Free Boat History Check Report | DIY Free Boat HIN Lookup

Do-it-yourself Boat history check for free
Do-it-yourself Boat history check for free

Not interested to pay for public data? Why not make your own DIY (do-it-yourself) free Boat history check?

This article will guide you on how to ‘MacGyver your way‘ into a free HIN Lookup. This is a free resource with no obligation, no cost, and no account or user setup required to do the research. We wanted to offer an alternative affordable boat history that you can do on your own with detailed steps if you have the boat hull identification number ready. This is useful if you have time before you purchase a used boat for example if you saw it on BoatTrader or Craigslist. We also indicate a tool that does a free boat manufacturer search.

Wait…Our paid search service is available to you any time and is super convenient, but if you would like to do it yourself for free, then here are links and steps below to check Hull Numbers for free and get a FREE boat history check.

Order Boat-Alert.com Report

Roll up your sleeves and let’s get started with this free boat hull id lookup,

How do I get a free boat history report?

First, you have to get your HIN of the boat

The Hull Identification Number is found on your boat hull and should not be confused with the State Registration or decal number. It must be 12 characters long.

Detail of information on a hull identification plate
Not sure what is a HIN? read all you wanted to know about Hull ID Numbers before doing a boat report history

Second, you need to validate your Boat’s HIN

– Hull Identification Number Validation Check:

Before you do a boat identification number lookup, you need to go to https://www.hindecoder.com/ and run your Hull ID number for free to make sure it is valid and does not have any typos. Letter i and number 1 look very similar! This tool will validate the HIN and help you read it (decode it). More importantly, it will give the boat manufacturer lookup information.

The HIn Decoder will let you decipher the boats make and model data.

How do I find the history of a boat? and Can you do a Carfax on a boat?

Continue below with the steps. The history of a boat could be regular events like registration and renewal or there could be negative events like liens or accidents. There could be auction listings or just for-sale listings at dealer websites. Consider both aspects (good and bad) when gathering your data below. The Carfax.com website only does cars so to answer the question “Can you do a Carfax on a boat?”, the answer is not on their site but it can be done on boat-alert.com

Next…Search the HIN, State-by-State, if you can!

Many states will offer a way to search a HIN online. Here are those links….For the other states, it will require you to fill out a form and mail it in and/or pay a small fee. This will allow you to lookup the owner of a boat whenever the state allows it but some states will not give out private information so you will get an incomplete boat owner history in some cases but at least you will have the registration or title information for the used boat.

For the rest of the US States, fill out forms to search a boat history by state

You will need to reach out to your State NASBLA Administrator for guidance on how to fill out the forms to run a HIN check in your state. There will usually be a fee of few dollars, paid by check, to send with the form in the mail. It can take a week or two to get the results back.

Repeat these steps for every state: This is important if you are wondering how can I find out the history of my boat. We have a full article for each state and you find all those links here: https://www.boat-alert.com/blog/boat-registration-and-titling-in-each-u-s-state/

Tired yet? Our paid service is super convenient. Boat-Alert aggregates 72+ databases so you can search them all in one place within a minute for only $19.99.

How valuable is your time?

Let’s Continue searching free boats histories…

Next, you need to find the 3 pollution incident databases and search your HIN against it. This will allow you to know how to get a free boat history report when it comes to those types of incidents.

Next, find a contact at the USCG in order to lookup the boat accident history. Your NASBLA contact can also help.

Go to NICB.org to search for boat theft data using the boat vincheck tool.

Go to all boat auction companies and lookup the HIN if it is still listed. They usually just keep the active auctions on the websites so you might miss the historical data.

NMVTIS has access to 9000 insurance and salvage companies but their report is not free. Try vincheck.report or vinalert.com and enter your HIN to see if it qualifies.

We’re tired, but Lets Continue with this free VIN lookup…

Next, search eBay listings and other boat dealer sites.

Find the USCG Recalls website and lookup the list of recalls for your boat manufacturer. To do the lookup you need your MIC (get the MIC by running the HIN on hindecoder.com first for free).

Check with your state if they keep records of derelict and abandoned vessels HIN numbers.

Lookup the Model name of the boat using hindecoder.com for free.

Contact your secretary of state to lookup any liens recorded on the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings for boats.

Run a boat value calculator but there are 10 other boat value estimators so you can lookup the boat value by HIN or by year/make/model.

Contact the vessel documentation center (NVDC) to search your HIN in case it is a federally documented boat. If it is, then consider obtaining a boat-abstract of title.

If you need to know the owner of the boat, read more here

Finally, check foreign countries like Canada, Mexico and UK for boat theft or registration and accidents.

Free Complete boat history report: Put it all together into a report and decide if you have done your due diligence to buy this boat. and don’t forget do a marine survey.

Where is the Boat History Database?

The Boat-Alert.com database combines 90+ nationwide databases into a single place so you can search in a matter of minutes. These include records for stolen boats, marine lien claims, boating accidents, pollution incidents, auctioned boats, factory recalls, and boat manufacturers.

Search a Boat Hull ID history report with Boat-Alert.com
Click to Order a HIN Report

Read Related Articles:

View this article Infographic below

Fee History Check FAQ:

Infographic: DIY Free Boat History Check
Infographic: DIY Free Boat HIN Lookup

Affordable Boat History from the Dealer:

Psssst… a little secret for you… You can ask the dealership for the Boat-Alert Report so you won’t have to pay for it.

#HINNumberLookup #boat-serial-number-lookup #USA #Canada


Categories: To learn more about Boat-Alert.com History Reports for used boats and search boats visit: www.Boat-Alert.com


About Boat-Alert.com®
Boat Alert History Reports© exists to aggregate boat databases so that shoppers can search and buy a used boat safely while saving time and money researching a used boat's history. We began in 2015 and constantly adding more boat id lookup data for USA and Canada to ensure that your boat has a clean history. We are happy to offer a 60-day money back guarantee and proud to have served more than 15,000 customers with their boat HIN Search History needs. boat registration number lookup website ©. Two percent of all proceeds go to charity. We value fair treatment of employees, customer satisfaction, having the most databases possible, and fast customer service at the core of our brand. View our LinkTree.

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