We identify vehicles, not people. A license plate lookup on CleanCarHistory returns only the vehicle it belongs to, such as its VIN, year, make and model. We never reveal the name, address, phone number or any other personal information of a vehicle's owner or driver.
1. About the Driver's Privacy Protection Act
The Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994 (DPPA), 18 U.S.C. § 2721 et seq., is a federal law that restricts how state motor vehicle departments and anyone who receives their records may obtain, use and disclose personal information from motor vehicle records. The law protects details such as a person's name, address, telephone number, photograph, Social Security number, driver identification number and medical or disability information. It allows that information to be used only for specific permissible purposes listed in the statute, and it provides civil remedies and criminal fines for misuse.
Many states have adopted their own laws that add further protections for motor vehicle records. CleanCarHistory designs the Service to comply with the DPPA and applicable state laws.
2. How license plate lookups work
- You enter a license plate number and the state that issued it.
- We use licensed data sources to match the plate to the vehicle it is currently or was last registered to.
- We return vehicle identification only: the VIN, year, make and model, along with the decoded vehicle specifications.
- From there you can run a free VIN check or buy a full vehicle history report on that VIN.
Plate matches depend on the data available for each state and may not always be possible, especially for new, transferred, temporary or specialty plates. If a plate cannot be matched, you can search by VIN instead.
3. Personal information we never disclose
CleanCarHistory does not disclose any personal information from motor vehicle records, including:
- names of current or previous owners or drivers;
- home, mailing or email addresses;
- telephone numbers;
- photographs or images of individuals;
- Social Security numbers;
- driver's license or identification numbers;
- medical or disability information.
Ownership and registration information in our reports is limited to vehicle-level events, such as the number of owners on record, the state of registration and approximate dates of title or registration changes. None of it identifies the people involved.
4. Your responsibilities
By using a license plate lookup or any other part of the Service, you agree that you will use it only to research a vehicle, for example one you are thinking of buying or selling, or one you already own. You agree that you will not:
- use the Service to find, identify, locate or contact the owner or driver of a vehicle, or anyone else;
- use the Service to stalk, harass, threaten, intimidate or harm any person;
- try to combine our results with other data to identify an individual;
- use the Service for any purpose that violates the DPPA, state motor vehicle privacy laws or any other law.
If you need personal information from a motor vehicle record for a purpose the DPPA permits, such as a court proceeding, you must request it through the proper legal channels, such as the relevant state agency. CleanCarHistory cannot provide it.
5. Monitoring and enforcement
We monitor use of the Service for patterns that suggest abuse, such as unusually high volumes of plate searches, and we may limit, suspend or terminate access that we believe violates this statement or our Terms of Service. Where appropriate, we may report suspected unlawful activity to law enforcement. Misuse of motor vehicle record information can lead to civil liability and criminal penalties under federal and state law.
6. Questions or reporting misuse
If you have questions about this statement, or believe someone has misused the Service, contact privacy@cleancarshistory.us. For how we handle the information you give us, see our Privacy Policy, and for the limits of vehicle data, see our Data & Report Disclaimer.