An explanation of the differences between the vehicle searches.
The most important distinction to be aware of between the 2 vehicle searches are their sources:
- The Vehicle Registration Search provides information on current vehicle registrations as recorded by state department of motor vehicle agencies. You want to run Vehicle Registration if you are trying to find out who is currently registered to that car.
- The Vehicle Ownership Search is a proprietary database compiled from multiple sources, and provides historical, self-reported information. Self-reported data allows you to search in locations otherwise not available from DMV's. Examples of sources for this search would be someone online shopping for car insurance or having their car serviced.