How To Find Your Car Owner's Manual Online

Although the promised paperless society may never come to pass, today's savvy consumers know the convenience of downloading large documents and foregoing the bulky printed version. Automakers realize this, and almost all of them have made the voluminous owner's manuals for their vehicles available on their Web sites. Most (though not all) of the downloadable manuals are free, while the paper versions cost anywhere from $10 to $30 or more.

Owner's manuals don't make exciting reading, but they are packed with valuable instructions, information and warnings. Perhaps your manual is buried in a long-forgotten pile of papers. Maybe you've purchased a used car that didn't come with a manual. Or maybe you want to read the details on a car before you actually buy it. We have made it easy for you to find a car owner's manual without any digging. And by having access to a manual online or by storing the document on your computer, you have convenient answers when you're not in the car.

Below is a list of links to help you get an online manual from a car's manufacturer. In some cases, you can just search for a car's year, make and model, and then download the manual. Often, though, you'll need to register at the carmaker's site. Occasionally you'll need to provide a car's vehicle identification number (VIN). You can find the VIN on the vehicle registration, an insurance card or on the vehicle itself. We've listed if the manual is free, if a VIN is required, what model years are available and other relevant information. If you can't find your vehicle or don't feel like registering on a Web page, try running a Web search for your vehicle's year, make and model and the words "owner's manual" — "2001 Chevrolet Impala owner's manual," for example. There are a number of Web sites that archive manuals and share them with other owners.

Links to Online Car Owner's Manuals by Manufacturer, as of 12/01/11
(Information applies to U.S. models only.)

Source: Edmunds.com

In rare instances, such as with Kia, you can print the manual but not download it. Audi, Mitsubishi, Porsche and Volkswagen don't have their owner's manuals online at all. Saab owner's manuals used to be on stored on GM's Web site, but were removed after GM sold off the Swedish automaker.

As a side note, many of the online car owner's manuals also include maintenance schedules, but Edmunds makes caring for your car even easier with our Maintenance page, which lets you see the manufacturer's recommended maintenance schedule, recalls and technical service bulletins for your car in one convenient location.

The Paper Chase

If you need to order a paper copy of a manual, you can often do so from the same site link that you would use for a downloadable manual. You also can order a manual through a local car dealer. Helm, Inc. offers paper manuals for Acura, Ford, all GM brands, Honda, Hyundai, Isuzu, Jaguar, Lincoln, Lexus, Mercury and Mitsubishi, Toyota and Scion — for a fee. You can purchase paper manuals for Audi and VW at the links above. And if a used owner's manual is OK, or you're after the manual for an obscure model, eBay is always worth a shot.