How to check if your car is under warranty

Key points

• Find your VIN and mileage to do a car warranty check.

• Dealerships can verify your car’s warranty based on the in-service date.

• You can also run a Carfax report to check your car’s warranty.

Whether you recently had a car breakdown or you’re just curious, a car warranty check can tell you whether your vehicle is covered for repairs. According to ​​Michael Chung, senior director of market intelligence for the Auto Care Association, the repair shop can “diagnose the vehicle and say, ‘Yes, this was a bad part, let’s replace it, and we’ll take care of the costs.’” That’s the ideal situation.

But that’s not always the scenario. You can use your manufacturer’s online owner portal to see if your car is covered or call a dealership and give it your vehicle identification number (VIN). We’ll break down all the ways you can check if your car is covered in this article. If you find out your car isn’t covered and want to protect yourself from the cost of future repairs, a plan from a reliable car warranty company can help.

How do car warranty terms work?

Your car’s manufacturer warranty expires after a certain number of years or miles, whichever comes first. The two main warranty types are bumper-to-bumper and powertrain.

Bumper-to-bumper car warranties cover almost any breakdown, while powertrain warranties cover the engine, transmission and drive axle. The bumper-to-bumper warranty is also called the new vehicle basic limited warranty. Most companies offer longer powertrain warranties than bumper-to-bumper warranties.

Let’s say you have a Toyota. Your car comes with 36 months/36,000 miles of bumper-to-bumper coverage and 60 months/60,000 miles of powertrain coverage.

It’s easy to look at your odometer and see if the car is within the mileage limit. But the time limit is tricky. It’s not enough to know the model year of the car. You could have purchased a 2020 model any time from the fall of 2019 to the winter of 2021.

The owner’s manual only lists coverage for the model year and won’t give you the exact start of the time limit. That’s why it’s important to use another source, such as a dealership, to check your car’s warranty status.

What do you need for a car warranty check?

There are two things you need to write down before you can check your warranty: your VIN and your mileage.

Locate your VIN

The VIN is a 17-digit series of numbers and letters that indicate where the vehicle was made, the vehicle manufacturer, the engine type, the year and more. It’s like a serial number for the vehicle.

Your car may display a VIN in a few locations, such as the following:

• On the driver’s side dashboard, visible from outside the windshield
• Inside the driver’s side door jamb
• On the front of the engine block or next to the hood latch
• Inside a spare tire compartment in the trunk
• In the rear wheel well on the driver’s side

You can also check your insurance ID card or vehicle title and registration to get your VIN.

Check your odometer

Next, write down your mileage by checking the odometer. Depending on your car, it might be a mechanical or electrical odometer. If it’s the latter, you’ll have to turn the key to light it up.

After checking your mileage, you might see that your car is no longer under warranty right away. For instance, if your Toyota has 36,001 miles, the bumper-to-bumper warranty period has expired.

If you are the original owner and have the purchase paperwork, you can use the in-service date combined with mileage to calculate factory warranty coverage. But we recommend contacting a dealer if you have any questions.

Call your dealership for a car warranty check

Now that you have the VIN and mileage information, you can contact a local dealership for a car warranty check. You can contact your preferred dealer if you have a relationship with one. But any authorized dealer for your car’s brand will do.

After providing the VIN and mileage to a dealership representative, they’ll be able to look up your car’s purchase date and tell you if the warranty is still valid.

Try the manufacturer’s website

You can also look up information about your car from the manufacturer’s website. Look for an owner’s portal with a spot to enter your VIN. Once you make a profile, you can see warranty information and recommendations for routine maintenance and oil changes based on your mileage.

Can you check your warranty through Carfax?

If you want to get warranty information plus other details of your vehicle’s history, you can run a Carfax report. To get started, you can search for a vehicle by its VIN or license plate and state.

Carfax provides many data points, including mileage, title status, maintenance, history and accident history. Running a Carfax report is a good idea if you’re shopping for a used vehicle.

Be aware that Carfax can only estimate the vehicle warranty coverage remaining based on the mileage it has for the car. Carfax receives mileage reports whenever a vehicle is serviced from a licensed maintenance or repair shop, but there may be a discrepancy between the actual mileage and the mileage in the report. That’s why it’s best for when you can’t access a dealership or if you want other information through Carfax.

What if you can’t find the VIN?

If you’re having trouble finding the VIN for the car, you’ll need to take the vehicle to a dealership or a local auto parts store for assistance. Ask a technician to scan the OBD2 port of your car to get the VIN. The VIN is programmed into the car’s onboard computer, so this is another reliable way to look it up.

Can any mechanic perform warranty work?

Say your engine light came on, and you’re closer to an independent repair shop than your dealer. Can they cover a warranty repair? In most cases, no. It’s best to take the car to your dealer.

Manufacturer warranties cover repairs by factory-trained technicians who work at dealerships. The dealer has access to approved repair components and can get the funds from the warranty provider, so you don’t pay much, if anything, out of pocket.

That said, a serious breakdown could require work right away. If you tow the car to an independent mechanic, they’ll contact the automaker to check on the warranty and the protocol.

Manufacturer warranties can allow for emergency repairs in this situation if the shop receives authorization beforehand. Even so, you might have to pay for the repair out of pocket and then contact the manufacturer for reimbursement.

The bottom line is that you should drive or tow the car to a factory dealership to get repairs performed under warranty if at all possible.

Can you check for extended car warranty coverage?

Extended car warranties are fundamentally different from factory warranties because they require an additional purchase. Many extended warranties transfer to secondary owners, but the first owner must file transfer paperwork with the extended auto warranty company to do so. The company may or may not be the manufacturer.

You should already know if your car has an extended warranty. If you’re wondering whether your used car has an extended warranty, it probably doesn’t. The previous owner would have transferred it to you in a private sale. Additionally, extended warranties don’t transfer when a dealer buys a car to resell it.

Final take: Use your mileage and VIN for a car warranty check

The best method for checking your car warranty is to give your VIN and mileage to a dealership. They’ll let you know if the vehicle is covered based on the in-service date. Besides that, you can also use Carfax to get your warranty status plus other helpful information.