Free · No account · Instant
Free VIN decoder
Type in a 17-character VIN and see exactly how the vehicle left the factory: year, make, model, trim, engine, drivetrain, body, assembly plant and safety equipment, plus what every character in the VIN stands for.
Specifications come from the NHTSA vPIC public database. For what happened to the vehicle after the factory (accidents, title brands, odometer, owners) you need the full history report for $5.99.
Decode a VIN
Free, unlimited, no email required.
What the free decoder shows
Everything the manufacturer built into the VIN and reported to the US regulator.
Identity
Model year, make, model, trim, series and vehicle type as recorded by the manufacturer.
Engine & drivetrain
Cylinders, displacement, horsepower, fuel type, drive type and transmission.
Body & dimensions
Body class, doors, seats, wheelbase and gross vehicle weight rating.
Manufacturing
Manufacturer, assembly plant, city and country the vehicle was built in.
Safety equipment
Airbag locations, ABS, stability control, TPMS and driver-assistance systems fitted at the factory.
VIN structure
Every one of the 17 characters explained: manufacturer code, model year, plant and serial.
What does a VIN mean?
A Vehicle Identification Number is the 17-character serial number every road vehicle built since the 1981 model year carries. It is stamped on the dashboard and the door jamb, and printed on the title, the registration and the insurance card.
It is not random, and it is not a serial number with extra digits. The VIN is split into fixed sections defined by ISO 3779: who built the vehicle and where, what the vehicle is, a checksum, the model year, the plant, and a production serial number. Read them in order and the number tells you the vehicle's whole factory identity.
Worked example below: 1FMDU34X7PUD75574, a 1993 Ford Explorer.
- 1FMPositions 1-3
- World Manufacturer IdentifierUnited States
Identifies who built the vehicle and where. The first character is the country or region of assembly, the second the manufacturer, and the third the vehicle type or manufacturing division.
- DU34XPositions 4-8
- Vehicle Descriptor Section
The manufacturer's own code for the model, body style, engine, transmission and restraint system. Each carmaker assigns these positions differently, which is why a decoder has to look them up rather than calculate them.
- 7Position 9
- Check digitValid, matches the calculated value 7
A checksum calculated from the other 16 characters. It catches typos and transposed characters. North-American manufacturers are required to use it; many European and Asian makers are not.
- PPosition 10
- Model year1993
The model year code. Letters and digits repeat on a 30-year cycle, so the same character stands for two possible years, and the rest of the VIN tells a decoder which one applies.
- UPosition 11
- Assembly plant
The manufacturer's code for the factory that assembled the vehicle. Codes are specific to each carmaker.
- D75574Positions 12-17
- Serial number
The sequential production number. This is what makes the VIN unique to one individual vehicle rather than to a model.
Read a VIN yourself
Four short guides to the parts of a VIN people actually ask about. No sign-up, no gate.
- VIN year chart: the 10th digitEvery model-year code from 1980 to 2039 in one table, and why each letter stands for two different years.
- Where to find your VINDashboard, door jamb, engine bay, title and insurance card. Where to look on cars, trucks, motorcycles, trailers and RVs.
- VIN check digit: is my VIN valid?How position 9 is calculated, why a valid VIN can still fail it, and the two typos behind almost every failure.
- WMI: the first three charactersThe World Manufacturer Identifier: what the country character means and how to read the maker code.
Try it on a real vehicle
Sample VINs you can decode right now, no VIN of your own needed.
Free decode vs. full history report
A VIN describes how a vehicle was built. It cannot tell you what happened to it since.
| What you want to know | Free decoder | Report $5.99 |
|---|---|---|
| Year, make, model and trim | Included | Included |
| Engine, displacement, drivetrain and transmission | Included | Included |
| Body style, doors, seats and weight rating | Included | Included |
| Factory safety equipment (airbags, ABS, driver assistance) | Included | Included |
| Assembly plant and country of manufacture | Included | Included |
| What each of the 17 VIN characters means | Included | Included |
| Reported accidents, damage and airbag deployment | Not included | Included |
| Title brands (salvage, rebuilt, flood, lemon, junk) | Not included | Included |
| Odometer readings and rollback detection | Not included | Included |
| Number of owners and personal vs. fleet/rental use | Not included | Included |
| Reported service and maintenance history | Not included | Included |
| Open manufacturer safety recalls | Not included | Included |
Before you buy
The VIN says what it is. The report says what it has been through.
Reported accidents, title brands, odometer readings, owner count, service records and open recalls. The full vehicle history for $5.99, delivered in seconds. Retail price for the same data is $44.99.
VIN decoder FAQ
- What is a VIN?
- A Vehicle Identification Number is the 17-character code every road vehicle built since 1981 carries. It encodes who built the car, where, what it is, and a serial number unique to that one vehicle. No two vehicles share a VIN.
- Where do I find the VIN?
- Look through the windshield at the driver-side corner of the dashboard, or open the driver door and read the sticker on the door jamb. It is also printed on the title, the registration and your insurance card, and almost every online listing shows it.
- Is the VIN decoder really free?
- Yes. Decoding costs nothing, needs no account and has no limit worth worrying about. The specification data comes from the NHTSA vPIC public database, which is free for anyone to query.
- What does the free decoder not tell me?
- Anything that happened after the vehicle left the factory. Accidents, title brands, odometer readings, previous owners, service records and open recalls are not in the VIN itself. They live in history databases, and they are what the paid report covers.
- Why are some fields missing for my vehicle?
- The NHTSA database is built from what manufacturers submit for vehicles sold in the United States. Older vehicles, grey imports and models never sold in the US decode with far fewer fields, and sometimes only the make and country of assembly.
- My VIN failed the check digit. Is it fake?
- Not necessarily. The check digit in position 9 is mandatory for North-American manufacturers but optional elsewhere, and a few makers ship VINs that do not satisfy it. Re-read the VIN first, because I/1 and O/0 mix-ups are by far the most common cause.
- How many characters is a VIN?
- Seventeen, on every vehicle built for the US market since the 1981 model year. Vehicles older than that carry shorter manufacturer-specific numbers, usually 11 to 13 characters, which no modern decoder can read.
- Is a VIN the same as a serial number?
- Not quite. The last six characters of the VIN are the production serial number, but the VIN wraps that serial in the manufacturer code, the vehicle description and the model year, which is what makes it unique worldwide. Engine and transmission serial numbers are separate again and are not part of the VIN.
- Do motorcycles have VINs?
- Yes, and they follow the same 17-character standard. On a motorcycle the VIN is stamped into the steering head tube and repeated on a frame sticker. NHTSA coverage of motorcycle specifications is thinner than for cars, so expect fewer fields to come back.
- Does decoding a VIN tell the owner I looked it up?
- No. A decode is a read-only lookup against a public database. Nobody is notified and nothing is attached to the vehicle record.
Specification data is provided by the NHTSA vPIC public database. More questions →