VIN Decoder (VIN Check & Check Digit Validator)
Free VIN Decoder for any 17-character Vehicle Identification Number: validate the ISO 3779 check digit, look up the country of manufacture and known manufacturer from the WMI, and estimate the model year. Runs entirely in your browser.
What is a VIN Decoder?
A VIN Decoder lets you enter the 17-character Vehicle Identification Number stamped on a car to verify the ISO 3779 check digit, look up the country of manufacture (and, when recognized, the manufacturer) from the WMI, and estimate the model year from the 10th character.
When copying a VIN during a used-car purchase or an import registration, a single mistyped character can slip through unnoticed. Checking the check digit here first helps catch obvious transcription errors before you rely on the number elsewhere. This tool only supports the 17-character ISO 3779 VIN used in North America and internationally — domestic Japanese chassis numbers aren't supported.
How to Use
- Enter the VIN Paste the 17-character code exactly as it appears on a title, bill of sale, or auction listing.
- Check the check-digit result See whether the actual 9th character matches the one calculated from the rest of the VIN.
- Review the WMI and model year The country of manufacture, manufacturer (if recognized), estimated model year, plant code, and production sequence number are all decoded automatically.
- Try another VIN Use the Clear button to reset and decode a different number.
Tips for getting more out of it
- You can paste a VIN with spaces or dashes — they're stripped automatically before decoding.
- The estimated model year comes from the 10th character, which cycles every 30 years. This tool follows the common convention that a numeric 7th character means 1980–2009, while a letter means 2010–2039.
- This tool only supports the 17-character ISO 3779 VIN used in North America and internationally. Domestic Japanese chassis numbers use a different numbering system and aren't supported.
- The manufacturer lookup only covers WMI codes for major passenger-car brands, so trucks, buses, and specialty vehicles may show as "manufacturer not in our list" even though the country is still identified.
- Paste the VIN exactly as printed on a title, registration document, or auction listing to cross-check it against the decoded result.
Use Cases
Pre-purchase VIN check for a used or imported vehicle
Verify the check digit on a VIN from a listing or bill of sale as a first-pass check for transcription errors or tampering.
Reference info for gray-market import registration
Cross-check the decoded country of manufacture and estimated model year against your registration paperwork.
Reference for building VIN validation into your own system
Confirm the expected behavior of an ISO 3779 mod-11 check-digit routine before implementing VIN validation in inventory or fleet-management software.
Organizing a personal record of VINs
Quickly decode the manufacturer and model year for a batch of VINs you already have on file.
Glossary
- VIN
- Short for Vehicle Identification Number — the 17-character international standard vehicle identifier defined by ISO 3779.
- WMI
- World Manufacturer Identifier — the first 3 characters of a VIN, identifying the country of manufacture and the manufacturer.
- VDS
- Vehicle Descriptor Section — characters 4–8 of a VIN, containing manufacturer-specific information such as body style and engine type.
- VIS
- Vehicle Identifier Section — characters 10–17 of a VIN, made up of the model-year code, plant code, and production sequence number.
- Check digit
- The 9th character of a VIN, calculated using the ISO 3779 mod-11 algorithm to catch transcription errors.
- Model year code
- The 10th character of a VIN, indicating the model year. Because the code repeats every 30 years, the 7th character is used to determine which cycle applies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Side Note — Why the 9th character of a VIN is sometimes "X"
The 9th character of a VIN is called the check digit, and just like a bank account check digit, its only job is to catch typos and crude forgeries. In 1981, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) made the 17-character, checksum-verifiable VIN mandatory for all vehicles sold in the United States under Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 115. The math behind it, defined in ISO 3779, converts each letter to a number, multiplies it by a weight based on its position, sums the results, and takes the remainder after dividing by 11. When that remainder is 10, there's no single digit to represent it, so the standard uses the letter "X" instead.
The first three characters form the WMI, or World Manufacturer Identifier. The first character broadly indicates the country of manufacture, while the second and third narrow it down to a manufacturer or vehicle category. Codes starting with 1, 4, or 5 point to the United States, while J points to Japan, and so on — SAE (the Society of Automotive Engineers) assigns these ranges to national certifying authorities. That said, some countries share the same leading character, and manufacturers often operate plants in more than one country, so the WMI alone can't pinpoint an exact factory.
The 10th character, the model year code, uses 30 possible values (21 letters, excluding I, O, Q, U, and Z, plus the digits 1 through 9) to represent the model year — but the same code repeats every 30 years. To resolve the ambiguity, the industry commonly checks the 7th character: a digit points to the 1980–2009 cycle, while a letter points to 2010–2039. This tool follows that same widely used convention. As vehicles from 2040 onward start appearing, the standard itself will need a new way to disambiguate the cycle, so the way VINs are read may change again in the coming years.