Car Tips - VIN Number Decoder

Vehicle History Report

A VIN Decoder will help you determine what each of the letters and numbers in your vehicle's VIN Number signify.  A VIN Number is comprised of a special sequence of characters, and each vehicle has a unique VIN Number.  It is in essence a vehicle's fingerprint.

The VIN Decoder below will work with all cars manufactured after 1981, the year a 17-character VIN became standard in the industry.  After you learn what each character means, you can then get a vehicle history report which will reveal any serious hidden problems in the vehicle's past as well as other important information about your vehicle.

The vehicle history report has a built-in VIN decoder which searches millions of DMV records to find the history of your particular car.  Make sure you check all VIN Numbers BEFORE you buy a used vehicle!

VIN Number Decoder

You don't have to be concerned with all 17 characters in a vehicle's VIN Number.  For your convenience we only cover the important ones.

(Example: Ford VIN Decoder - VIN: 2FTRX18W1XCA01212)

The first three characters signify the make of the car, usually as follows: The first character of your VIN represents the country of manufacture.

The second character represents the manufacturer or make of the vehicle, as follows:

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Other makes use a 3-character combination:

The fourth character is the type of restraint system or brake type:
For the Ford VIN Decoder, the R represents hydraulic brakes

The fifth, sixth & seventh characters are the car line, series and body style.  This will obviously be different for all makes, but let's use the Ford VIN Decoder example above: Characters 5, 6 & 7 are X18: X18 is a Ford F150 Pickup 4WD Super Cab

The eighth character is a description of the engine:
This will be different for all makes as well, so let's use the Ford VIN Decoder example again: Character 8 is a W: W represents a 4.6 liter V-8 engine

The tenth character represents the year of the car.  Pay close attention to this one:

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The eleventh character indicates the assembly plant.
In the above Ford VIN Decoder example, the C indicates Ontario, Canada

Characters 12-17 represent the vehicle's unique fingerprint.
It is these six digits which make every single vehicle in the world different.

Please note:  The letter "I" as in indigo, the letter "O" as in orange, and the letter "Q" as in queen are NOT found in any VIN Numbers.  Please check your VIN carefully so you can decode it properly.

You can find out everything you need to know about a vehicle you are considering with a Vehicle History Report.  A Vehicle History Report will decode any VIN for free as well as reveal serious hidden problems such as major collision damage, mechanical problems, insurance loss and much more.