BMW VIN Decoder

thomasx · 06-16-2017, 03:02 PM

Hey guys,

does anybody of you know if BMW or any website offers VIN lookups for free?

I am developing a small and non-commercial tool for myself, that should download vehicle data for a given VIN so that I can use the info later on, through a API or similar.

Of course the request amount would be very moderate and no bot or so is involved.

Do you know how pages like bimmer.work get this data and why everybody either limits lookup count or has a captcha on their site? Where would I get this information for free and have more (of course not infinite) requests?

Thanks a lot in advance!

thomasx

mfractal · 06-16-2017, 03:37 PM

Subscribed.

hassmaschine · 06-19-2017, 08:47 AM

if you're going to try re-creating the 13gb+ ETK database via a crawler/bot, I think you're going to have a bad time.. it's hard enough to just use the ETK databse directly! Plus, I'm pretty sure most of those sites will block your bot (multiply the database size by a factor of probably 10 and they're going to notice your bandwidth useage).

Joe@TopGearSolutions · 06-20-2017, 01:07 PM

I've never had any issues with bmwvin.com. I'm not aware of a limit, and the captcha is to "lessen" the chance of a denial of service.

06-16-2017, 03:02 PM	#1
thomasx New Member 10 Rep 9 Posts Drives: E91 Join Date: Apr 2017 Location: Europe iTrader: (0)	BMW VIN Decoder Hey guys, does anybody of you know if BMW or any website offers VIN lookups for free? I am developing a small and non-commercial tool for myself, that should download vehicle data for a given VIN so that I can use the info later on, through a API or similar. Of course the request amount would be very moderate and no bot or so is involved. Do you know how pages like bimmer.work get this data and why everybody either limits lookup count or has a captcha on their site? Where would I get this information for free and have more (of course not infinite) requests? Thanks a lot in advance! thomasx
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06-16-2017, 03:37 PM	#2
mfractal VAG Survivor $mfractal's Avatar$ 42 Rep 150 Posts Drives: E90 335i Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: BR iTrader: (1)	Subscribed. __________________ F10 535i LCI, Hybrid Turbo, Custom Inlet, Spool FX-150 Pump HPFP, TI Automotive LPFP, DV+, Phoenix IC, FTP CP, High Flow Cat, M5 Mufflers, Custom Tuned By David Shoup.
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06-19-2017, 08:47 AM	#3
hassmaschine Major General 3987 Rep 7,212 Posts Drives: "NBO" 330i Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: earth iTrader: (0)	if you're going to try re-creating the 13gb+ ETK database via a crawler/bot, I think you're going to have a bad time.. it's hard enough to just use the ETK databse directly! Plus, I'm pretty sure most of those sites will block your bot (multiply the database size by a factor of probably 10 and they're going to notice your bandwidth useage).
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06-20-2017, 01:07 PM	#4
Joe@TopGearSolutions Major 267 Rep 1,173 Posts Drives: BMW Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: USA iTrader: (3)	I've never had any issues with bmwvin.com. I'm not aware of a limit, and the captcha is to "lessen" the chance of a denial of service.
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