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Helpful Information
After choosing the report package you want and entering your HIN through your account page, your report will be ready immediately!
All reports are available online for 60 days.
Boat Background accepts all the major credit cards: VISA, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover credit cards (as well as debit cards).
Boat Background can create boat reports for anyone, anywhere in the world. You just need to create your account and have a valid form of payment.
Your account
Boat Background wants to guarantee the protection of your personal information, so we require a password with a minimum length of 12 characters containing any combination of letters and numbers.
Of course you can! Simply login into your account and click on “My Account”. Then click on “Change Password”, type you current and new password and you are all set!
If you forgot your password and need to reset it, follow these steps:

  1. At “My Account” page, click on “Lost your password” link.
  2. Enter your username or email address and within seconds you will receive a link to create a new password via email.
  3. If you cannot access your email address, please contact our Customer Service and we will happily help you to login to your account.

If you are having trouble accessing ‘’My Account’’ page because you forgot your username, we can help! Just email the information below to our Customer Service:

  • Full name;
  • Last 4 digits of credit card used in your account;
  • Approximate date of creation of your account.

Hull Identification Number
A HIN is an identification number with 12 characters present on all boats since November 1st, 1972. The Hull Identification Number is required by federal law on all boats manufactured or imported into the USA, and must be stated on the registration application. The HIN is permanently affixed to the rear of the the rear of the transom usually on the upper right corner.
The Hull Identification Number (HIN) can be found at your boat, usually on the back of the vessel, affixed to the rear of the transom on the upper right corner. You can also find it in your boat’s registration and insurance documents.
If you tried all that and still could not find your HIN, just email our Customer Service with your vessel information and we will happily assist you.

The HIN is the only way we can identify the boat’s manufacturer, its serial number, and the year and month of the boat’s manufacture. The Hull Identification Number is federally regulated and valid across all the states in the country, identifying all companies, even if the boat was originally manufactured overseas. In conclusion, it is the best way to collect all the necessary information to generate an accurate report for your boat.

If after creating your account you received an invalid HIN message, please follow the steps below:

1. A Hull Identification Number (HIN) contains 12 digits, so check if your HIN consists in 12 digits. The only way a HIN is longer than 12 digits is if your boat is older than 1972.
2. Make sure you are getting the HIN from the back of the vessel, affixed to the rear of the transom on the upper right corner.
3. If you bought the boat from another owner, contact the owner of the boat to guarantee you have the right Hull Identification Number (HIN).
4. Check the Hull Identification Number (HIN) and make sure it follows the correct format. The first 3 characters of a HIN are usually the Manufacturers Index Code. The 5 numbers after the MIC (Manufacturers Index Code) are assigned according to the manufacturer without any set format to be followed, excluding the letters O, Q, and I.

 

If your boat was manufactured after August of 1984, the 9th character contains the information of the month (in letter format, A-L), then the last number of the year (10th character) that the boat received the certificate. The characters 11 and 12 contain the information about the model year of the boat and the 12th character is a letter (A-L) which represents the month, or MMYY format in which MM are the 2 digit month, and YY are the 2 digit year.

If your boat was manufactured between 1972 and 1984, the last 4 characters contain the information of the model year and month of the boat in MXXX format, 10 and 11 signify the model year and the 12th character is a letter A-L which signifies the month, or MMYY format in which MM equals the two digit month, and YY equals the two digit year.

If after following all these steps you were still not able to enter a valid Hull Identification Number (HIN) for your account, please email our Customer Service and we will be glad to assist you!

Customer Service
If after reading all the most common questions in our website you still have doubts, please do not hesitate to contact us! We will do our best to answer all the requests within 48 hours. We can be reached here.