VIN-Vehicle Identification Number Meanings

Every auto ever made has a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). It does not matter if it is a car, truck, van, or SUV, it will have a VIN number found on the driver door panel and in front of the steering wheel on the dash-seen from outside the car. Over the years the VIN numbers have grown in length to signify different things. They are currently 17 digits long and mean the following.

1st digit: Country of origin, 1 is US, 2 Canada, 3 Mexico, Germany is W, and Japan is J. Don't ask why Germany is W??

2ND digit: Manufacturer. A is Audi, N is Nissan, B is BMW, G is General Motors.

3rd digit: Tells the make of the Car. In the diagram 1 is for the Chevrolet division of General Motors.

4Th and 5Th tells what type of car. The YZ is a Corvette ZR1.

6Th digit is the body type. 2 is 2 door hatchback and 3 would be 2 door convertible.

7Th digit is the type of restraint system. It this instance the 3 means manual belts with driver air bag.

8Th digit is the engine type.

9Th is a check digit. It will be a number from 0-9 and supposedly it can be told if the VIN has been tampered with.

10Th digit is very useful especially when appraising a car because it tells what year the vehicle is. It used to be represented by letters and now is using numbers. P-93, R-94, S-95, T-96, V-97, W-98, X-99, Y-00, 1-01, 2-02, 3-03, 4-04, 5-05, 6-06, 7-07. Well you get the point. The letters go back further and if you notice there are some letters that got skipped. I, O, Q, U, Z, because they could have confused with other numbers.

11Th digit is where the vehicle was manufactured. 5 being Bowling Green Kentucky, 9 is Detroit Michigan.

The last six digits 12-17 are the production sequence numbers.

Now you will look at VIN numbers in a different way. Impress your friends, count back 8 from the end and this will tell the year of the vehicle.