Running a query inside a loop is almost always a bad idea. In your case, a better option would be:
<cfif ListLen(valuelist(vins.vin)) gt 0>
<cfquery name=CarsQue datasource = "carsData">
select vin, model, make, etc
from carsDB
where vin in (<cfqueryparam cfsqltype="cf_sql_varchar"
value="#valuelist(vins.vin)#" list="true">)
</cfquery>
<cfset carsStruct = StructNew()>
<cfloop query="carsQue">
code for your struct
</cfloop>
<cfelse>
code for vins query returning no data
</cfif>
Better yet would be to get all the data with one query. You didn't provide enough information to determine if this was possible, but it often is.