That is incorrect, as per the article Kia ties the VIN number to the car’s functionality. The author used a 3rd party service to convert the license plate number to VIN.
Most states have the data publicly available if you know where to look or how to request.
Uhh this seems like a big fact to gloss over, and something I am quite surprised by. Could you point to any examples as I’m having a hard time finding anything available publicly from any DMVs/states
In Michigan anyone can do a in-person plate lookup for about $15 and it comes back with complete registration information including name and address. VIN and car details as well.
That’s usually the kicker - requests have to be done in person but other than that there’s not much limitation.
The $15 makes this pretty hard to scale too. The link someone posted was $0.05/request. I'd love to see how/where you can get this data in bulk from a primary source.