If all you have the license plate number of a car and want to check to see if it has been reported as stolen, you likely can do so. State agencies and laws differ but you should be able to contact law enforcement or your local department of motor vehicles and find out if the car with that license plate number has been reported as stolen.

If you want to check on a car to see if previously it had been stolen and recovered, because you are interested in purchasing the car and want to know the vehicle history, you will likely need to get the car's vehicle identification number (VIN) to get information regarding the car. With an automobile's VIN you can use an online service such as AutoCheck or CarFax to purchase a vehicle history including a title search.