Where to find a VIN

On the vehicle

• Bottom corner of the windscreen. Most cars show the VIN on a small plate on the dashboard, read from outside through the glass.
• Door pillar. Open a front door and look for a sticker or plate on the pillar the door closes against.
• Under the bonnet.A manufacturer’s plate, and the number stamped into the bodyshell itself.
• In the floor. Some makes stamp it under a flap in the carpet beside a front seat.
• Motorbikes. Stamped on the headstock, where the forks meet the frame.

On the paperwork

• V5C logbook.In the vehicle details, on the line marked “VIN/Chassis/Frame No.”. If the logbook is what you have lost, see find a VIN without the V5C.
• Insurance documents. Many policy schedules and certificates print it.
• Service history and invoices. Main dealers put the VIN on every invoice, and it is usually on the first page of the service book.

What a VIN looks like

Seventeen characters, letters and numbers, with no spaces. It never contains the letters I, O or Q, because they are too easily read as 1 and 0. If what you have copied down contains one of those, look again. What is a VIN explains what each part of it means.

When you only have the number plate

If the car is not in front of you and you do not have its logbook, because you are pricing a repair over the phone, ordering a part for someone else, or looking at a car you have not been to see yet, the VIN can be looked up from the registration. That is what our reg to VIN lookup does.

Checking the two agree

When you are buying a used car, compare the VIN on the car with the one on the V5C. They should match exactly. A VIN plate that looks disturbed, or numbers that differ between the windscreen, the bodyshell and the logbook, is a reason to walk away.