Free VIN Decoder

Why is VIN information so important?

A VIN is like a fingerprint for a car and is widely used by the police and many other institutions for investigating and preventing VIN tampering, detecting theft, etc. A VIN is also useful for those looking to buy a pre-owned vehicle, as it provides detailed car specs by VIN and helps to search for vehicle history data. If you want to get a comprehensive and detailed overview of a used car’s background, VIN search and decoding can provide you with relevant and valuable vehicle data. Additionally, you also have an opportunity to check some important aspects concerning vehicle specifications and elements. For example, VIN number decoder allows you to compare the originally installed equipment with the current one, find the reason for replacement, if any, and reveal possible causes of various issues that led to it. It can be breakage, car accidents, automobile part replacements, etc. Aside from that, a VIN decoder solution like ClearVin is a great option if you want to find out whether a vehicle has ever been stolen. One more advantage is that by using a VIN number lookup, you can identify the falsified VIN code if the number in databases is not the same one you see on the automobile. It is a useful free VIN decoder feature because thousands of vehicles are being sold with disproved VINs.

How to Decode a VIN?

Though it is easy to locate a VIN, decoding the information contained in every VIN might be a challenge. The 17 digits of the VIN are divided into segments and each represents some relevant information about the vehicle including the year, make and model, country, and factory of manufacture, serial number, etc.

The first three characters of the VIN, known as the World Manufacturer Identifier (WMI), represent the manufacturer and the country of origin. This section helps identify the make and model of the vehicle. Each manufacturer is assigned one or more WMI codes. The correct use of these codes is controlled by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), operating under the supervision of the International Organization for Standardization.

The next six characters, often referred to as the Vehicle Descriptor Section (VDS), contain information about various attributes, including the vehicle's body type, engine size, and transmission type. It provides specific details about the vehicle's features. In the United States, it is mandatory to include data on the gross vehicle weight and installed safety systems for a specific vehicle. The 9th position indicates the so-called check digit, which is used to verify the authenticity of the VIN numbers (it can be a digit from 0 to 9 or the letter "X").

The Vehicle Identifier Section (VIS) is the final part that completes the decoding of the VIN code. Typically, the 10th character contains information about the model year or year of production of the vehicle based on the body number, while the 11th character provides information about the assembly plant. The remaining numeric characters represent the vehicle's serial number.