The six blocks
| Positions | Name | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | World manufacturer identifier (WMI) | Region, country and manufacturer, often the vehicle type too. |
| 4 to 8 | Vehicle descriptor section (VDS) | Model line, body style, engine, restraint system or weight class. Each manufacturer codes these its own way. |
| 9 | Check digit | A calculated value that catches transcription errors. Required on North American vehicles. |
| 10 | Model year | A letter or digit that repeats on a 30-year cycle. |
| 11 | Plant code | The factory that assembled the vehicle, as coded by the manufacturer. |
| 12 to 17 | Serial number | The production sequence number. |
Positions 1 to 3: the manufacturer
The first character is a region code from the international standard ISO 3780. Traditionally 1, 4 and 5 mean the United States, 2 Canada, 3 Mexico, J Japan, K South Korea, L China, S the United Kingdom, W Germany and Z Italy. Letters A to H cover Africa, J to R Asia, S to Z Europe, 6 and 7 Oceania, and 8 and 9 South America. Some ranges have been reassigned in recent years, so treat the region as a strong hint rather than a certainty.
The code belongs to the manufacturer, so it usually reflects where the vehicle was built rather than the brand's home country. A Honda assembled in Ohio starts with 1H; one built in Japan starts with JH.
Manufacturers hold many WMIs, often one per vehicle type (car, truck, SUV). Small manufacturers that build only a few hundred vehicles a year use 9 in the third position and finish their code in positions 12 to 14.
Positions 4 to 8: the vehicle descriptor
These five characters describe the vehicle: model, series, body type, engine and, for cars, the restraint system. For trucks they often include a gross vehicle weight class. Every manufacturer publishes its own key to NHTSA, so the same character means different things at different brands.
This is where the VIN often catches out a misleading advert. If the listing says V6 and the descriptor decodes to a four-cylinder engine, ask why.
Position 9: the check digit
The check digit is calculated from the other 16 characters. Letters are converted to numbers, each value is multiplied by a weight for its position, the results are added up and divided by 11. The remainder, 0 to 10, is the check digit, with 10 written as X.
| Letters | Value |
|---|---|
| A B C D E F G H | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 |
| J K L M N P R | 1 2 3 4 5 7 9 |
| S T U V W X Y Z | 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 |
Weights by position: 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 10, 0 (the check digit itself), 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. You don't need to do it by hand; the decoder does it instantly. The system catches most single-character typos and many swapped pairs, which is exactly what it's for.
Position 10: the model year
| Code | Years | Code | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1980 / 2010 | T | 1996 / 2026 |
| B | 1981 / 2011 | V | 1997 / 2027 |
| C | 1982 / 2012 | W | 1998 / 2028 |
| D | 1983 / 2013 | X | 1999 / 2029 |
| E | 1984 / 2014 | Y | 2000 / 2030 |
| F | 1985 / 2015 | 1 | 2001 / 2031 |
| G | 1986 / 2016 | 2 | 2002 / 2032 |
| H | 1987 / 2017 | 3 | 2003 / 2033 |
| J | 1988 / 2018 | 4 | 2004 / 2034 |
| K | 1989 / 2019 | 5 | 2005 / 2035 |
| L | 1990 / 2020 | 6 | 2006 / 2036 |
| M | 1991 / 2021 | 7 | 2007 / 2037 |
| N | 1992 / 2022 | 8 | 2008 / 2038 |
| P | 1993 / 2023 | 9 | 2009 / 2039 |
| R | 1994 / 2024 | ||
| S | 1995 / 2025 |
U, Z and 0 are never used for the year. Because the cycle repeats, an A could be 1980 or 2010. In practice the car's condition settles it, and for North American cars and light trucks there's a convention: a digit in position 7 points to the earlier cycle, a letter to the later one. Not every manufacturer follows it, so check against the title.
The model year is not the same as the build date. The door-jamb label shows the month and year of manufacture, which can be in the previous calendar year.
Position 11: the plant
A single character for the assembly plant. Codes are set by each manufacturer, so a K at one brand and a K at another are different factories.
Positions 12 to 17: the serial number
The production sequence number, usually all digits for high-volume manufacturers. It is what makes each VIN unique within a manufacturer, model year and plant.
Characters that never appear
I, O and Q are banned everywhere in the VIN so they can't be confused with 1 and 0. If a document shows one, it's a typo or a fake.