VIN Lookup: How to Perform a VIN Check

Need to know where your car or the car you are looking at was built? That can be critical these days because new vehicles built overseas can be subject to stiff import tariffs. A VIN lookup is the best way to get detailed information about the history of your car. For those unfamiliar, VIN is short for "vehicle identification number," but many people call it a "VIN number," similar to how some people use the term "ATM machine," when the M already stands for "machine."

Knowing how to decode a VIN can also be helpful when purchasing used vehicles, especially from independent sellers rather than franchised dealerships. That's because if the VIN on a car or truck shows that it is supposed to be one trim level, for instance, or have one type of engine, and instead is a different trim or has a different engine, you'd know something was amiss and that you should perhaps be looking for another vehicle and another seller. 

In this article, we'll discuss the various aspects of a car's VIN and describe each letter or number in detail. However, if you came here looking for a quick way to perform a VIN lookup for free, here are a few good resources.

Jump to:

• Recommended VIN decoders
• VIN basics
• What do the letters and numbers mean in a VIN?
• Other VIN decoder uses

Recommended VIN decoders

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) website offers two free VIN lookup tools that allow you to either decode your VIN or check for a recall. We've tested both tools and found them to be fast and accurate. They also won't bombard you with pop-up ads or try to sell you something. If you're looking to sell your car, you can use your VIN on the Edmunds appraisal tool to determine its market value or get an offer from a participating dealership that would be interested in buying it.

The VIN is a unique 17-digit code, made up of an alphanumeric string of characters and assigned to every individual vehicle by its maker. It can reveal many things about an automobile, including its airbag type, country of origin, engine size, model year, vehicle type, trim level and plant name. The VIN (sometimes known, redundantly, as the "VIN number") can also be used to check on safety recalls or obtain a vehicle history report. We will show you how to find it on your car or one you are considering acquiring. But first, we'll cover the background and basic facts of a vehicle's VIN.  

VIN basics

The first VIN dates back to 1954, and for decades, VINs came in a wide variety of configurations, depending on the individual automaker. Vehicles from the '50s and up to 1980 cannot be decoded by modern methods. Instead, you'll need to contact your Department of Motor Vehicles or the automaker directly. Before 1954, automakers used engine numbers to identify individual vehicles, but engines were often replaced in those days, causing many identity woes. 

In 1981, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration mandated that all vehicles from that point forward have a standardized 17-digit vehicle identification number.

Typically, the vehicle identification number is stamped into a plate mounted on the driver's side of the dashboard near the corner where the windshield and dash meet, or on the driver-side door jamb. It's also stamped on the front of most engines.

Modern 17-digit VINs can be used to access vehicle history reports, which can reveal many records relating to a vehicle, including ownership and accident and repair histories.

Also, car owners and used-car shoppers can enter a VIN into the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's VIN lookup tools to decode it and see if a vehicle has open recalls.

What do the letters and numbers mean in a VIN?

VIN information is organized in groups, and a search of your vehicle identification number can tell you a lot about your car. The VIN even contains some fraud detection in the form of the "check digit," described below.

World manufacturer identifier, or WMI (characters 1-3)
The WMI is a combination of three letters and numbers that identify the automaker's country of origin. There are more than 48,000 of these WMI codes, so using a VIN lookup decoder is the most reliable way to get accurate info about your vehicles. 

• The first and second characters of the VIN identify the manufacturer and the manufacturer's country of origin. Sometimes this looks like a number and a letter, and other times it can be two letters. For example, cars from companies based in the U.S. have VINs that start with 1, 4 or 5. Canada is 2, and Mexico is 3, followed by a letter (but 3 followed by a digit is someplace else — 34 is Nicaragua, for instance). Japan is J, South Korea is KL through KR, China is L. England is SA-SM, while Poland gets SU-SZ. Everything from Germany starts with a W, including some Dodge and GM vehicles that were built there. Sweden or Finland is Y.  

In some cases, you can spot the manufacturer in the second character, as it's the same letter that begins the manufacturer's name. For example, A is for Audi, B is for BMW, G is for General Motors, L is for Lincoln, and N is for Nissan. But an A can also stand for Jaguar or Mitsubishi, and an R can also mean Audi. It may sound confusing, but the following character ties it all together.

Remember, the manufacturer's country isn't always where the vehicle was made, so don't use those first three characters to determine that. Wait until you get to the 11th, which identifies the specific plant in which the vehicle was assembled. 

• The third character, when combined with the first two letters or numbers, indicates the brand's manufacturing division and the types of vehicles it makes. Using General Motors as an example, a WMI code of 1G1 represents the Chevrolet passenger car division, and 1GC represents Chevrolet trucks.  This Wikipedia page has a list of WMI codes.

Note that the WMI can get a little messy due to a series of corporate mergers and splits over the past few decades. Some vehicles keep manufacturer location codes from old corporate owners. Stellantis, which is based in Amsterdam, owns Dodge, Chrysler, Ram and Jeep, which still get U.S. identifiers because they originally were part of Chrysler Corp. back when it was a stand-alone U.S. company. 

Here are a few examples of what the first three characters can show:

• A VIN that starts with "1FA" means the car's manufacturer is based in the U.S., it is a Ford, and it is a passenger car.
• Looking up a VIN starting with "SCC" that's on an older car that might be found at an auction would reveal its manufacturer was based in England, it's a Lotus, and it is a high-performance sedan called the Lotus Carleton. The Carleton was only produced from 1990 to 1991. (A character later in the VIN string would show the year this Carleton was built.) Because the Carleton was not sold in the U.S. when new, you could also deduce, unless you are looking at it in the U.K., that the VIN is for a Carleton imported by a collector. 

Vehicle descriptor section (characters 4-9)

• Characters 4 through 8 describe the car with information such as the model, body type, restraint system, transmission type, and engine code. They are a great source of information, but they aren't perfect and can contain some errors, especially when there are many variations of a single model.

For example, the fourth through eighth characters for a Toyota VIN we tested, EWRFV, showed that it is a RAV4 Hybrid, XSE trim, with all-wheel drive and a 2.5-liter four-cylinder gas engine. It also showed the location and type of the vehicle's airbags (knee, curtain, side, front and front passenger seat; the type of transmission — automatic; fuel type — gasoline and electricity; and the horsepower from the gas engine — 176 hp. Interestingly, it didn't show the total hp, 219 hp, when the hybrid system's electric motor output is factored in. It also misidentified the automatic transmission as an eight-speed, which is used in the non-hybrid RAV4, rather than the hybrid RAV4's electronic CVT transmission.

• Character number 9 is the check digit, which is used to detect invalid VINs. The number that appears varies and is based on a mathematical formula that the U.S. Department of Transportation developed. Running the VIN decoder will show whether it is valid or not.

Vehicle identifier section, or VIS (characters 10-17)

• In the 10th character position, you'll see a letter indicating the model year. The letters from B to Y correspond to the model years 1981 to 2000. The VIN system does not use I, O, Q, U or Z. From 2001 to 2009, the numbers 1 through 9 were used in place of letters. Use of the alphabet restarted from A in 2010 and will continue until 2030.

It can be a bit confusing. Here are the model years since 2000: Y=2000, 1='01, 2='02, 3='03, 4='04, 5='05, 6='06, 7='07, 8='08, 9='09, A='10, B='11, C='12, D='13, E='14, F='15, G='16, H='17, J='18, K='19, L='20, M='21, N='22, P='23, R='24, S='25, T='26

In our Toyota example, the 10th character is a K, denoting that the RAV4 is a 2019 model.

• 11th character: A number or letter here indicates the manufacturing plant where the vehicle was assembled. Each automaker has its own set of plant codes. Our Toyota example's VIN carries the letter J in the 11th position, and the NHTSA VIN decoder says that means it was built at the Takaoka Plant in Toyota City, Japan. 

Production numbers (for vehicles in the U.S and China)

• Characters 12-17: In the United States and China, the 12th to 17th digits are designated as the vehicle's production number when it rolls down the assembly line. Like a serial number, this number is unique to each vehicle, and every manufacturer uses its own sequence. 

Other VIN decoder uses

A simple VIN decoder will help you learn an automotive pedigree and some key specifications, but those digits are also useful for less entertaining but more important reasons involving your vehicle's title, registration and insurance. Make sure to check the VIN when purchasing replacement parts for your vehicle. Vehicle parts are often specific to certain VINs and may not fit your car if you only go by its year, make and model. 

Checking a box on the NHTSA decoder titled "Show All Vehicle Details" displays a 140-item checklist of the vehicle's standard features, including things like wheel size, which active safety systems it's equipped with, and what entertainment system features (CD and stereo are reported for our Toyota) it carries.