The three parts of a VIN
Every modern car has a unique 17-character Vehicle Identification Number. It is split into three parts, and each tells you something different about the car.
- Characters 1–3 (WMI): the manufacturer and where it was built
- Characters 4–9 (VDS): the model, body style, engine and a check digit
- Characters 10–17 (VIS): model year, assembly plant and the production serial number
How to check the manufacture year
The tenth character is the model year. Letters run from A (2010) to Y (2030), skipping I, O, Q, U and Z, and digits 1 to 9 cover 2031 onward as well as 2001 to 2009. So a tenth character of "L" means 2020 and "M" means 2021. The eleventh character identifies the assembly plant.
Note that the VIN gives the model year, which can differ from the year the car was actually built or first registered.
Why VINs never contain I, O or Q
The letters I, O and Q are excluded because they are easily mistaken for 1 and 0. If a number you were given contains one of them, it was probably copied wrongly or is not a genuine VIN.
Decoding is only the first step
A decoder confirms that the car matches the listing. To learn what happened to the car afterwards, including accidents, auction sales and title brands, you need a vehicle history report built on the same VIN.