Used Car Recall Risk

What It Means

Used vehicles carry a statistically higher risk of unremedied open recalls than new vehicles for several compounding reasons. First, recall completion rates decline with age: NHTSA completion data shows that recalls issued on vehicles less than 5 years old achieve 80 to 85 percent completion within 18 months, but recalls on vehicles 10 years old or older frequently stall below 50 percent. Second, owner-notification letters are mailed to the registered owner at the time of filing, which creates a gap every time a vehicle changes hands, if the second or third owner never re-registers with the manufacturer's recall database, they simply never receive the mailing. Third, imported, branded-title, and out-of-state vehicles often fall out of the R.L. Polk/IHS Markit registration data that manufacturers use to build notification lists. Fourth, older vehicles may be ineligible for free remedy after 15 years from the date of sale, although in practice most manufacturers honor safety recalls regardless of age when parts are available. Fifth, federal law does not require used-vehicle dealers to remedy open recalls before sale (see Dealer Fix Obligations), and only a handful of states (California, New York, and others) require disclosure. The practical buyer protocol is: before purchasing any used vehicle, run a free NHTSA VIN lookup at nhtsa.gov/recalls to surface all open recalls, then require the seller (or the buyer's franchised dealer after purchase) to schedule the remedy, remedy is free to the owner regardless of vehicle age or who owns it at the time of repair. On RecallCheck, every vehicle page displays the full recall history for a make/model/year combination, and buyers can cross-reference the specific VIN against the manufacturer's VIN lookup tool (linked in the sidebar) for per-vehicle remedy status.

Frequently Asked Questions