Terms of Service

Effective date: May 14, 2026

These Terms govern the VINState website, free VIN lookup experience, account console, paid VIN API plans, and credit-based API usage. Contact [email protected] with questions.

1. Service overview

  • Public VIN lookup is free for ordinary manual use.
  • The VINState API is a commercial self-service product that requires an account and API key.
  • API plans include monthly successful VIN lookup requests. Overage usage may be billed through credits.
  • Free lookup and paid API usage are separate experiences with separate usage expectations.

2. Accounts and API keys

You are responsible for the accuracy of registration information, the security of your credentials, and all activity under your account or API keys.

API keys are secret credentials. Do not publish them in client-side code, public repositories, logs, or shared documents. VINState may revoke keys that appear compromised or abusive.

3. Subscriptions, credits, and billing

  • Plan prices, included request amounts, and overage rules are shown on the Pricing page before purchase.
  • Unless stated otherwise, paid API subscriptions renew monthly until cancelled.
  • Included monthly requests reset at the start of each billing cycle and do not roll over.
  • When included requests are exhausted, successful API lookups may consume credits. The current overage rule is 1 credit = $0.01 and 1 successful VIN lookup = 1 credit.
  • Credits are prepaid usage balance. Credits are not cash, do not earn interest, and may be consumed before a subscription renewal depending on account state.

4. Cancellations, downgrades, and refunds

You may cancel a paid subscription from the billing console when payment-provider support is available. Cancellation normally takes effect at the end of the current billing period, and API access remains available through that paid period subject to plan limits.

Downgrades may be scheduled for the next billing cycle. Upgrades may require payment confirmation and may take effect after checkout is completed.

Fees already paid are generally non-refundable unless required by law or expressly approved by VINState. If you believe there was a billing error, contact support promptly with account and payment details.

5. API usage restrictions

  • Do not use the service for unlawful, deceptive, privacy-invasive, or abusive activity.
  • Do not bypass rate limits, authentication, quota checks, billing controls, or technical safeguards.
  • Do not resell raw VINState API access as a competing API without written permission.
  • Automated scraping of the public website is prohibited. Use the API for programmatic access.
  • VINState may throttle, suspend, or terminate accounts or API keys that harm the service, violate these Terms, or create security risk.

6. Data accuracy and disclaimers

VIN decoding and vehicle data may come from third-party providers, public records, user submissions, or internal matching logic. Results can be incomplete, outdated, ambiguous, or incorrect.

The service and all data are provided on an AS IS and AS AVAILABLE basis. VINState does not guarantee accuracy, completeness, availability, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose.

Do not rely solely on VINState for legal, safety, compliance, insurance, financing, purchasing, or title decisions. Verify important information with authoritative sources.

7. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, VINState will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, punitive, or lost-profit damages. VINState's total liability for claims related to the service is limited to the greater of the amount you paid VINState in the 12 months before the claim or USD $100.

8. Changes and contact

We may update these Terms as the service changes. Continued use after updates means you accept the revised Terms. Questions can be sent to [email protected].