with valuable information about a vehicle's condition and history.Checked 2026-08-12
Vehicle history report
A lookup of the title, odometer and salvage records reported against one VIN.
Also called: VHR · car history report · NMVTIS report
What it means
Definition
A vehicle history report gathers records tied to one VIN — title status, reported odometer readings, and any salvage or total-loss designation. The federal system underneath many of them is NMVTIS, which the Department of Justice describes as an electronic system that provides consumers with information about a vehicle's condition and history. Commercial providers add material NMVTIS is not intended to include, such as repair histories, recall information and maintenance data.
Why a buyer cares
What it changes
A report shows what a state agency, insurer or reporting business actually filed. Nothing was filed for work paid in cash, so a clean report means nothing turned up in the records checked — not that nothing happened.
In practice
Where you meet it
Sent over by a seller, or run against the VIN before an offer.
Two things that look alike
Not the same as
A pre-purchase inspection reports the car's condition now; a history report reports what was filed about its past.
Read next
Related terms
Pre-purchase inspection (PPI)
A mechanical inspection of a used car by a mechanic the buyer chooses, carried out before the sale closes.
Salvage title
A title brand recording that the vehicle was acquired as salvage or declared a total loss.
Total loss
The insurer's decision to pay the owner to replace a vehicle rather than pay to repair it.
Odometer rollback
Disconnecting, resetting or altering an odometer so the vehicle shows fewer miles than it has travelled.
Where this comes from
Sources
Private vehicle history providers offer beneficial information to the public that is not intended to be included in NMVTIS, such as vehicle repair histories, recall information, and other care and maintenance dataChecked 2026-08-12
How consistently each state and insurer reports into NMVTIS was not verified.