What is a VIN or Vehicle Identification Number?
You might be asking yourself: “What is a VIN number?”.
What Is a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)?
A vehicle identification number or simply VIN is a sequence of 17 numbers and letters used to identify a car.
Those digits carry important information about the vehicle’s manufacturer, country and serial number.
Each VIN or vehicle identification number is unique and used to track the vehicle’s history such as recalls from manufacturers, insurance claims, registrations and warranties.
Where can I find the VIN number on my vehicle?
The most common places you will find the VIN on your vehicle are:
o Windshield
or cowl area (interior dashboard on the driver’s side).
o Under
the hood (pop up the hood and look at the front of the engine block).
o Driver’s
side door Jam.
o B
pillar (pillar between front and rear doors) or
o On the driver's side door jam.
o Underneath the spare tire
o Your vehicle's documentation such as: registration, title or insurance documents.
Below is a diagram where you can see those locations:
How to decode the Vehicle Identification Number?
Manufacturer identifier
The first digit: Indicates the country of origin or final plant where the vehicle was assembled. These numbers are assigned by The Society of Automotive Engineers. Numbers 1, 4 and 5 indicates USA. The number 2 indicates Canada and 3 indicates Mexico. You can check the full list on Wikibooks website.
The second digit: Combined with first digit, indicates the manufacturer and location where the vehicle was built. For example: T for Toyota, A for Audi, B for BMW Germany, U for BMW USA.
The third Digit: Combined with the first 2 digits, indicates the type of the vehicle that can be a truck, SUV or car.
Vehicle description section
Digit 9th is a check digit: It might be a number or letter and is used to check if the VIN is valid. This number will vary based on a mathematical formula created by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Vehicle identifier section (VIS)
Vehicle
Identification Number 10th Digit Chart Year Code Year Code Year Code Year Code 1980 A 1995 S 2010 A 2025 S 1981 B 1996 T 2011 B 2026 T 1982 C 1997 V 2012 C 2027 V 1983 D 1998 W 2013 D 2028 W 1984 E 1999 X 2014 E 2029 X 1985 F 2000 Y 2015 F 2030 Y 1986 G 2001 1 2016 G 2031 1 1987 H 2002 2 2017 H 2032 2 1988 J 2003 3 2018 J 2033 3 1989 K 2004 4 2019 K 2034 4 1990 L 2005 5 2020 L 2035 5 1991 M 2006 6 2021 M 2036 6 1992 N 2007 7 2022 N 2037 7 1993 P 2008 8 2023 P 2038 8 1994 R 2009 9 2024 R 2039 9
Why is the VIN important?
A VIN carries important information about your vehicle. With the VIN you can figure out manufacturer, brand, make and model, body style, engine size, assembly plant, and model year of a vehicle.
All this information is provided the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). NHTSA keeps a data base with the information it receives from manufacturers.
You can also use the VIN to check for recalls on your vehicle on NHTSA’s website. It works for vehicles manufactured after 1981. If your vehicle`s VIN has less than 17 digits (probably 11) it was most likely manufactured before 1981 when VIN format was not yet standardized and varied by manufacturer.
PLEASE NOTE: The letters I, O and Q are not used on VIN numbers.
Hopefully this post helped you to understand the importance of your vehicle`s VIN number, where to find it and what each number/letter means.
Please let me know if you liked it or if you have any further questions in the comments below.
Best,
Car Safe Car Team
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