Vehicle Identification Number: How to find and decode a VIN

A VIN or Vehicle Identification Number is like a social security number, serial number or UPC code for a car. It's given to a car by its manufacturer and no two VINs are the same. The VIN is a unique string of 17 characters that identify a variety of characteristics about a car including:

• Where the car was built

• The manufacturer

• The brand, engine size, trim and type

• A Vehicle Security code (meaning the car has been verified by the manufacturer)

• The assembly plant where the vehicle was put together

• The serial number of the vehicle

VINs can also tell you things like what kind of airbags are present in the car, what kind of restraint system it has (think seatbelts) and the year of the vehicle. Basically, the VIN offers a quick way to decode the details of a car.

These numbers have been required on vehicles since 1954, but were standardized starting in 1981 when the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) began requiring that all vehicles have a VIN that followed the specific 17-character pattern we see today.

What does the VIN mean?

The VIN has a set pattern that tells you a whole bunch of things about the car you are looking at.

The first three numbers make up what is called the world manufacturer identifier or WMI.

• The first number or letter identifies the country of origin. Cars made in the U.S., for example, get the number 1, while cars made in Germany get the letter W. You can find a list of the codes over at Wikipedia.

• The second number or letter is part of the code that identifies the manufacturer. Sometimes this is the first letter of the name of the company, but not always. The third letter will help narrow down the manufacturer.

• The third slot helps identify the vehicle type or manufacturing division. When reading the VIN you take this third spot into consideration to narrow down the details of the car.

The next six numbers help identify the vehicle further:

• The numbers in positions four through eight tell you about the model, body type, transmission, engine, and restraint systems in the car.

• The number in the ninth position is called a "check number," which is a digit that has been generated by a specific formula that was created by the U.S. Department of Transportation. This number helps identify whether or not a VIN is authentic.

The last seven numbers are the car’s serial number.

• The letter or number in the tenth spot will tell you the model year with the letters B through Y indicating the years 1981 to 2000. They don’t use the letters I, O, Q, U or Z, however. From 2001 through 2009 the numbers one through nine were used, and the alphabet started over in 2010. So a car from 2022 would get the letter N in the tenth spot to identify that year.

• The letter or number in the 11th spot is for the code associated with the manufacturing plant where the car was built.

• The six digits following are unique serial numbers that the car gets from the manufacturer as vehicles roll off the line.

This unique VIN is then associated with a database of information about the history of ownership, accidents, and title information of a car and can tell you a ton of things about what kind of events the car has been through.