When is a report credit actually used up?
A credit is held when you assign a VIN and consumed only once the report is delivered. A confirmed non-billable failure returns the held credit.
Check the review date and linked sources for context. Live availability, prices and record coverage can vary by VIN, source, jurisdiction and time.
Assigning a VIN does not spend the credit outright. Your report wallet says it plainly: the credit is held during preparation and consumed only after the report is delivered. If the lookup ends in a confirmed non-billable failure, the held credit returns to your wallet and you can spend it on a different vehicle.
- Held at assignment, consumed at delivery — the entitlement counter only increases inside the transaction that marks the report ready.
- A held credit still cannot be double-spent: the server counts every active queued job against your total before letting a new VIN through.
- Terminally failed lookups are excluded from that count, which is how a no-record VIN gives the credit back.
Held at assignment, consumed at delivery
When you submit a VIN, the server creates a fulfillment job for it and counts it against your pack's capacity, so a queued-but-undelivered report cannot be spent twice. The entitlement's used-credit counter is a separate number, and it is incremented only in the transaction that finalizes a delivered report — the same transaction that flips the report to ready.
That is why the wallet header describes the credit as held during preparation. Between the moment you press Generate this report and the moment the PDF is ready, the credit is committed to that VIN but not yet counted as used.
What the wallet counters mean while a credit is held
The progress row under the credit dial splits your pack three ways: delivered, in progress, and unassigned. Delivered is the consumed count. In progress is the held count. Unassigned is what is left to point at a new VIN, and it is calculated as your total minus every job that is still alive.
| Wallet counter | What it counts |
|---|---|
| Delivered | Credits consumed by a report that reached ready |
| In progress | VINs assigned and being prepared — credit held, not yet consumed |
| Unassigned | Total credits minus every pending, running, retrying, reviewed or completed job |
| Not counted | Cancelled and terminally failed jobs, which release their slot |
When the hold is released
If the provider holds no vehicle-history record for the VIN, the job ends terminally and stops counting against your pack. The form says so in the same words: your credit is untouched, try another vehicle. The VIN help text under the input makes the same promise — a failed, confirmed non-billable lookup returns the held credit to your wallet.
A report that is paused for manual checking is a different case. It is still an active job, so its credit stays held rather than released, and it is not consumed either until the report is actually delivered.
What this does not cover
- There is no button to un-assign a VIN you already submitted; a VIN that delivers a report consumes its credit even if you typed the wrong vehicle.
- The wallet refreshes itself about once a minute, and only while a report is still processing — reload the order page if the counters look stale.
- The credit wallet only appears on multi-report orders; a single-report purchase has one credit and no assignment step beyond checkout.
Sources reviewed
Open the underlying public source and verify that its scope matches the question you are asking.
Frequently asked questions
Does a credit get consumed while the report is paused for manual review?
No. A report held for manual checking is still an active job, so its credit stays held. The used-credit counter only moves when a report is finalized and delivered.
Can I assign several VINs at the same time?
No. The wallet asks you to assign one VIN at a time, and the form accepts a single 17-character VIN per submission. The remaining credits stay attached to the order until you use them.
Do the other credits stay attached if I only use one?
Yes. The pack description says credits stay on your order until you use them, and the pack plans are sold as one-time purchases with no subscription and no expiry pressure.
Where can I see how many credits are still held?
On the order page and in My Reports. The credit dial shows remaining of total, and the row below it separates delivered, in progress and unassigned.