Is there ever any harm/danger in providing the VIN?

Normally I wouldn't think twice, but I got an email for one of my cars for sale and the entirety of it is:   

VIN#

Thanks,

John

Any chance this is a scam? The lack of any greeting or anything always has me nervous. 

Reply back asking the serial numbers of his $100 bills?

I would be nervous about supplying the entire vin. Maybe ask what in particular he is wanting to know. Carfax report maybe?

SaltyDog said:

Reply back asking the serial numbers of his $100 bills?

I would be nervous about supplying the entire vin. Maybe ask what in particular he is wanting to know. Carfax report maybe?

But what can they even do with it? Take my pictures to create a fake scam ad?

I would reply something to the effect of "Yes, it definitely has a vin number."  

I'm also interested in the answer to your question.  But I don't deal well with "potential buyers" who can't type a verb and a noun (expecting a complete sentence is just too much these days...that used to be my stance).

Probably just wants to run a Carfax. Honestly, since it has a name and "thanks" in the signature it feels like almost 0% chance it is a scam.

I'm amazed at the minimal effort some folks put in to their inquiries.  Just a tad more effort and you'd be confident he's real.

if i replied to that guy at all, i would ask if he's a robo-mailer.

paranoid theory is that he could use the VIN to get your name and address, then schedule a time and place to meet you to see the car while his friends are breaking into your house and stealing your E36 M3 while you're not home.

In reply to AngryCorvair :

That seems like a stretch. How would they be able to get your personal info from your vin? It’s not public record. You’d need to input the vin to sell it on eBay, bat, auto trader, etc. 

I don’t see any harm.

Reply, "Scam?"

I wouldn't think there would be harm in supplying a VIN but that is the type of inquiry that I delete immediately and don't waste time on. 

In reply to Saron81 :

send me your VIN and I'll let you know what i find.   :-)

Saron81 said:

In reply to AngryCorvair :

That seems like a stretch. How would they be able to get your personal info from your vin? It’s not public record. You’d need to input the vin to sell it on eBay, bat, auto trader, etc. 

I don’t see any harm.

^This, I think ppl get way too paranoid.  There are plenty of sellers that post their VINs on legitimate sites and it's in public view to millions of potential viewers.  I did have an interesting one once where I gave them the VIN, but then they insisted I use this link they provided to run a history report on my own car (on my own dime).  I said NO, thanks...feel free to run it yourself.  Didn't make sense to me, but willing to bet something was fishy about that site and maybe a trap to get my cc info.  

Another time I gave the VIN to legitimate buyer who then proudly pointed out how the carfax showed the car was in an accident (minor) which I never bothered to check myself but gave himself some haggle room for price.  Fine, I still sold it for a fair price.

Me, personally I will provide my phone number to a 'perspective' buyer that doesn't seem to be an obvious scam artist to give me a call to discuss further if they're truly interested.  The ones that refuse to call and may happen to continually email I just weed out.  

If you buy a car online, like a dealer website, or Ebay is the VIN not typically part of the ad?

Ebaymotors, Autotrader, craigslist, cars.com...ect, all display the Vins. When purchasing a car I always ask for it, so I know what exactly what I am buying. Most recently I was looking for a car with a 2.3 duratec and I asked for the VIN, because people have no clue what they are selling or what is in the engine bay.

AngryCorvair said:

In reply to Saron81 :

send me your VIN and I'll let you know what i find.   :-)

I'll bite 

1093R. Maybe more specifically 7107141093R or 651093R. 

Suprf1y said:

If you buy a car online, like a dealer website, or Ebay is the VIN not typically part of the ad?

My last car from a dealership was. I used the VIN to track down all the options on the car/confirm what was in the ad.

Saron81 said:

In reply to AngryCorvair :

That seems like a stretch. How would they be able to get your personal info from your vin? It’s not public record. You’d need to input the vin to sell it on eBay, bat, auto trader, etc. 

I don’t see any harm.

Is it a stretch?  Any auto shop can look up your vehicle's year, make, and model by simply typing the license plate number into their computer.  This is because the cataloging databases have info from the motor vehicle bureaus.  I know that a license plate number is tied to a specific VIN.  I would think it actually IS public record (albeit one you probably have to pay to access)

I'm not really arguing for or against letting your VIN be public...but I would say if someone wants to use it in a harmful way...they probably can without too much effort.

In reply to AngryCorvair :

Sgtana20815 is the courier I’m selling.

In reply to ClemSparks :

Even if they get your vin from your license plate (which is another thing I don’t get.... people blocking out their plate in ad pictures) that doesn’t get you any personal info. You’ll only have access to that info if you’re law enforcement.

Do you guys tape over the VIN on your dashboard so criminals wandering through the grocery store parking lot can’t see it?

SVreX said:

Do you guys tape over the VIN on your dashboard so criminals wandering through the grocery store parking lot can’t see it?

 

My thoughts exactly! Do you cover up your license plate too?

Maybe take the numbers down off the front of your house?

If you are trying to sell a car, you want to be flexible to as many real buyers as possible. Sure, find your own way to filter out time wasters, but if you artificially limit your own pool of interested buyers you will get less for your car.

Even crazy, rude, bad communicators have green money.

mtn said:

Normally I wouldn't think twice, but I got an email for one of my cars for sale and the entirety of it is:   

 

VIN#

Thanks,

John

 

Any chance this is a scam? The lack of any greeting or anything always has me nervous. 

If I got this request, I would add the Vin to the ad but not reply to the text

SVreX said:

Do you guys tape over the VIN on your dashboard so criminals wandering through the grocery store parking lot can’t see it?

 

Don't forget to take off the plates every time you park your car. Likely to be easier to get one's address via the plates.

I avoid sharing unique identifiers - including removing VINs/serials and plates from pics I post online - but i can't think of any immediate danger of sharing a VIN to an average Joe.

Sometimes I use VINs of equivalent junkyard cars (since my JDM cars don't have them) for buying parts over the counter in Canada.