Mercedes-Benz and BMW Top the List of Most-Requested Monroney Window Stickers, and Most Are for Nearly New Cars
Used car shoppers checking window stickers by VIN are looking up three-year-old luxury SUVs and pickups far more often than classics, Monroney Decals data shows
Used car shoppers are most likely to look up the original Monroney window sticker for a Mercedes-Benz or a BMW, and the typical vehicle they check is just three years old, according to new data from Monroney Decals, an online window sticker by VIN service.
Monroney Decals analyzed 1,144 VIN lookups made on its site over the last 90 days. Mercedes-Benz led with 12.6% of all lookups, followed by BMW at 10.6%, Honda at 8.1%, Toyota at 6.9%, and Ford at 6.5%. Luxury and performance brands together accounted for 44% of all lookups.
The most-requested single model was the Honda CR-V, ahead of the Mercedes-Benz GLE, the Ford F-150, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, and the BMW X5. SUVs and crossovers accounted for just over half of all lookups, while trucks — led by the F-150, Toyota Tacoma, and Chevrolet Silverado — made up another 11%.
Window stickers are not just for classic cars
The data challenges the assumption that window stickers are mainly a collector’s tool. The median vehicle looked up was a 2023 model, and 42% of lookups covered 2024 to 2027 model-year vehicles. Fewer than one in ten lookups were for vehicles built before 2009.
Nearly new vehicles are exactly where the window sticker earns its keep. Late-model luxury SUVs and trucks are sold with option packages that can add thousands of dollars to the price, and two vehicles of the same model and color can be equipped very differently. The Monroney window sticker — the label federal law has required on new cars since 1958 — lists every factory option and package with its price, along with the original MSRP and EPA fuel economy. Most owners remove it after purchase, leaving the next buyer with only the seller’s description to go on.
“People assume a window sticker is something you hunt down for a 1970 muscle car. What we actually see is someone looking at a two-year-old GLE or X5 and wanting to know which packages it really has before they pay for them. A window sticker by VIN answers that in a few minutes,” said Wayne Minter, founder of Monroney Decals.
AI assistants are sending car shoppers to window stickers
About 23% of lookups came from visitors who arrived via an AI assistant such as ChatGPT or Gemini, and 30% came from Google search. The rest typed the site address directly or followed another link — a pattern suggesting shoppers are increasingly asking AI tools how to verify a used car’s original equipment and being pointed to the window sticker.
How to check a vehicle’s original window sticker
Buyers can find the 17-character VIN at the base of the driver-side windshield or on the driver’s door jamb label, then look it up. Some automakers offer free tools for recent models. Monroney Decals generates a PDF reproduction of the original window sticker from verified vehicle build data for most U.S.-market vehicles from the 1981 model year onward.
About Monroney Decals
Monroney Decals is an online window sticker by VIN service. Customers enter a vehicle’s VIN and receive a PDF reproduction of its original Monroney window sticker, generated from verified vehicle build data, showing factory equipment and options, original MSRP, and EPA fuel economy. The company has delivered 1,298 window stickers to date.
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Monroney Decals
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://monroneydecals.com