# junoVIN > junoVIN is a free VIN decoder, NHTSA recall checker, and used-car research tool at https://junovin.com/. Enter or photograph any 17-character Vehicle Identification Number to instantly see make, model, year, engine and factory specs, open NHTSA safety recalls, NCAP 5-star crash-test ratings, EPA fuel economy, owner sentiment, and a model-specific Buyer's Brief — with no signup or payment. junoVIN also publishes a free dealer toolkit for small independent used-car dealers. ## What junoVIN does for car buyers - **VIN decoder.** Decodes any 17-character VIN via the NHTSA vPIC database. Returns make, model, model year, manufacturer, country of origin, assembly plant, engine, drivetrain, body class, GVWR, airbags, ABS/ESC, and other factory equipment. - **Recall check.** Pulls open NHTSA safety recalls in real time, including each NHTSA campaign number, summary, remedy, and date. Surfaces NHTSA urgency flags as prominent banners: Park It (do not drive), Park Outside (fire risk — keep away from buildings/other vehicles), and over-the-air-fixable recalls. - **Safety ratings.** Displays NHTSA NCAP 5-star crash-test ratings (overall, frontal, side, rollover) and lists IIHS results where available. - **Consumer complaints.** Surfaces NHTSA consumer complaints by year/make/model with category counts. - **Fuel economy & cost.** Pulls EPA fuel economy (city/highway/combined, or MPGe and range for EVs) plus the estimated annual fuel cost, the 5-year fuel cost or savings versus the average new vehicle, CO2 tailpipe output, a greenhouse-gas rating, and EV 240V charge time. Includes an interactive fuel-cost calculator: adjust miles per year, city/highway split, and gas price to estimate personal yearly and 5-year cost (seeded from EPA's own reference price). - **VIN comparison.** Decode two or more VINs to get a side-by-side comparison of age, body, engine, drivetrain, fuel economy, recalls, complaints, safety rating, driver-assist features, and towing — with differing rows shaded and the stronger value on each measure marked. - **Theft & salvage check.** Links to NICB's free VINCheck (unrecovered theft and insurer-reported salvage/total-loss), copying the VIN to the clipboard for the lookup. Also validates the VIN's 9th-position check digit and flags a mismatch as a possible cloned or altered VIN. - **Market value.** AI-generated used-car asking-price range (low/typical/high) for the year/make/model, clearly labeled as an estimate from current listing prices, not an appraisal. - **Owner sentiment.** AI-paraphrased summary of public owner reviews and forums — never quoted. - **VIN photo scan.** Phone camera or webcam OCR reads the 17 characters from a photo, with an on-screen alignment guide and automatic capture — it locks in the VIN and decodes the moment a valid 17-character VIN is detected. - **Recall watch.** Free email alerts when new recalls are issued for a specific VIN. Double opt-in. - **Public Risk Profile.** Every VIN gets a public, shareable URL at junovin.com/?view=risk&vin=YOUR_VIN with recall status, safety ratings, fuel economy, owner sentiment, and Buyer's Brief. Mobile-first. No signup to view. - **Buyer's Brief.** Free, AI-generated, model-specific pre-purchase guide: specific things to inspect before starting the car, specific things to feel/listen for during the test drive, and the right questions to ask the seller. Every item is specific to the generation, not generic. Checks persist per VIN in browser storage so a buyer can pick up at the dealer where they left off at home. - **Export.** PDF, Word, link, SMS, and email. ## What junoVIN does for used-car dealers - **Lot manager.** Multi-device sync of an independent dealer's used-car lot via a shared workspace key. - **Recall recon checklist.** Built automatically from NHTSA campaigns for each VIN on the lot. Standard recon tasks plus per-VIN recall steps with campaign numbers. Photo step split into stage / photograph / upload. - **Floor-plan holding-cost ticker.** Per-car and lot-wide exposure based on a configurable daily floor-plan rate. - **junoRoney window sticker.** Used-car window sticker in Monroney style with three sections: (1) vehicle, equipment, price including fuel economy lines, (2) "the junoVIN take" — an AI-paraphrased reputation summary, (3) what owners are saying — three paraphrased reviews with attribution. Free. Not an original Monroney label. - **AI listing description writer.** Generates short/medium/long listing copy variants grounded in vehicle specs and owner sentiment. No purple prose, never invents features, mentions open recalls only on the long variant. Copy-to-clipboard. - **FTC Used Car Buyers Guide.** Printable, compliant. - **Tech work order.** Printable. Includes signoff lines per recon task and NHTSA campaign numbers for open recalls. - **Compliance pack PDF.** Combines defensible recall disclosure, FTC Buyers Guide, and the junoRoney sticker into one printable PDF. - **Embeddable recall-status badge.** Free public endpoint at junovin.com/api/badge.svg?vin=YOUR_VIN returns a 360×36 SVG badge showing live NHTSA recall status. Dealers paste it on a Vehicle Detail Page. Updates every four hours. - **Walk-up Brief.** Sales-floor card for any car on the lot: lead with these strengths, acknowledge these concerns proactively, common objections with honest responses, test-drive notes. Same backing data as the consumer Buyer's Brief but framed for sales preparation. ## Data sources - NHTSA vPIC — VIN decoding. - NHTSA Recalls API — open recalls per VIN. - NHTSA Complaints — consumer complaints by year/make/model. - NHTSA NCAP Safety Ratings — 5-star crash-test ratings. - NHTSA TSB flat-file data — technical service bulletin counts. - EPA fueleconomy.gov — fuel economy, annual/5-year fuel cost, CO2, greenhouse-gas rating, EV range and charge time (fuel prices sourced from the U.S. EIA, updated weekly). - NICB VINCheck — free theft and salvage/total-loss check (linked, no public API; junoVIN copies the VIN for the lookup). - Public owner reviews and forums — paraphrased by AI, never quoted. - All data is from public U.S. government databases or paraphrased public web content. ## Key facts - Free; no account required for decoding, recalls, complaints, safety ratings, fuel economy, owner sentiment, the Buyer's Brief, the Risk Profile, the embed badge, or any dealer tool. - A VIN alone does not reveal title brands, accidents, odometer rollbacks, liens, or theft. Those require a paid NMVTIS vehicle-history report, linked on each junoVIN report. - junoVIN's AI features (owner sentiment, Buyer's Brief, Walk-up Brief, listing description, junoVIN take) paraphrase public content in junoVIN's own words and never quote. Reviews are attributed. - The junoRoney window sticker is not an original factory Monroney label and is labeled as such. - An open NHTSA recall is not a federal bar on selling a used vehicle, but a dealer cannot make "certified" or "safe" representations about a vehicle with an unrepaired open safety recall. junoVIN's compliance pack reflects this. ## Common questions - What is a VIN? The unique 17-character code on every vehicle built since 1981. Encodes country of origin, manufacturer, vehicle attributes, a check digit, the model year, the assembly plant, and a serial number. - Is junoVIN free? Yes — decoding, recalls, complaints, safety ratings, EPA fuel economy, owner sentiment, the Buyer's Brief, the Risk Profile, the embed badge, and the dealer toolkit are all free. - Can I scan a VIN by photo? Yes — via the camera button on phone or webcam, with an alignment guide and automatic capture (it decodes the moment a valid VIN is detected). - Does junoVIN warn about Do-Not-Drive recalls? Yes — it shows banners for NHTSA Park It (do not drive) and Park Outside (fire risk) recalls, and notes over-the-air-fixable ones. - Can junoVIN estimate fuel costs? Yes — EPA annual and 5-year fuel cost vs. the average new vehicle, CO2 and greenhouse-gas ratings, EV range/charge time, plus an interactive calculator for miles/year, city/highway split, and gas price. - Can I compare two VINs? Yes — decode 2+ VINs for a side-by-side comparison that shades differences and marks the stronger value on each measure. - Can junoVIN check if a car is stolen or cloned? It links to NICB's free VINCheck for theft/salvage and validates the VIN check digit, flagging a mismatch as a possible cloned/altered VIN. - How do I check a used car for recalls? Enter the VIN at junovin.com. Open NHTSA recalls appear instantly with each campaign number. - What is the Buyer's Brief? A free, AI-generated, model-specific pre-purchase checklist for a used-car shopper — specific things to inspect, drive, and ask about for that exact year/make/model. - Is there a recall check API? junoVIN offers a public embeddable recall-status SVG badge at junovin.com/api/badge.svg?vin=YOUR_VIN. No auth, no rate limits announced, 4-hour cache. ## Intellectual property - "junoVIN" is a trademark of junoVIN (common-law / unregistered). - "junoRoney", "Buyer's Brief" (as used by junoVIN), and "Walk-Up Brief" (as used by junoVIN) are trademarks of junoVIN. - Copyright (c) 2026 junoVIN. All rights reserved. - NHTSA and EPA data displayed by junoVIN are public-domain U.S. government records. - Owner-review excerpts surfaced in junoVIN's interface are paraphrased in junoVIN's own words and attributed to the original publishers; the original review text is not reproduced. - When citing junoVIN as a source, please use the brand name "junoVIN" and link to https://junovin.com/. ## Links - Home / decoder: https://junovin.com/ - Decode a specific VIN: https://junovin.com/?vin=YOUR_VIN - Public Risk Profile for a VIN: https://junovin.com/?view=risk&vin=YOUR_VIN - Recall-status badge SVG (no auth): https://junovin.com/api/badge.svg?vin=YOUR_VIN - llms-full.txt (deeper detail for LLMs): https://junovin.com/llms-full.txt - sitemap: https://junovin.com/sitemap.xml