About

Why Carlyst exists

Carlyst is a free VIN decoder and recall checker. Enter a VIN and get the factory specs and any open NHTSA recalls back in seconds — no signup, no paywall, no upsell to a "full report."

It's built and maintained independently by someone who works hands-on in the used auto parts industry. That day-to-day work — sourcing salvage vehicles, matching parts to the right vehicle, digging through spec sheets — is exactly where the idea for this tool came from. Looking up a VIN shouldn't require wading through ads and pop-ups just to find out what engine a car shipped with.

What this site does

Every lookup on Carlyst pulls live from two official U.S. government sources:

• NHTSA's vPIC database for factory specifications: year, make, model, trim, engine, drivetrain, and more.
• NHTSA's Recalls API for any open safety recall tied to that vehicle's year, make, and model.

Nothing is scraped, guessed, or pulled from a third-party reseller. If NHTSA has it on file, Carlyst shows it to you directly.

What this site doesn't do

Carlyst is not a vehicle history report. It won't tell you about accidents, prior owners, odometer rollbacks, or title brands — that data comes from a vehicle's title and insurance history, not from VIN decoding, and Google/NHTSA-style manufacturer data doesn't cover it. For that, you'd want a paid service or your state's DMV.

Your data

VINs you enter are sent directly to NHTSA's public APIs to retrieve results and are not stored on Carlyst's servers. See the privacy policy for full details on cookies and advertising.

Questions or found something that looks wrong? Head to the contact page.