A Vehicle Identification Number, more often referred to as a VIN, is a serial number which is used by the automotive industry in order to uniquely identify individual motor vehicles. More recently issued VINs are issued to vehicles as 17 digit serials. Not only can a VIN describe a vehicle’s heritage and uniqueness, a VIN can also be used to help track warranty claims, registrations, insurance coverage, thefts and recalls. Each specific character of a VIN has a very specific purpose. A VIN decoder can be used to understand all the information that is within a VIN

VINs are found in all vehicles, but they may be standardized differently based on the vehicle. VIN decoders can be used for any of these types:

• ISO Standard 3779: Used mostly Europe, but also other parts of the world

• FMVSS 115, Section 565: Used in both United States and Canada

• ADR 61/2: used only in Australia, looking back at ISO 3779 and 3780.

• SAE J853: Quite similar to the ISO standard

Before using a VIN decoder, you must first be able to find it. The VIN of a vehicle can usually be found by looking at the vehicle’s dashboard on the driver side or the driver’s side door post. If you are unable to find the VIN there, you can check: 

• Firewall of the vehicle

• Left hand inner wheel arch

• Radiator support bracket

• Machined pad on front of engine

• Steering column

• Dash by windshield

• Passenger or driver side  door or post

• Guarantee & Maintenance Book or other vehicle book

The most typical locations to find a VIN for later model vehicles are:

• Drivers door  or post 

• Left instrumentation/dash plate by window

• Firewall

Modern VIN serials are based on two different standards, originally set by the International Organization for Standardization in 1979 and 1980. These are ISO 3779 and ISO 3780, respectively. Since then, different but compatible application of these ISO standards have been created and used by the United States as well as the European Union. The following are the sections of a VIN, based on standard:

• ISO 3770

o World Manufacturer Identifier (characters 1-3)

o VDS (characters 4-9)

o VIS (characters 10-17)

• More than 500 vehicles/year in European Union and North America

o World Manufacturer Identifier (characters 1-3)

o Vehicle attributes (characters 4-8)

o Check Digit (character 9)

o Model year (character 10)

o Plant code (character 11)

o Sequential number (character 12-17)

• Less than 500 vehicles/year in European Union and North America

o World Manufacturer Identifier (characters 1-3)

o Vehicle attributes (characters 4-8)

o Check Digit (character 9)

o Model year (character 10)

o Plant code (character 11)

o Manufacturer Identifier (character 12-14)

o Sequential number (character 15-17)

In this case, we will be using a VIN decoder for the European Union and North American standard for models that have over 500 vehicles produced each year.

The first step in using a VIN decoder is to determine the make of the vehicle. The make of the vehicle is determined by the first three digits of the VIN, which is the World Manufacturer Identifier. The very first digit will allow a VIN decoder to tell you the country where the vehicle was manufactured. While there are many more country codes used for VIN decoders, some of the more common ones include the following:

• USA: 1, 4 or 5

• Canada: 2

• Mexico: 3

• Australia: 6

• Brazil: 9

• Japan: J

• Korea: K

• England: S

• France: V

• Germany: W

• Sweden: Y

• Italy: Z

The second and third digit can help you determine the specific manufacturer. As mentioned, together these are the World Manufacturer Identifier. Some more common ones that are used in VIN decoders in the United States include the following:

• 1F(A,D,C,D,M,T): Ford Motor Company

• 1F(U/V): Freightliner

• 1F9: FWD Corp.

• 1G: General Motors USA

• 1GC: Chevrolet Truck USA

• 1GT: GMC Truck USA

• 1G1: Chevrolet USA

• 1G2: Pontiac USA

• 1G3: Oldsmobile USA

• 1G4: Buick USA

• 1G6: Cadillac USA

• 1GM: Pontiac USA

• 1G8: Saturn USA

• 1H: Honda USA

• 1HD: Harley-Davidson

• 1J4: Jeep

• 1L: Lincoln USA

• 1ME: Mercury USA

• 1M(1-4): Mack Truck USA

• 1N: Nissan USA

• 1NX: NUMMI USA

• 1P3: Plymouth USA

• 1R9: Roadrunner Hay Squeeze USA

• 1VW: Volkswagen USA

• 1XK: Kenworth USA

• 1XP: Peterbilt USA

• 1YV: Mazda USA (AutoAlliance International)

• 4F: Mazda USA

• 4M: Mercury

• 4S: Subaru-Isuzu Automotive

• 4T: Toyota

• 4US: BMW USA

• 4UZ: Frt-Thomas Bus

• 4V(1-6,L,M,Z): Volvo

• 5F: Honda USA-Alabama

• 5L: Lincoln

• 5N1: Nissan USA

• 5NP: Hyundai USA

• 5T: Toyota USA – trucks

The next five digits of a VIN are used to determine the features of a vehicle or the vehicle attributes. For this section, you must have the manufacturer’s specific explanations of these characters and what they stand for. You can find specific codes for different manufacturers such as Chrysler, Ford, GM, Ferrari, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Land Rover, Subaru, Honda, Mitsubishi, Lamborghini, Maserati, and Toyota.

One of the most helpful things about a VIN decoder is that it easily helps explain the check digit. Many companies use the ninth digit of a VIN, always a number, as the VIN’s check digit. By using a complex mathematical equation, you can determine whether the product of multiplying all the letters and numbers besides the check digit of the VIN, when divided by 11, has a remainder that is equal to the check digit. If this calculation shows that it does, VIN is most likely real. This process is not guaranteed only because there is always a 1/11 that two different VINs will have the same check number.

After 1980, different countries have used slightly different variations of model years on a VIN. However, there is an accepted format that the majority of manufacturers use for the tenth digit. If the vehicle was built between the years 2001 and 2009, the digit from 0-9 corresponding to the vehicle will show up.  For example, 7 would indicate a 2007 model.

If the vehicle was built somewhere between 1980 and 2000, the code will be the letter from A to Y, excluding the three letters (I,O, Q) that are not found in VINs. 

The last six digits can be decoded with a VIN decoder to indicate just how far along into a specific production run that the motor vehicle was built. Since many companies make a lot of their respective vehicle models, this sequence is not necessarily a number. 

For many car owners, this sequence is not very significant. However, for special models, such as limited edition vehicles or end-of-production vehicles, this sequence can be the most effective way to determine if a vehicle is authentic. 

The vehicle identification number, or the vehicle’s VIN, is a serial of 17 characters, both numbers and letters that have been issued to individual cars since the 1981 model year. A VIN is accepted as the standard in North America for identifying motor vehicles. It provides vital information about the vehicle’s manufacturer, model year, model, make, class, and equipment of a vehicle. A VIN can uniquely identify a specific motor vehicle to the law enforcement, government, insurance industry, consumers and other concerned stakeholders.

A VIN lookup can be to help in the many different situations, whether for vehicle owners, law enforcement, potential car shoppers, or insurance companies. Some examples where a VIN number lookup is useful include the following:

• VIN number lookups can help inform consumers when buying a used vehicle from a seller. A VIN lookup can help you avoid purchasing stolen vehicle or those that has been declared either unsafe for use or irreparable.

• Law enforcement agents can use a VIN number lookup to identify or recover vehicles that have been stolen.

• You perform a VIN number lookup to ensure that the vehicle information is accurate. Not only should the make and model of the vehicle match, but the ownership and insurance of the vehicle should also match up as well. If there are any mistakes when you perform the VIN number lookup, you can have them corrected prior having to do any transactions involving the title. 

• An insurance company can use a VIN number lookup to ensure that your insurance is rated properly in case of an accident.

• Vehicle maintenance and body shops can do a quick VIN number lookup so that they can order the right parts for your vehicle.

If you are not planning to purchase a VIN number lookup report but instead you only wish to look up what your VIN means, you can do that without having to rely on commercial VIN lookup services. For most American cars, a VIN lookup is performed by first breaking up the VIN number into its appropriate sections and then interpreting each section, which often requires you to look up specific codes. The seventeen digits of a VIN are broken up into the following:

o Characters 1-3 of a VIN lookup: World Manufacturer Identifier 

o Characters 4-8 of a VIN lookup: Vehicle attributes 

o Character 9 of a VIN lookup: Check Digit

o Character 10 of a VIN lookup: Model year

o Character 11 of a VIN lookup: Plant code

o Character 12-17 of a VIN lookup: Sequential number

This particular break down is applied to VIN number lookups for cars in North America where the vehicles are produced in quantities that exceed 400.

The first step in performing a VIN number lookup is to figure out the make of the vehicle.  This is determined by the first three digits of the VIN, called the World Manufacturer Identifier. The first digit of the World Manufacturer Identifier, it explains where the vehicle was made. For the United States, the first character would be 1, 4, or 5. However, it is possibly that your vehicle was not made in the United States. Some other common ones include:

 

• Canada: 2, 

• Italy: Z

• Australia: 6

• Korea: K

• Germany: W

• Sweden: Y

• England: S

• France: V

• Brazil: 9

• Japan: J

You may need to do a more extensive VIN number lookup and if your vehicle’s VIN does not begin with one of these. The second and third digit of your VIN will also require more VIN lookup skills, since they are specific to each manufacturer. These two help determine not only where the manufacturer built the vehicle, but what model it was. These designations are assigned by the Society of Automotive Engineers in the United States. 

After this, you can use a VIN number lookup on the next five digits to determine the specific features of a vehicle or its attributes. The serials used in this section are determined by the manufacturer, so you will have to look up specific information to the manufacturer in order to figure out what the characters mean. 

While there are small variations between countries on how to portray model years on a VIN, the accepted form for most manufacturers is to use for the tenth digit to convey the model number of a vehicle. If the vehicle was sometime between 2001 and 2009, the digit from 0-9 will be used.  For example, 6 would indicate a 2006 model vehicle.

For older vehicles that were built between 1980 and 2000, the code in the VIN will be the letter from A to Y, excluding the three letters (I,O, Q)  as the tenth position of the VIN. 

The last six digits indicate just how far along into a given production run the vehicle was built in. For many car owners, this sequence is not very significant. This portion of the VIN may not be important to many car owners, but for owners of special vehicle models, such as limited edition or end-of-production models, a VIN lookup for this section can be important to prove the authenticity of the vehicle’s status. 

Many different commercial services provide VIN lookups to help you check records on a vehicle. A VIN lookup is performed commercially in the Motor Vehicle Records database. By performing a VIN lookup, the VIN is compared to records in order to find information on the vehicle, such as the previous owners of the vehicle, if the vehicle was stolen, the last inspection date of the vehicle, whether the vehicle was ever classified as an unusable or other statuses, or if the vehicle was ever involved in major incidents. By performing a VIN lookup, you can also figure out if the odometer of the vehicle has ever been significantly manipulated.

While many sites claim to provide free VIN number lookup services, they are either lying or they may show a very limited amount of information. When you pay to perform a VIN number lookup and receive a report, you will get a lot of information about what the vehicle has been involved in, as well as identifying details of the vehicle manufacturer, year, model, class, tag, vehicle owner’s address and phone number, tag, odometer, and more.

The vehicle identification number, or VIN, is a series of 17 numbers and letters that have been issued to individual cars since the 1981 model year. A VIN is accepted as the standard in North America for identifying motor vehicles. It provides vital information about the vehicle’s manufacturer, model year, model, make, class, and equipment of a vehicle. A VIN can uniquely identify a specific motor vehicle to the law enforcement, government, insurance industry, consumers and other concerned stakeholders.

An accurate VIN can be used in a VIN search to help in the following situations:

• Help consumers in purchasing a used vehicle. If you know to do a VIN search, you will be less likely to purchase a stolen vehicle or one that has been declared unsafe for use or irreparable.

• You can do a VIN search to make sure that it is accurate and confirms the identity, insurance, and ownership of the vehicle. If any of these are mistaken, you can get them corrected before dealing with any license or titling registration transactions.

• Law enforcement can use a VIN search to help identify and recover stolen motor vehicles.

• Vehicle body and maintenance shops can perform a VIN search or simply examine the VIN to order the correct parts for your vehicle.

• An insurance company can perform a VIN search to make sure that your vehicle insurance is properly rated in the event of claims.

• You can use a VIN search from different commercial services, to check the records on a motor vehicle in the Motor Vehicle Records database. These records can show you how many previous owners the vehicle has had, when the vehicle was last inspected, if the vehicle was ever classified as a “lemon”, if the vehicle was stolen, or if the vehicle had ever gone through any major incidents such as being submerged in water or rolling over. These Motor Vehicle records can also show if the vehicle’s odometer has ever been manipulated back.

Many commercial sites will allow you to use your VIN in a VIN search to help you find your vehicle history report. This motor vehicle report will help you determine if there are any problems with a car. This report can tell you if a vehicle was flooded, wrecked, stolen, totaled, or if there were any changes in the title.

While many sites advertise free VIN search services, many of these reports only show a very small amount of data for free, such as how many “events” the vehicle has been involved in without providing helpful details. When you do a VIN search and pay for a report, you can find out helpful information that can help you verify or find vehicle details such as the manufacturer, model, class, year, tag, address of the vehicle owner, tag, odometer, and more.

It is important to note that VIN search reports only provide the last reported phone numbers and addresses of an owner. There are no guarantees that the information found on VIN search report is the most accurate and current.

If you plan to do a VIN search for debt recovery, collateral recovery or collections, and your subject is purposely hiding their address, you may need a more sophisticated search than a VIN search, such as a search by the car owner name or a car owner address search.

If you are checking out many potential cars to purchase, you may want to look for a free VIN check. However, most free VIN checks are actually a scam, or they charge for their services in other ways. Alternatively, other free VIN checks only provide minimal information regarding a vehicle, which may not be enough for you when considering a vehicle. One of the best free VIN checks are provided by the National Insurance Crime Bureau. 

This free service from the National Insurance Crime Bureau lets you know if a used motor vehicle’s VIN is found in a database of stolen vehicles. Although this is all the National Insurance Crime Bureau free VIN check shows, it is important to do this in order to prevent this situation. No prospective car buyer should purchase any vehicle, especially any vehicle on the most stolen list, without obtaining a free VIN report from a free VIN check first. 

The National Insurance Crime Bureau free VIN check is a service provided to the public in order to assist in figuring out if a vehicle has been previously reported as stolen, but has not recovered, or has been previously reported as a declared total loss or salvage vehicle by cooperating National Insurance Crime Bureau members. In order to perform a search of the vehicle, you must have the vehicle’s VIN available. A maximum of give free VIN checks can be done within a 24-hour period.

The free VIN report and free VIN check services are offered by the National Insurance Crime Bureau and through many other car report companies. The free VIN report not only tells you whether a car motor vehicle has been stolen, in some cases the free VIN report can also tell you whether the motor vehicle has been. Often, people get the free VIN check first before buying the free VIN report, because if the motor vehicle has been stolen or salvaged, there is no reason to purchase the not-free report. 

Not only does the National Insurance Crime Bureau provide these free VIN checks, but they also provide a list of the 10 most stolen cars. You should take precaution when purchasing these vehicles:

• Honda Accord (1994)

• Honda Civic (1995)

• Toyota Camry (1991)

• Chevrolet Pickup (1999 Full Size)

• Ford F150 Series/Pickup (1997)

• Dodge Ram (2004)

• Dodge Caravan (2000)

• Acura Integra (1994)

• Ford Explorer (2002)

• Ford Taurus (1999)

While your options may be extremely limited in finding a free VIN check in order to receive a free VIN report, there are still some ways to get more information about a used vehicle before a purchase. You may want to get this report because while the free VIN check from the National Insurance Crime Bureau tells you if the vehicle was stolen, a free VIN report will not give too much information on the following: 

• Lemon title

• Flood, fire, hail, frame or other major damage

• Severe accident

• Salvage title

• Multiple owners

• Odometer rollback

• Theft

• Title washing

• Police, driver education, taxi or any other problematic use history

Furthermore, with a free VIN report, you may not be able to do the following:

• Confirm ownership, service history, and mileage of the vehicle

• Check for any active recalls of bulletins

• Check the availability of an extended warranty

• Check the status of the remaining factory warranty, if any

The VIN of your vehicle is normally found on the door frame of the vehicle on the driver’s side, although it can also be near the windshield on the dashboard. If you are performing a free VIN check on a used car, then the seller of the vehicle should be able to provide you with the VIN number. If the seller is unwilling to provide the VIN number, this is a very bad sign and you should immediately walk away from the sale of this vehicle because there may be significant problems with the vehicle.

You can then get a free VIN check or a free VIN report by searching for various websites that provide them. While the National Insurance Crime Bureau provides information, you may also wish to try other sources. Be very hesitant with sites that claim they can provide a free VIN report but then still ask for your billing information or charge you on a regular basis. 

You will need to put in the vehicle’s VIN number where directed on a site in order to get the free VIN report. Some websites may email you the report while others will display it immediately on your screen. These free VIN reports will not provide a full history of the car, but they will let you know whether the car has been stolen, had a salvaged title, taken part in a crime, or more. Based on the free VIN report, you can decide if the vehicle is worth purchasing.

You can also use the vehicle’s VIN number to get a used car free VIN report. You can check how many reports have been previously filed for the vehicle. If you notice that there are many reports filed, then you might want to more closely inspect the used vehicle. Be aware that the used car report is not the same as a VIN report. Used vehicle reports usually are not free and they require a fee.

Insurance companies are usually the ones who manage the databases that contain all of the vehicle report information. These reports are given voluntary from the companies and are often based off of the reports for claims or other insurance issues. You can see if the vehicle is stolen, has ever been previously stolen, or if it has had any salvaged titles. You will not be given information about title changes, maintenance, major accidents, or other details.

If the vehicle has never been insured before, or if it was insured by a company that did not provide information for free VIN checks or free VIN reports, then you will not be able to get any helpful information regarding the history of that vehicle. Make sure you ask the appropriate questions regarding the history and the condition of the vehicle. Try and obtain documented proof for as much as possible about the vehicle. If you have doubts, you will need to make adjustments to the bill of sale, so both seller and buyer are satisfied.