A VIN is composed of 17 characters, both digits and capital letters.
What is a VIN?
The VIN or vehicle identification number is the car’s fingerprint. It is impossible for two cars to have the same VIN. The VIN act as a unique identifier for a vehicle.
What do the numbers and letters in a VIN mean?
- 1st character: where the vehicle was built
- 2nd and 3rd character: the manufacturer and division
- Character 4 to 8: portrait of the vehicle-brand, engine size and type
- 9th character: security code that identifies the VIN as being authorized by the manufacturer
- 10th character: model year of the vehicle
- 11th character: indicates which plant assembled the car
- Last 6 characters: serial number of the vehicle
VIN number example
This is a VIN number example, as you can see in the image below. Above is the explanation of the different characters from this VIN number example.
VW VIN lookup
A VW VIN lookup is the first thing you should do before you buy a used Volkswagen vehicle. With a decent VW VIN lookup, you can detect whether the vehicle has been affected by the Volkswagen Emission Scandal. You can do a VW VIN lookup with a VIN decoder. A VIN lookup can help you to identify the original air cooled VW parts that came stock in your VW and ensure that you order the correct parts for your car.
VW VIN decoder
There are multiple VW VIN decoders available on the internet. One of the most popular decoders, is the Vincario decoder. You can find this VW VIN decoder on www.vindecoder.eu/volkswagen.
VW VIN schema
Standard | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ISO 3779 | WMI | VDS | VIS | ||||||||||||||||
EU & North America more than 500 vehicles/year |
WMI | Vehicle Attributes | Check Digit | Model Year | Plant Code | Sequential Number | |||||||||||||
EU & North America fewer than 500 vehicles/year |
WMI | 9 | Vehicle Attributes | Check Digit | Model Year | Plant Code | Manufacturer Identifier | Sequential Number |
Where can I find my VIN?
The VIN can be found in several locations. These are the most common places:
- Under the rear seat
- On the door frame of the front doors
- On the dashboard near the windshield
- On the car’s firewall
GEORGE JAMISON
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