The short answer
As of November 12, 2026, you can get a free window sticker by VIN from only three carmakers, through a public link with the VIN in it: Ford (for recent vehicles), Stellantis (Jeep, Ram, Dodge, Chrysler, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, but only in a normal web browser) and Subaru. GM, Hyundai, Kia and Mitsubishi links that used to work are blocked or gone. Tesla keeps the sticker in the owner’s account. For everyone else we couldn’t find a public link that works.
We run StickerByVIN, which sells window stickers, so we have a stake in this. Every result below is something we fetched ourselves, and where a carmaker gives the sticker away free, we say so and give you the link.
Status by brand (tested 2026-11-12)
Replace {VIN} with your 17-character VIN.
| Brand | Official route | What we found on 2026-11-12 | What you can do instead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ford | https://www.windowsticker.forddirect.com/windowsticker.pdf?vin={VIN}, documented on Ford’s owner help page for vehicles in production or recently delivered |
Works for recent VINs. A 2025 F-150 returned its real sticker (PDF, about 2.0 MB, VIN printed on it). A 2022 F-150 returned a 1.6 MB placeholder PDF saying the sticker “has not yet been released”. Same result with or without a browser. | Open the link yourself, it’s free. Ford sells replacement physical stickers for cars you own through Ford Show Parts. Our free check reads Ford’s system and tells you if you’d only get the placeholder. |
| Lincoln | Same Ford Direct link | Not tested separately this round. In our earlier check on 2026-11-05, 2025 Lincoln VINs got only the placeholder. | Try the Ford link. Our free check tells you whether Ford has released it. |
| Jeep, Ram, Dodge, Chrysler, Fiat, Alfa Romeo | https://www.jeep.com/hostd/windowsticker/getWindowStickerPdf.do?vin={VIN} (the same path works on ramtrucks.com, dodge.com, chrysler.com, fiatusa.com and alfaromeousa.com). Not documented on a help page we could find. |
Works in a browser. A 2021 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport returned its real sticker (PDF, 94,084 bytes, VIN and $44,780 total printed on it). All six sites served the identical file. Without a browser User-Agent, every one returned 403 Access Denied. | Paste the link into your browser, it’s free. Our free check uses Stellantis’s own system for 2013-on VINs. |
| Subaru | https://www.subaru.com/services/vehicles/windowsticker/{VIN}. Not documented on a help page we could find. |
Works for 2021 and later. A 2021 Forester Touring and a 2025 Forester returned their real stickers (PDF, about 440 KB, VIN and total price printed on it), with or without a browser. Four 2021 Outbacks did too. A made-up VIN returned a 16 KB placeholder PDF saying the sticker “is not available at this time”. Every real 2014 to 2020 VIN we tried got a 65 KB PDF saying the car is older than the model years the service supports. | Open the link yourself, it’s free. Our free check now uses this same Subaru system and tells you which answer you’d get. For a 2020 or older Subaru, ask a Subaru retailer. |
| Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, Cadillac | https://cws.gm.com/vs-cws/vehshop/v2/vehicle/windowsticker?vin={VIN} |
Not working. HTTP 503 with an empty body for a real 2021 Chevrolet Silverado VIN and a made-up 2024 VIN, with or without a browser. | Our free check shows whether our licensed sticker-data partner has it on file. A GM dealer may print one. |
| Hyundai | https://www.hyundaiusa.com/var/hyundai/services/inventory/monroney.pdf?model={MODEL}&vin={VIN} |
Blocked. HTTP 403 with a Cloudflare “Attention Required” page, with or without a browser, for a real 2021 Tucson VIN. | Our free check shows whether our partner has it on file. |
| Kia | https://www.kia.com/us/services/en/windowsticker/load/{VIN} (an old link, not current) |
Gone. HTTP 404 page for a made-up VIN with a valid check digit. | Our free check shows whether our partner has it on file. |
| Mitsubishi | https://www.mitsubishicars.com/rs/file/monroney?vin={VIN} (an old link) |
Gone. HTTP 404 page for a real 2020 Outlander Sport VIN. | Ask a Mitsubishi dealer. |
| Tesla | The owner’s Tesla Account, with the purchase documents (Tesla support) | No public VIN lookup. Only the account holder can see it. | Ask the seller to download it from their account. |
| Toyota, Lexus | None found | No public VIN lookup we could verify. | Our free check shows whether our partner has it on file. A Toyota or Lexus dealer may print one. |
| Nissan | None found | No public VIN lookup we could verify. | Our free check shows whether our partner has it on file. |
| Honda, Acura, Infiniti, Mazda, Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Porsche, Genesis | None found | No public VIN lookup we could verify. | Ask a franchised dealer of the brand. Our $4.99 Spec Sheet covers equipment, fuel economy and crash ratings from NHTSA and EPA data, and it’s labeled as not the original. |
“Real sticker” in this table means the response was a PDF (it starts with %PDF), it wasn’t a placeholder notice, and the VIN we asked for was printed in it.
How we tested
On November 12, 2026 we requested each link with curl from a home internet connection, twice: once with a normal browser User-Agent (Chrome 141 on Windows) and once with curl’s default User-Agent. For each request we recorded the HTTP status, the content type, the size, and whether the body started with %PDF. For every PDF we extracted the text to check that the VIN was in it and that it wasn’t a placeholder.
We used real VINs where we had them, from our earlier tests and from sticker links already indexed by search engines. We checked each one against NHTSA’s VIN decoder. Where we didn’t have a real VIN, we made one up with a correct check digit. That only tells you whether the link is alive, and we mark those in the table.
We repeat the test once a month and update this page and its date. We test from one location, so a result could differ from yours if a carmaker blocks some networks and not others.
Placeholder PDFs, and why links close
Placeholders. Ford and Subaru don’t answer “not found” when they have no sticker. They send back a normal-looking PDF with a one-line message. Ford’s reads “Please check back later. The window sticker has not yet been released for this vehicle.” Subaru’s says the sticker “is not available at this time” and points you to a retailer. For 2020 and older Subarus it sends a second kind, saying digital window stickers aren’t available for older model years. If a site gives you a free “sticker” and it’s one sentence on a blank page, that’s what you’ve got. On Ford’s side we saw this for older VINs, not just unreleased ones.
Why links close. These links were built for dealer websites and shopping tools, so a shopper could click “window sticker” on a car in stock. They were never a public service, and nothing obliges a carmaker to keep them running for used cars. Carmakers don’t explain changes, but we’ve seen all three ways a link dies: it goes behind bot protection (Stellantis for non-browser requests, Hyundai for everyone), it stops answering (GM’s now returns an empty 503), or the page is removed (Kia, Mitsubishi). That’s why a link that worked last year can fail today, and why we re-test.
What a sticker shows. Whichever route you use, the Monroney label is the factory record: base price, every option with its price, destination charge, total MSRP and the EPA fuel-economy box. It doesn’t show accidents, repairs or mileage.
Sources
- Ford, View a window sticker: the Ford Direct link, and replacement stickers for owned vehicles
- Tesla, After taking delivery: purchase documents, including the window sticker, in the Tesla Account
- 15 U.S.C. 1232, the Automobile Information Disclosure Act, which requires the label on new cars
- fueleconomy.gov label guide, explaining the EPA section of the sticker
Last updated November 12, 2026.
