VIN stands for vehicle identification number. It is a 17-character alphanumeric identifier for your vehicle. Every car has a unique VIN number that identifies different characteristics of the vehicle.
Where to Find Your Vin Number:
Common locations of the vehicle identification number vary and some may be as follows:
* Left hand inner wheel arch
* Steering column
* Radiator Support Bracket
* Dash by windshield
* Drivers door or post or passenger side
* Guarantee & Maintenance Book *Vehicle documents
* Your insurance card often has it
* Component parts as listed above -eg- engine,frame, etc.
* Firewall of the vehicle
Most recent vehicles the common places for your VIN are:
* Left instrumentation/dash plate by window
* Firewall
* Drivers door or post
The VIN is sequenced like this: first is characters A to Z, then numbers 1 to 9, and last 0. The letters "I", "O" and "Q" are omitted because they can cause confusion with similar numbers.
The vehicle identification number is divided into four parts:
* World Manufacturer's Identification (WMI - three characters)
* Vehicle Description Section (VDS - five characters)
* The VIN Accuracy Check Digit
* Vehicle Identification Section (VIS - eight characters)
World Manufacturer’s Identification:
Character (1): The first character in this sequence represents the country where the vehicle was made. Countries like Canada (2), the United States (1 or 4), and Mexico (3) are represented by numbers and other countries like Italy (Z), Germany (W) and Japan (J) are represented by letters.
Character (2): The second character refers to which automaker manufactured the vehicle. These characters can be letters or numbers. For example: Jaguar (A), Jeep (J), Dodge (B), Chrysler (C), Cadillac (6), Buick (4) or Saturn (
.
Character (3): This character is the vehicle type or manufacturing division.
Vehicle Description Section:
This section consists of five characters (the 4th to 8th characters). These characters identify everything from the body style, engine type, and braking system to model, series, etc.
The Check Digit:
The 9th character is an accuracy check digit that verifies the previous VIN numbers. The value of this digit is determined by a mathematical computation developed by the Department of Transportation (DOT).
Vehicle Identification Section:
This section is the last eight characters in the VIN number. These numbers identify the model year (10th character) and the assembly plant for the vehicle (11th character). The model year digit can be either a letter or number (example: 1998-W, 2000-Y, 2007-7, 2008-8).
The last six digits are the serial number of the vehicle. These digits are the vehicles unique identifier. This number can also help to identify when the vehicle came down the assembly line (first, 20th, or last).
To run a check on your VIN you can go
here.
