VIN decode
17 characters off the body or the papers. NHTSA vPIC data, free.
Seventeen characters, and each position means its own thing. The letters I, O and Q never appear in a VIN: they were dropped so they cannot be read as one and zero.
What a VIN is made of
A real number from the Georgian board.
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JTJcharacters 1–3Maker and country
The manufacturer and the country. JT is Toyota in Japan, WBA is BMW in Germany, 1G is General Motors in the United States.
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BM7FXcharacters 4–8Model, body, engine, restraints
Model, body type, engine and restraint system. Read off that manufacturer's own table.
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8characters 9Check digit
The check digit. Computed from the other sixteen characters by one formula shared by everyone: if it does not come out, the number was copied wrong or invented.
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Gcharacters 10Model year
The model year. One character, and checking it takes a second.
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5characters 11The assembly plant inside the company.
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148627characters 12–17The body serial number.
The tenth character G is 2016, and the listing says the same. The first three, JTJ, are Lexus, plant in Japan.
The model year is inside the number
The tenth character. It is the one check on a listing you can do without the internet and without us: compare the letter against the year the seller typed.
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T2026
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S2025
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R2024
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P2023
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N2022
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M2021
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L2020
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K2019
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J2018
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H2017
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G2016
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F2015
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E2014
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D2013
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C2012
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B2011
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A2010
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I O Q U Znever used
The letters I, O, Q, U and Z are not used in this position, so the sequence runs with gaps.
Where the number sits on the car itself
Sellers publish the VIN in 13% of listings. On the rest you can ask for it, and read it yourself at the viewing, then compare it with what was sent in the messages.
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1
Bottom left of the windscreen, driver's side
Bottom left of the windscreen, driver's side. Visible from outside without opening the car.
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2
On the driver's door pillar
On the driver's door pillar, on the plate beside the tyre pressures.
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3
Under the bonnet
Under the bonnet, on the engine bay bulkhead or on the body itself.
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4
In the registration document
In the registration document. If the number in the papers and the number on the body differ, there is no reason to go further.
The first three places must show one and the same number. Different numbers, or marks of restamping, end the viewing; they are not a reason to haggle.
The decode comes from vPIC, the open database of the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It knows every number issued for the US market and most European and Japanese ones. We add nothing of our own: when vPIC does not know the model, the page says so.
No mileage, no accidents, no owners: vPIC reads the number itself and reports what the factory put into it. History comes from the American auction record, and not every car has one.