Decoding the VIN of the car.
Drivers are repeatedly faced with a vehicle identification number (VIN), providing it to the insurance company, when registering a car with the traffic police and in other areas of the auto industry. But for most of us, the 17-digit VIN code is a simple set of letters and numbers that, at first glance, has no logic. But that's not true.
See also: The traffic police has launched a service for checking the vehicle history by VIN number
A lot has been written on the Internet about deciphering a car’s VIN code. Various online resources offer numerous ways to decipher the VIN code. Unfortunately, on many sites the information is either incomplete or unreliable, which leads to errors in deciphering the VIN number. Our online publication 1GAI.RU decided to combine all the information available on the network, which will be easy for quick use, with the help of which you can quickly decipher the VIN number of your car.
Where to find the VIN code
In order to check the vehicle’s configuration using the VIN, you first need to find this number. Any novice motorist knows that, first of all, the VIN code can be found in the documents for the car. According to the norms of domestic legislation, the code is written not only in the technical passport, but also in registration documents.
In recent years, many cars with fake documents have been sold on the secondary car market, and scammers have become so skilled that it will be difficult for an inexperienced person to distinguish a fake. Therefore, it is necessary to check the numbers carefully and be sure to check the VIN code symbols indicated in the documentation and on the car body. They must match. The location of VIN codes varies among manufacturers (where each code is located on the body is indicated in the documents). Usually it is marked:
· on the partition between the power unit compartment and the passenger compartment. It will be possible to examine the code only after raising the hood;
· on the front panel near the driver's seat;
· under the floor covering near the driver's seat;
· on the right wheel arch;
Please note that changing markings on body parts is more difficult than in documents, since some codes are located in hard-to-reach places - where it is difficult to interrupt the signs without leaving traces. That's what we're counting on. Sometimes criminals leave the car’s original codes where it is difficult to get to them, hoping that the buyer will not check everything - out of ignorance or laziness.
What is a VIN number?
VIN is a set of alphanumeric characters that are applied by the car manufacturer to the car body, which represents encrypted information about the car. A single VIN code for most of the world's cars was adopted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1980. Before this, there was no standardization, so decoding the VIN of cars produced before this date is a problem.
In simple words, a car's VIN is like a person's DNA code. Each vehicle is assigned its own unique code, which is not repeated. In other words, the VIN number system is the world's first system for standardizing vehicle identification at a global level.
The VIN code of a car consists of a combination of 17 characters consisting of letters and numbers that identify the make, model and year of the car, and also contain more detailed data such as engine type, etc.
Many people wonder why this was done? This is to ensure that no vehicle of any make or model can be passed off as another.
Advantages of VIN-decoder
The VIN decoder service allows you to decipher the VIN code and get all the necessary information about the car. A universal decoder allows you to determine the manufacturer, year of manufacture, place of assembly, engine type and model, find out whether the car was stolen, repainted, or subjected to illegal modification.
The site’s huge information base allows you to read almost any identification number, check the car’s history and its market value.
The first three characters of the code show the international code of the manufacturer, characters from the fourth to the eighth give a description of the characteristics of the vehicle, 9 is a check digit, which is calculated according to a certain formula: 10 is the year of manufacture, 11 is the assembly plant code, the remaining characters are the serial number of the car.
Using VIN-decoder you can easily and quickly decipher all the characters and get specific information.
The site also has a page dedicated to searching by license plates. Here you can find out the details of the owner of the license plate, the date of its registration, as well as information about the insurance policy.
VIN-decoder is a simple and convenient service with which you can quickly obtain reliable and useful information.
Why is it necessary to decrypt VIN?
Decoding a car's VIN is first of all necessary when purchasing a car to make sure that you are not being deceived by providing false information about the car. Car owners often try to hide various information about the car for a successful sale.
This also applies to new cars that are purchased at car dealerships, where some data about the car may also be hidden. For example, they often sell a new car, hiding the year of manufacture from the buyer, taking advantage of the opportunity to change the year of manufacture of the vehicle, making it a year younger during the initial issuance of a title at customs or the State Traffic Inspectorate.
For example, in our country there are legal ways to change the year of manufacture of a car if the release date according to the VIN number corresponds to the last months of the year. So, thanks to this, dealers selling new cars enter inaccurate data about the year of manufacture into the vehicle passport (PTS), which gives them the opportunity to sell cars at an inflated price.
Documents for the car
In 1974, VAZ still did without VIN codes.
In 1974, VAZ still did without VIN codes.
How did you manage without a VIN before? In the Soviet Union, every car was accounted for, and some were even registered with the military. Vehicle passports had to include engine numbers, body numbers (on some models and chassis), car color, model, and year of manufacture. With the advent of VIN codes in the early 80s, this need no longer existed. The first automobile plant to adopt international standards was VAZ.
Now, with the development of the Internet, using the VIN code you can determine not only where and when the car was produced, but also how many owners it has had, whether it has been in an accident, and if it was serviced at a company service center, then its entire repair and maintenance history.
Vehicle characteristics by VIN number: Step 4
Having found out the make of the car, we can move on to further deciphering the VIN in order to find out by symbols located from 4 to 8 places in the code, which indicate data about the car. Unfortunately, in different countries, manufacturers use different encoding formats for information about the model’s configuration and additional options.
However, using the example of American cars, you can decipher the VIN. So, having learned in the above example that our car is a Mazda or Ford, then using the HT82H we can then find out in more detail what this code means.
The first letter "H" is a code for safety equipment that is factory installed in the vehicle and indicates that the vehicle has front and side airbags. If instead of the letter “H” there was a letter “B”, then this would mean that the car does not have airbags, but the car uses active seat belts.
Symbols from 5 to 7 places in the VIN code contain information about the car itself. In our case, this is part of the number “T82H”. Using this handy guide to deciphering VIN numbers for Ford vehicles, we learned that Ford symbols T8__ designate Mustang coupe vehicles.
Taking a closer look at the table, we came to the conclusion that it is either a Mustang Bullitt, Coupe GT or Coupe Shelby GT. So, if someone tries to sell you a Ford Mustang and claims that it is a GT series, but the VIN number shows that it is a T80 model, then they are lying to you.
Using the same table, we can determine the type of engine installed on the car. So in our example, after “NT82” there is the letter “H”, which means that the car is equipped with a 4.6 liter V8 engine. If there was a letter “N”, it would mean that the car was equipped with a six-cylinder engine, which would alert us if, upon inspection, we saw an eight-cylinder engine in the car.
What information can you get from the free report?
If you decide to find out the car's equipment by VIN or state license. number, using the “Autocode” service, the following information will become available to you:
- steering wheel location;
- type, power, engine size;
- year of manufacture of the machine;
- vehicle category.
This information is provided free of charge and is sufficient to make appropriate decisions about the overall condition of the vehicle. An additional paid report will show the color of the car and tell the full history of the vehicle.
How to punch the VIN code yourself
Checking the equipment by VIN number is a simple task. Today on the Internet there is a huge number of resources whose specialization is checking the equipment by VIN number. Some offer the service for free, others for a certain amount. The difference is exactly how much information the service provides.
For example, using the Internet service “Avtoreport” by VIN number, clients receive not only data on the vehicle’s configuration, but also information about the actual mileage of the car, participation in an accident, number of owners, being stolen or wanted, and a ban on registration and a lot of other information that is extremely important for the buyer of a used vehicle.
Another way to check the package contents is to look at the manufacturer’s official website. For example, checking the Audi equipment by VIN code can be carried out free of charge directly on the portal of the German automaker. The only difference is that the systems on such sites are not automated, so you will have to figure out how to decipher them yourself. In some cases, studying a unique identifier can become significantly more complicated due to the characteristics of the production region. For example, checking a Kia's equipment by VIN code for free is only possible if you know the Korean language, since the manufacturer does not duplicate information in other languages.
Thus, checking a car’s equipment using the VIN code online is an effective way to obtain information about the main elements of a vehicle. For those who want to find out the full history of a car online using the VIN code, the optimal channel is the Internet service “Avtoreport”.
Checking a car's equipment is a procedure that allows you to understand the potential of a car in a timely manner. Using the Autocode service, you can at any time identify your car by its VIN or license plate number and find out which engine was installed by the manufacturer, the original color of the car, and much more.
How to find out the car's equipment?
Unfortunately, there is NO single database of configurations by VIN code , so information has to be collected from different sources, literally bit by bit. I was lucky, and before purchasing my Ford Focus II, while studying the prices of spare parts in the Exist online store, I came across the Elcats.ru auto parts catalog. This catalog deciphers the equipment according to VIN in more than detail; it completely deciphers the equipment of this particular car, down to what airbags are installed on it, what kind of brake system, what interior color, etc.
But, as it turned out, such a detailed decoding in this catalog is valid only for cars of three brands: Ford , Volkswagen and Skoda , and as for other models, the decoding for them is very meager.
So, find out the equipment by VIN for Ford, Volkswagen and Skoda cars on the spare parts selection portal Elcats.ru. Ford brand , and then...
