Free to low priced VIN reports or decoders?

[buslivesmatter]

Does anyone know of any service besides carfax that would give me VIN info on the busses I'm looking at? Also, I don't see transmission info mentioned much on busses. Where would I go for that info?

Carfax is nice but it's $99 for 5-6 checks. At this rate i'd need like $300-$400 just to check the VINs of all the busses i'm watching. Thanks!

[o1marc]

I doubt Carfax would be much help for buses. Take the VIN and contact the manufacturer for tranny info. Most sellers will say "it has an Allison" , DUH, 99% of them have an , some desirable, some not so much.

[mrlupr]

I use the NHTSA site. It's completely free and gives some basic VIN decode information to help me decide. https://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/decoder/

[IDIaddict]

I haven't tried it on buses yet, but I use decodethis.com for cars and trucks

Also a lot of parts places websites now offer plate and vin decoding

Edit: I just did my short bus... not sure how helpful it would be, here's the results from my VIN

[Drew Bru]

Originally Posted by o1marc

Most sellers will say "it has an Allison" , DUH, 99% of them have an , some desirable, some not so much.

Yes
And to piggyback on this excellent point, some sellers will misrepresent which Allison transmission it has and you think you're getting a desirable transmission when in fact you're getting a crappy transmission that turns out to be a lemon that leaves you stranded thousands of miles from home.

Buyer beware.

[buslivesmatter]

Originally Posted by IDIaddict

I haven't tried it on buses yet, but I use decodethis.com for cars and trucks

Also a lot of parts places websites now offer plate and vin decoding

Edit: I just did my short bus... not sure how helpful it would be, here's the results from my VIN

Thanks! I will check it out.

[Dirtdoctor]

Go to
A dealer and a good service mechanic will print off the spec build sheet. “Birth certificate”. If he doesn’t find another shop. I’ve gotten 6 spec sheets on my heavy vehicle purchases.

Cheers

[buslivesmatter]

Originally Posted by Dirtdoctor

Go to
A dealer and a good service mechanic will print off the spec build sheet. “Birth certificate”. If he doesn’t find another shop. I’ve gotten 6 spec sheets on my heavy vehicle purchases.

Cheers

Thanks...I will keep that in mind.