The Carfax App — There Are Two, and Both Are Free
Carfax publishes two iPhone apps, not one. Both cost nothing to install. Neither will run a free report on a VIN you simply type in — the free report is tied either to a Carfax listing or to a car you already own.
Checking a car that isn't a Carfax listing?
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Or scan the VIN with the free iPhone app — 2.2 MB, iOS 17.0 or laterQuick Answer
- Is the Carfax app free?
- Both Carfax apps are free to install. CARFAX New & Used Cars includes a free vehicle history report with every used car listed for sale on Carfax, and CARFAX Car Care gives you the report for a car you register as your own. Neither covers a VIN you simply type in — that report is $44.99.
- How many Carfax apps are there, and which is which?
- Two, both from CARFAX, Inc. New & Used Cars (90.1 MB, on the App Store since November 2011) is the shopping app. Car Care (362.3 MB, since August 2012) is the ownership app, built around service reminders for a car you already have.
- What is the cheapest way to check a car I found myself?
- A privately sold car is neither a Carfax listing nor your registered vehicle, so it falls outside both free tiers. CarCheckerVIN's free iOS app decodes any VIN, scans the barcode, and shows the record counts before you pay; its full report is $14.99 against Carfax's $44.99.
There are two Carfax apps, and people download the wrong one
Search “Carfax app” and you get two different products from the same company, with similar names and very different jobs. The confusion is worth clearing up before you install 362 MB at the kerbside.
CARFAX — New & Used Cars
The shopping app. Browse Carfax's own used-car listings, save favourites, get price-drop alerts. Its listing says every used car for sale there comes with a free Carfax report — so the free report follows the listing, not the VIN.
90.1 MB · iOS 17.0+ · on the App Store since November 2011
CARFAX Car Care
The ownership app. Register the car in your driveway and it tracks service history, sends maintenance reminders and shows an estimated value. Carfax puts its user base at more than 50 million drivers.
362.3 MB · iOS 16.0+ · on the App Store since August 2012
What “free” actually covers
“Is the Carfax app free?” is the question Google and Bing both put at the top of this search, and the true answer is neither yes nor no. Both apps are free. The free report inside them is scoped, and the scope excludes the exact car most people are asking about.
For the wider question of what Carfax charges and when, see is Carfax free and how much a Carfax report costs.
The three apps side by side
Every figure below is off the App Store listing for each app, read on 30 August 2026 — including the rows where we come off worse.
| CARFAX New & Used | CARFAX Car Care | CarCheckerVIN | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price to install | Free | Free | Free |
| Download size | 90.1 MB | 362.3 MB | 2.2 MB |
| Requires | iOS 17.0+ | iOS 16.0+ | iOS 17.0+ |
| App Store rating | 4.85 (368,002 ratings) | 4.84 (126,553 ratings) | No ratings yet — released August 2026 |
| On the App Store since | November 2011 | August 2012 | August 2026 |
| Free report covers | Cars listed for sale on Carfax | A car you register as your own | No free full report — but free record counts on any VIN |
| Report on any VIN you type | $44.99 | $44.99 | $14.99 |
| Scan a VIN barcode | Not advertised | Not advertised | Yes, with the camera |
Where Carfax wins, plainly.A 4.85 rating from 368,002 people and fifteen years on the App Store is something we do not have and cannot claim — our app shipped in August 2026 with no ratings at all. Carfax's report is also the one a dealer hands over unprompted. If you are shopping Carfax's listings, use Carfax's app.
The car you found isn't a Carfax listing
Which is why neither free tier covers it. Run the VIN here and see what is on file before you spend anything.
The gap, and how we fill it
The case neither Carfax app serves cheaply is the common one: a car you found on Marketplace, on a forecourt that is not a Carfax partner, or parked with a sign in the window. It is not a Carfax listing and it is not registered to you, so the free tiers do not reach it and the report is $44.99.
Our iOS app is built for exactly that moment. It scans the VIN barcode off the door jamb, decodes the car free, and — the part that matters — shows you how many records exist on that VIN before you decide to buy anything. If a car has three thin entries, you learn that for nothing and walk away. If it has seven salvage records, you have learned something important for free.
Any VIN, free decode
No listing required and no registration. Type or scan a VIN and it decodes.
Counts before you pay
Damage, photo, auction, salvage and title record counts shown up front.
$14.99 for the full report
Against $44.99 for a Carfax report on the same car.
Free on the App Store
2.2 MB, iOS 17.0 or later, no account. Scan the barcode and read the record counts before you decide to buy anything.
More on the app on our iOS app page, or compare the services rather than the apps on CarCheckerVIN vs Carfax.
Where to get each one
CARFAX — New & Used Cars
Carfax's shopping app, on the App Store.
CARFAX Car Care
Carfax's ownership and maintenance app.
CarCheckerVIN
Free VIN scan and record counts on any VIN.
App names, sizes, ratings, minimum iOS versions and release dates read from each app's App Store listing on 30 August 2026. Carfax report price from carfax.com. CARFAX is a trademark of CARFAX, Inc.; we are not affiliated with them.
Common questions
- Is the Carfax app free?
- Both Carfax apps are genuinely free to download, and neither shows ads. What is limited is which cars the free report covers. The CARFAX New & Used Cars app includes a free report with every used car listed for sale on Carfax, so the free report follows the listing rather than the VIN. CARFAX Car Care gives you the report for a car you register as your own. A report on some other car — the private-sale one you just found — is not covered by either and costs $44.99.
- How many Carfax apps are there?
- Two, both published by CARFAX, Inc. CARFAX New & Used Cars is the shopping app, on the App Store since November 2011, and it is where the free-report-with-every-listing offer lives. CARFAX Car Care is the ownership app, since August 2012, built around service reminders and your own car's history. People searching for the Carfax app usually mean the first one and often end up in the second.
- Can I check any VIN for free in the Carfax app?
- No. That is the single most useful thing to know before downloading. Neither free tier covers a VIN you simply type in, because the car has to be either a Carfax listing or your own registered vehicle. If you are standing in front of a car being sold privately, it is neither, and Carfax will quote you $44.99.
- How big is the Carfax app?
- CARFAX New & Used Cars is 90.1 MB and CARFAX Car Care is 362.3 MB, per their App Store listings. The Car Care app is the larger of the two by some distance, which is worth knowing if you are installing something at the kerbside on mobile data to check one car.
- What does the Carfax app do better than the alternatives?
- Reach and reputation, and it would be silly to pretend otherwise. Carfax has been on the App Store since 2011, holds a 4.85 rating from over 368,000 ratings on the shopping app, and its report database is the most widely recognised in North America — a dealer will often hand you a Carfax without being asked. If you are shopping Carfax's own listings, its app is the natural way to do it.
- Is there a cheaper app for checking a car you found yourself?
- Yes, and that is the specific gap. CarCheckerVIN's free iOS app decodes any VIN at no cost, scans the barcode with the camera, and shows how many damage, auction, salvage, photo and title records exist on that VIN before you pay anything. The full report is $14.99 against Carfax's $44.99. Carfax has far more reviews and far longer history; we are cheaper and we show you what is on file first.
Prüfen Sie die Fahrgestellnummer immer vor dem Kauf
Die kostenlose Vorschau zeigt Title Brands (US-Titel-Kennzeichnungen), Diebstahlstatus und offene Rückrufe in Sekunden und meldet, ob Unfall- und Tachodaten vorliegen. Die vollständige Historie kostet $14.99 — einmalig, ohne Abo.
Check the car, whoever is selling it
Free decode and record counts on any VIN — no listing, no registration, no account. The full report is $14.99.
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