It is for law enforcement use only, not available to the general public. They use the original assembly plant archive records for verifying if a VIN is real or not. These records were given to NICB from each plant back in the day, on an annual basis. Some plants did not forward the records so the database can be incomplete at times. They have records relating to all vehicles ever shipped by VIN back to about the year 1900. These record only give the "shipped to" dealer code.
This would be a boon to the collector hobby if it was available to the general public, even for a fee. Think of it: Gee, now I have paperwork to verify my car was originally delivered to a certain dealership in Canonsburg, PA, or Long Island, NY.
But, alas NICB does not permit the use for other purposes outside of law enforcement.
