How to Read a VIN: Every Character Explained

Where to find it

NHTSA's advice is to look at the lower left of the windshield, where the 17 characters sit behind the glass. The VIN is also printed on the registration card and may be on the insurance card. Use the one on the car itself when you buy a used vehicle, and check that the paperwork matches it character for character.

The 17 positions

49 CFR Part 565 splits the VIN into four sections. The last one combines three fields, so a VIN reads as six parts:

Only capital letters and the digits 0 to 9 are allowed, and three letters are left out of the set entirely: I, O, Q. So a character that looks like an O in a VIN is always a zero, and one that looks like an I is a 1.

Positions 1 to 3: the manufacturer

The first section identifies the manufacturer and the type of vehicle. For a manufacturer that builds many vehicles, these three characters are unique on their own. For a small manufacturer, a 9 in position 3 signals a six-character identifier: positions 1 to 3 plus positions 12 to 14. NHTSA offers a search of the manufacturer identifier assignments.

Positions 4 to 8: the vehicle

The second section describes the vehicle itself. The rule lists what must be decodable from it for each type. For a passenger car that is the make, line, series, body type, engine type and all restraint devices and their location. Trucks add the cab type, brake system and gross vehicle weight rating; motorcycles the type and net brake horsepower. The manufacturer decides which character carries which attribute and files the key with NHTSA, so positions 4 to 8 mean different things from one maker to the next. One rule is fixed: for cars and for trucks and multipurpose vehicles of 10,000 lb or less, position 7 must be a letter.

Position 9: the check digit

The check digit catches copying errors. It is computed from the other 16 characters after they are set, in four steps:

1. Turn every character into a number. Digits keep their value. Letters get a fixed value: A to H are 1 to 8, J to N are 1 to 5, P is 7, R is 9, S to Z are 2 to 9.
2. Multiply each value by the weight for its position: 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 10 for positions 1 to 8, 0 for position 9 itself, then 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 for positions 10 to 17.
3. Add the products and divide by 11.
4. The remainder is the check digit. A remainder of 10 is written as X.

Here it is on 3ZZFH2SE2TC104726, a made-up example VIN: the characters are invented and do not describe a real vehicle, but position 9 was filled in with this rule.

387 ÷ 11 = 35 remainder 2, so the check digit is 2, which is what sits in position 9. Now mistype one character: read the 4 in position 13 as a 7, and the same math gives a check digit of 0, which does not match the 2 in the VIN. That is how a form or a decoder spots the error. When the remainder is 10 the check digit is X: change the serial number to 104733 and the VIN becomes 3ZZFH2SEXTC104733.

Position 10: the model year

The 10th character is the model year. The codes run through a fixed cycle of 30 characters: the allowed letters and digits minus U, Z, 0. A was 1980, the cycle switched to digits for 2001 to 2009 and came back to A in 2010.

The example has T in position 10, so it would be a 2026 model. Because the cycle repeats, every code stands for two years 30 years apart. The rule settles it for cars and for trucks and multipurpose vehicles of 10,000 lb or less: if position 7 is a digit, the year is in the range 1980 to 2009; if position 7 is a letter, it is 2010 to 2039.

Positions 11 to 17: plant and serial number

Position 11 is the plant of manufacture; NHTSA's decoder shows the plant and its country. Positions 12 to 17 are the production sequence number. For cars and light trucks the last five characters must be digits; for other vehicles the last four. For small manufacturers, positions 12 to 14 belong to the manufacturer identifier and only 15 to 17 are the serial.

Decoding and recalls

NHTSA's vPIC decoder at vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/decoder reads a full VIN, or a partial one, and shows what the manufacturer reported for it, including the plant. It does not decode model years before 1981. For safety, the more useful search is at nhtsa.gov/recalls: enter the VIN and it shows any unrepaired safety recall for that vehicle from the manufacturers it covers, or "0 unrepaired recalls" if there are none. It does not show recalls that were already repaired, recalls more than 15 years old unless the maker covers longer, or some very new recalls whose VINs are still being added, so NHTSA suggests checking regularly.

The VIN tells you what a car is; other labels tell you how it performs. The car window sticker guide covers the price and fuel economy labels on a new car, the MPG calculator checks the fuel economy you actually get, and the tire size calculator decodes the size code on the tire sidewall, another string of characters with a fixed format.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• eCFR, 49 CFR Part 565, Vehicle Identification Number requirements (17 characters; allowed letters and digits; the four sections and their positions; Table I attributes; position 7 alphabetic for cars and light trucks; check digit values, weights and remainder; model year codes and the 1980 to 2039 note; plant and serial number)
• NHTSA: Check for recalls (VIN on the lower left of the windshield, registration and insurance card; VIN search shows unrepaired recalls; what it does not show, including recalls over 15 years old)
• NHTSA vPIC: VIN decoder (decodes the information encoded in a VIN, data reported by manufacturers, plant information, partial VINs accepted, no decoding of years before 1981)

Written by Tobias. Updated October 26, 2026.