Buying
How to read a VIN: what each of the 17 characters means
Decode a Vehicle Identification Number by hand — country of manufacture, model year letter, check digit and plant code — and learn what a VIN can't tell you.
Updated 2026-10-08 · 3 min read
Every car and light truck sold in Canada and the USA since the 1981 model year has a standardized 17-character Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). It's the car's fingerprint: it identifies the manufacturer, the exact model and engine, the model year and the factory, and it ties together registration, insurance, recall and history records.
Want the full factory specs? Paste it into our free VIN decoder.
Where to find the VIN
- On the driver's side of the dashboard, visible through the bottom of the windshield
- On the label in the driver's door jamb
- On the ownership (Canada) or title (USA), registration and insurance documents
All of these should match exactly.
The three sections of a VIN
| Positions | Name | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | World Manufacturer Identifier (WMI) | Country and manufacturer |
| 4–8 | Vehicle Descriptor Section | Model, body style, engine, restraint system |
| 9 | Check digit | Catches typos and fake VINs |
| 10 | Model year | Letter or number for the model year |
| 11 | Plant code | Assembly plant |
| 12–17 | Serial number | The individual vehicle |
VINs never use the letters I, O or Q, to avoid confusion with 1 and 0.
Position 1: where it was built
The first character identifies the region or country of manufacture: 1, 4 and 5 for the USA, 2 for Canada, 3 for Mexico, J for Japan, K for South Korea, W for Germany, S for the United Kingdom and Z for Italy, among others. Note that this is where the vehicle was built, not the brand's home country — plenty of Hondas and Toyotas start with 2 because they were built in Ontario.
Position 10: the model year
The model-year code repeats every 30 years:
| Code | Year | Code | Year | Code | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 2010 | J | 2018 | S | 2025 |
| B | 2011 | K | 2019 | T | 2026 |
| C | 2012 | L | 2020 | V | 2027 |
| D | 2013 | M | 2021 | W | 2028 |
| E | 2014 | N | 2022 | X | 2029 |
| F | 2015 | P | 2023 | Y | 2030 |
| G | 2016 | R | 2024 | 1 | 2031 |
| H | 2017 |
The letters I, O, Q, U, Z and the digit 0 are never used for the year.
Position 9: the check digit
For vehicles built for North America, the ninth character is calculated from the other 16. Each letter is converted to a number, each position has a weight, and the weighted sum divided by 11 gives the check digit (a remainder of 10 becomes X). If someone retypes a VIN wrongly — or invents one — the check digit almost never matches. Our decoder runs this check automatically and warns you about typos.
What a VIN can't tell you
A VIN describes how the vehicle left the factory. It does not tell you about accidents, odometer rollbacks, flood damage, liens or previous owners. For that you need:
- A vehicle history report — CARFAX Canada in Canada; CARFAX or AutoCheck in the US
- A lien search — in Ontario, the Used Vehicle Information Package shows liens registered in the province
- A recall check — see how to check a used car for recalls
- A pre-purchase inspection by an independent mechanic
This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules and fees change — confirm the details with the official sources linked above before you buy or sell.