VIN stands for ‘vehicle identification number’ and is a unique code that each vehicle has as a way of identifying it. It is a 17-character code (if the vehicle is from before 1981 it could have between 11-17 characters) that can typically be found on the driver’s side dashboard and\/or on the driver’s side door jamb. The VIN allows for tracking of a vehicle’s history and is sometimes seen as the vehicle’s fingerprint or signature. This makes it easy to be able to see what has happened to a vehicle (which can be very helpful for those looking to buy a car). Here is some of the information that is available from a VIN:<\/p>\n
When Were VINs First Used?<\/strong><\/p>\n VINs were first used by auto manufacturers in 1954, but because no standards were in place at the time, formats and consistency varied between manufacturers. It wasn’t until 1981, when the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA) put standards in place, that VINs took the shape of the ones we see today. NHTSA required that all vehicles have a 17-character VIN and laid out what each character of the VIN stood for to ensure that every vehicle would have a unique one.<\/p>\n What are the contents of the VIN?<\/strong><\/p>\n Example VIN Number – 1G1AK58H997000000<\/p>\n First Digit, \u00a01 – Shows where the vehicle was built Other VIN facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n VIN stands for ‘vehicle identification number’ and is a unique code that each vehicle has as a way of identifying it. It is a 17-character code (if the vehicle is from before 1981 it could have between 11-17 characters) that can typically be found on the driver’s side dashboard and\/or on the driver’s side door … Continue reading “What is a VIN?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inspectaride.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inspectaride.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inspectaride.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspectaride.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspectaride.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspectaride.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":454,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspectaride.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205\/revisions\/454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inspectaride.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspectaride.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspectaride.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nDigits 2-3, \u00a0G1 – Designates the vehicle manufacturer
\nDigits 4-8, \u00a0AK58H – Denotes vehicle details such as the vehicle’s brand, engine size, and type
\nDigit 9,\u00a0 9 – Check\u00a0 digit which is used to detect invalid VINs
\nDigit 10, 9 – Shows vehicle year
\nDigit 11, 7 – Indicates the manufacturing plant that assembled the vehicle
\nDigits 12-17, 000000 – Displays the serial number of the vehicle<\/p>\n\n