VIN, why the secrecy?

I've noticed that many people delete VIN from their auto-scans. Why is that? What bad things can happen, if others get to know the VIN of some car?

I mean, they are nowadays readable at the bottom of windscreen from any car standing in parking lot?

I don't know for sure, but I can imagine a car will greatly increase in value if the owner has been yelled at by Jack.
It's probably to keep the previous owner in some anonymity in case he ever sells the car and it's not directly traceable to his online account (and subsequent actions).

PS I did actually hide the VIN window in my Polo. When replacing the windscreen, we put some primer on this area. Looks neat, to be honest.

Some people are still worried about the possibility of VIN cloning which can be used to "change the identity" of a stolen car. Yes the VIN is visible on the windscreen, but that's a much smaller "audience" than posting the VIN online.

I remove my VIN, or the last 6 digits from any scans I post of my car online... I'm not even sure why I do it... maybe it makes me feel warm and fuzzy in some way

Hello,

One thought comes to mind, Privacy, some people are just the private type, - The less your name and information is out there the better, in my opinion.

With a VIN number one can access certain databases and find vehicle owner information.

Now if you want more privacy, you can hold the title of your vehicle(s) in a Personal Property Trust and a company as the trustee with a different address. :P

drpeter

PetrolDave said:

Some people are still worried about the possibility of VIN cloning which can be used to "change the identity" of a stolen car. Yes the VIN is visible on the windscreen, but that's a much smaller "audience" than posting the VIN online.

Click to expand...

DrPeter said:

With a VIN number one can access certain databases and find vehicle owner information.

Click to expand...

I suspect those are the two main reasons people do it.

Truth is, most cars will be stolen via tow truck or some "former communist block tools that program a blank key to a car in a minute or two". VINs are irreverent with those methods. If a rouge dealer employee was getting keys made for the mob via VIN, that would leave a bit of a paper trail.

IMHO, at worst, posting a full Auto-Scan with the VIN means that post can turn up in a future Google search.