Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about adding records, how personal details are hidden, what a sale publishes and what it costs.
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The basics5
A place to turn a car's service paperwork into a dated, organized history tied to its VIN. You photograph each invoice, Vinfirm reads it into a record and hides personal details, and the history stays private until you choose to publish it for a sale.
No. Vinfirm organizes what you upload, timestamps it and checks it against itself, for example flagging mileage that goes backwards. It doesn't inspect the car, check that a document is genuine, or grade or certify anything. The redacted document sits beside every record, so a reader can judge it for themselves.
Not unless you buy a Vinfirmed Sale for it. Every car is private by default on every plan, Pro included. A Vinfirmed Sale publishes that one car's records page for its sale, and you can take it down whenever you like.
A history report compiles events from outside sources. Vinfirm holds only the paperwork an owner uploads, and never accepts, reads or stores Carfax or other history-report content. If a record matches an event on a report, the owner can note that themselves, and it's shown as their statement. How that works
No. Anyone with the link can open a live records page without signing up. A buyer only needs a free account to receive the records when the car changes hands.
Adding records13
Invoices, receipts and work orders from a service visit, and pages from a stamped service booklet or log. Each needs to show the date, the shop and the work done; mileage helps but isn't required, so a receipt for parts you fitted yourself works too. Photos and PDFs are both fine. What counts as one record
The VIN can't be edited, because every record and the car's link are tied to it. Delete the car from its Edit details page, then add it again with the right VIN.
No. Each record is one visit, so pages showing different dates, mileage or shops are sent back to be added one at a time. A service booklet page is the exception: you pick which stamped entry this record is, and each of the others becomes its own record without being read again.
A few minutes for most documents, and several minutes for longer ones. The reading screen estimates the time for your page count and shows each step as it happens, from sending the pages to placing the redaction boxes. What happens while it reads
No. The screen is there to show you what's happening, not something you need to watch. The read keeps going if you leave, and Add record on the car's page brings you back to it. Finish and save it within 5 days, because an unsaved record is discarded after that.
The screen says why: it isn't a service record, it's missing the date, shop or work, or it covers more than one visit. Go back to your pages and fix them, for example by retaking an unclear photo or adding a missing page. If the pages cover several visits, you can keep one and add the others as their own records.
No. Every record is built from its document, because the document is what backs up the entry. You can correct anything the read got wrong, like a date, mileage or line item, but a record always starts from paperwork.
Vinfirm flags it rather than refusing it, for example when the invoice shows a different VIN or make. You'll see a warning, and saving the record means ticking a box to say you've checked the pages are for this car.
Yes. Mark the record as coming from a previous owner and it's grouped with the inherited documents, kept apart from your own ownership. How many owners the car had before you isn't something Vinfirm can know, and the timeline says so rather than guessing. More on inherited paperwork
It's read like any other record and written out in English, labeled as machine-translated wherever it appears. The redacted original sits beside it so anyone can check the wording. Shop names, addresses and invoice numbers are kept exactly as printed.
Each record keeps the currency and odometer unit its invoice printed, so it never disagrees with its own document. The car's totals are in US dollars and miles, converted at the monthly average rate and labeled as converted. A record no published rate covers is left out of the totals and counted, never treated as zero. Currencies, units and dates
You can correct the date, mileage, shop and line items, and hide more details on its pages, at any time. The pages themselves are locked, because the originals are deleted when you save. To add a missed page or replace a bad photo, delete the record and add it again. Editing a saved record
It's discarded after 5 days, along with everything uploaded to it. An unfinished record still holds the unredacted originals, so they aren't kept around. Until then, Add record on the car's page picks up where you left off.
Limits3
5 on the free Basic plan. Pro allows for a full history of records on every car, and a Vinfirmed Sale does the same for that one car on any plan. Records you've already added are never removed or hidden if your plan changes.
Up to 20, on every plan. That's the size of one document, not a limit on how many records you can add.
Each car can have a set number of documents read in any 30 days, and records or cars you delete still count. If a car reaches it, the Add record screen gives the date reading opens again. When an invoice's line items don't match its printed total, you can ask for a fresh read up to 2 times.
Privacy and redaction4
Not always, which is why you review every page before anything is saved. It works best on typed text in English, the major European languages and Japanese. Handwriting and other alphabets need you to place the boxes yourself, and the redactions step points out where something may still be showing.
They're deleted when you save the record. Vinfirm keeps only the redacted copy and the details read from it, so there's no unredacted file left to expose.
Every records page, live or archived, has a Report an issue link at the bottom, and it needs no account. If your own details appear on someone else's document, the removal policy explains what happens next. Content Removal
Selling7
A public records page for one car at a permanent link, with its redacted documents and documented spend. It also unlocks the gallery export for your listing, the handover to your buyer, and a full history of records on that car. It's $39.99 once per sale, or $19.99 on yearly Pro. What it publishes
The car's timeline with the redacted document behind each record, the documented spend and cost per mile, which owner documented what, any history-report events you've noted, and the mileage at sale. Nothing from the rest of your garage appears on it.
A zip of image sheets sized for Bring a Trailer and Cars & Bids galleries, either one row per record or every priced line item, plus the redacted source pages numbered to match. Every image is under the 10 MB limit, and the sheets read as your document, not a Vinfirm ad. The gallery export
Yes. Paste the listing's address at checkout, or add it later, and your records page links out to it. The page itself stays a records page, with no price, bids or offers on it.
Yes, at any time from the car's page, and it stops being public straight away. Until the car is handed over to a buyer, you can put the same page back up at no charge.
Through the link you share, usually in your listing. Someone with the VIN can also search for it at vinfirm.com/find, which only shows cars in a live sale. Private cars never appear there.
Only if you say yes. It's a separate permission at checkout, off unless you tick it, covering vinfirm.com and Vinfirm's social accounts and newsletter. Withdrawing it takes the car off vinfirm.com right away, but a post already published elsewhere can't be recalled. How featuring works
Handover and buying5
You invite the buyer by email, and once they accept, the whole history moves to their free account. Your records stay attributed to you, read-only, and your sale page is archived with an "accurate as of" date and without its amounts or documents. The car's link stays the same for every future owner. Handing the records over
No. The records arrive in a free Basic account at no charge. A buyer only pays if they later want to publish the car for their own sale, or document more cars.
The invite expires after 14 days. Before it's accepted you can resend it, send it to a different email or cancel it, and your sale page stays live throughout. Only a completed handover uses up your Vinfirmed Sale, so a new invite costs nothing.
The car you received takes your one editable slot, and your other car becomes read-only. Nothing is deleted. You are asked once which car to keep editable, or you can move to Pro and edit both. Receiving a car
Only from buyers who received a car's records through Vinfirm: one review per completed handover, enforced by the database. Reviews can't be bought, the seller can reply once, and ratings are never used to rank or recommend sellers. The full policy
Plans and billing7
Basic: 1 car with 5 records on it, the private timeline and cost-of-ownership totals, automatic redaction, and receiving a car from its seller. Publishing a records page and handing a car over take a Vinfirmed Sale.
Up to 5 cars at once, a full history of records on each, and Vinfirmed Sales at $19.99 instead of $39.99 on yearly billing. It's $6.99 a month or $59 a year. Pro doesn't publish anything on its own: each car stays private until its own sale.
No. A car with a Vinfirmed Sale that hasn't been used yet doesn't count toward your plan's cars, on any plan, even while its page is taken down. Preparing several sales at once won't push you up a tier. Managing several cars
On monthly billing, one month of Pro plus a discounted sale would cost less than the sale alone, so anyone could subscribe for a month and cancel. On yearly billing the discount rewards staying, and still saves $20 on every sale.
Your plan runs to the end of the term you paid for. After that you choose which car stays editable, and the others become read-only with every record kept. Every Vinfirmed Sale page you bought stays live.
No, charges already made aren't refunded. A cancelled Pro plan runs to the end of its term, and a Vinfirmed Sale that doesn't end in a completed handover stays with the car for another try at no charge. Terms, section 04
Volume is arranged with Vinfirm directly and priced on the Vinfirmed Sales you run, not on garage spots, since a car in a sale doesn't take one. Pricing for dealers
Your data4
Yes, on every plan. Account settings builds one archive of every car's records and redacted documents, ready to download for 7 days. A car with a Vinfirmed Sale also has the gallery export for listings. Exports
Yes, from the car's Edit details page. It's immediate and permanent, and takes the car's records, document pages, photo and exports with it. A car whose records page is live, or that carries a Vinfirmed Sale you haven't used, can't be deleted until that's dealt with. Deleting a car
From account settings. You're offered a full export first, and the deletion happens 30 days later; signing back in before then cancels it. A car you've already handed over belongs to its new owner and isn't affected.
The Help Center covers the app in more detail. For anything it doesn't, write to us and a real person will answer.