Enter a plate and the state that issued it. Orto resolves it to the VIN, then to the specifications, safety recalls and history records behind that exact vehicle. Vehicle data only — never the registered owner.
The one thing a lookup cannot settle from public specifications is what has happened to this individual car — whether it has been written off, rebuilt, or had its odometer wound back. That comes from NMVTIS title records, and it is the only part Orto charges for. See what a report costs
It will not tell you who owns the car. The federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act restricts access to the personal information held in state motor vehicle records, and Orto does not provide it — not the owner’s name, not an address, not a phone number.
If you are checking a car you are thinking of buying, none of that is what you need anyway. What matters is the vehicle’s own record, and that is exactly what Orto returns.
Plate numbers are only unique within the state that issued them, so every lookup needs both. These are the states we are asked about most.
Yes. Orto resolves a US license plate to its VIN and returns the year, make, model, trim, full specifications, open NHTSA safety recalls, NCAP crash-test ratings, market value and an A-to-D Trust Score at no cost. The only paid item is the full NMVTIS vehicle history report covering title brands, salvage, total loss and odometer records.
No, and no legitimate service will tell you otherwise. The federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act restricts access to personal information held in state motor vehicle records, and Orto does not provide it. A lookup returns data about the vehicle — its VIN, specifications, recall status and history records — never the name, address or contact details of the registered owner.
The plate characters and the state that issued the plate. State matters because plate numbers are only unique within a state, so the same characters can belong to different vehicles in different states.
Orto covers license plate lookups across the United States, including the District of Columbia and the US territories. Coverage depends on the issuing state having a resolvable record for that plate, so a very recently issued or transferred plate may not resolve immediately.
Yes. If you already have the VIN you can skip the plate step entirely and go straight to the decode and history. The VIN is on the driver-side dashboard where it meets the windshield, on the driver-side door jamb sticker, and on the title and insurance documents.