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VIN from Reg

What is a VIN?

The Vehicle Identification Number: seventeen characters that identify one vehicle and no other.

The short answer

A VIN is the identity of a vehicle. The manufacturer stamps it into the body when the vehicle is built, and it is recorded against the registration when the vehicle is first put on the road. Plates, owners, colours and engines can all change. The VIN does not.

In the UK you will also see it called the chassis number, or on a motorbike the frame number. The V5C logbook prints all three names on the same line.

What the 17 characters mean

PositionNameWhat it tells you
1–3World Manufacturer IdentifierWho built it and where. The first character is the region or country, the next two narrow it to the manufacturer.
4–9Vehicle descriptorThe model, body, engine and restraint system, in a code each manufacturer defines for itself.
10Model yearA letter or number for the model year, on makes that use it.
11PlantThe factory that assembled the vehicle, on most makes.
12–17Serial numberThe individual vehicle’s number on that production line.

The first three characters are fixed by an international standard. The rest are largely up to the manufacturer, which is why a VIN cannot be fully decoded without that manufacturer’s own tables. In North America the ninth character is a check digit calculated from the others. European manufacturers are not required to use it that way, and many put a filler there instead.

VIN prefixes for common UK makes

The first three characters are a quick sanity check. If the logbook says Ford and the VIN starts with something else, look closer.

VIN starts withManufacturer
SFAFord (UK)
WF0Ford (Germany)
W0L, W0VVauxhall / Opel
WVW, WVGVolkswagen cars and SUVs
WV1, WV2Volkswagen vans
WAUAudi
WBA, WBSBMW
WMWMINI
WDB, WDD, W1KMercedes-Benz
SALLand Rover
SAJJaguar
SJNNissan (UK)
SB1Toyota (UK)
SHH, SHSHonda (UK)
VF1Renault
VF3Peugeot
VF7Citroën
TMBŠkoda
VSSSEAT
ZFAFiat
YV1Volvo
KMHHyundai (Korea)
KNA, KNDKia (Korea)
JMZMazda

A manufacturer can hold several prefixes, one for each country or division it builds in, so this is a guide to the common ones and not a complete list.

The model year character

The tenth character is a year code on makes that follow the North American convention. The full table is on the VIN year chart, along with why it is unreliable for a lot of European cars.

Where to find it

On the vehicle, on the logbook, or from the number plate. See where to find a VIN, or use the box below if all you have is the reg.

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FAQ

VIN questions

What does VIN stand for?
Vehicle Identification Number. It is the 17-character code a manufacturer gives a vehicle when it is built, and it stays with that vehicle for life.
How many characters are in a VIN?
Seventeen, on every vehicle built since the early 1980s. Older vehicles have shorter chassis numbers in the manufacturer’s own format.
Why are there no letters I, O or Q in a VIN?
They are too easily confused with the numbers 1 and 0, so the standard leaves them out.
Is the VIN the same as the registration number?
No. The registration is issued by the DVLA and can be changed or moved to another vehicle. The VIN is given by the manufacturer and never changes.
Can two vehicles have the same VIN?
No. A VIN is unique to one vehicle. Two vehicles showing the same VIN means one of them is not what it claims to be.

More guides

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