1. A portable electronic device comprising: a housing having a display; a memory within the housing in which machine instructions and data are stored, including software and an access code unique to the software that grants access to a restricted access database of components of an identified component manufacturer, the software comprising instructions to export the access code through the communication circuitry along with the license plate number; a user interface from which a user inputs or selects an option of a means for a vehicle part lookup, including the option to select between entry of the license plate number by keyboard or voice entry; communication circuitry within the housing, the communication circuitry comprising signal transmitting and signal receiving capability; wherein the signal transmitting capability sends the license plate number to a decoder external to the portable electronic device to decode the license plate number directly into one or more of the make, model, year, type and engine or into a VIN, which is subsequently decoded into one or more of a make, model, year, type and engine of a vehicle; wherein the signal receiving capability receives the one or more of the make, model, year, type and engine from the decoder, the signal transmitting capability sends the one or more of the make, model, year, type and engine to the restricted access database, external to the portable electronic device, along with the access code to look up vehicle component information related to the license plate number, and the signal receiving capability receives information sent from the restricted access database to the portable electronic device in response to the lookup of component information; and an information processor to process the information received by the signal receiving capability of the communication circuitry into a displayable form for presentation on the display.