Vehicle Identification Number Decoding Chart

VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER DECODING CHART - 2008







VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER DECODING CHART - 2007







VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER DECODING CHART - 2006







VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER DECODING CHART - 2005







VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER DECODING CHART 2004.5 DESIGNATED AS 2005







The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) are unique identifying codes that have appeared on every vehicle sold on the United States since 1981. A VIN is 17 characters long, consisting of numbers and letters.

Each character in a VIN has a specific meaning, and the VIN is broken up into sections. The following image (courtesy of howstuffworks.com) shows the 17 placeholders, described in detail below.







Positions four through eight might also be coded for information on the transmission used, the grade of the car or other features such as safety belts and sir bags. For the check digit, the other digits go through a series of calculations to obtain the correct digit. This allows computers to tell immediately if there is an error in the VIN, which often happens when someone transcribes a VIN or enters it into a computer.

The European Union has a similar regulation for VINs, but is less stringent than the North American rule. European VINs are not required to include year, factory or vehicle attribute data. However, the two systems are compatible.

Did you know that two vehicles can have the same VIN? It's possible, but two cars built within 30 years of each other cannot have the same identifier.