

For these manufacturers, digits 12–14 will also be part of the WMI. These manufacturers will be identified by having the third digit as “9”.

When the manufacturer produces fewer than 500 vehicles of its type in a year, it is identified as a low volume manufacturer. The third digit of “1” indicates that this is a Chevrolet passenger car. In the case of the second digit “G”, this tells us the manufacturer is GM. The first digit of 1 indicates that the car was made in the US. So for example if we were to take this VIN, 1G1RC6E42BUXXXXXX – the WMI is “1G1”. And many other countries are used as well. Examples of other regions include 2 = Canada, 3 = Mexico, J= Japan. When the first digit is “1”, “4” or “5”, the region of manufacturer is in the United States. These digits are used to establish the general location of the manufacturer, manufacturer and vehicle type (e.g. The VIN is broken down into four sections:
LOOK UP CAR BY VIN HOW TO
See also: Transferring telematics devices between vehicles How to read a VIN The letters “O” and “Q” cannot be used in order to avoid confusion with the digit “0”. The VIN structure allows the use of all numerical digits (0–9) and all the letters of the alphabet with the exception of the letter “I” to avoid confusion with the digit “1”. Based on these requirements, each VIN is 17 digits in length.

In addition, ISO 3779 and SAE J272 have defined a common format for the VIN. law 49 CFR 565 VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER (VIN) REQUIREMENTS. VIN requirements have been stipulated by U.S. The VIN can also help identify vehicles recovered from theft.įleet managers rely on VIN decoding to gather vehicle details and specs for vehicle maintenance, procurement, and fleet optimization.įirst appearing in 1954, the VIN became standardized in 1981. By looking up your vehicle’s VIN, you can discover whether there have been any recalls by the manufacturer. The VIN can tell you the when and where the vehicle was manufactured, along with details. What you may not know is that the VIN is not random and in fact there is a great deal of information about your vehicle encoded into the number. For vehicle owners and those looking to buy vehicles, they also make it possible to look up important safety information such as any recalls and previous collision history. VINs are used in the automotive industry to register and track vehicles and the parts installed within them at the time of manufacture. The VIN describes the make, model and year of a vehicle, what country it was made in, engine type and other details.
LOOK UP CAR BY VIN CODE
A Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is a unique 17-digit alphanumeric code assigned to a car or truck by its manufacturer.
