EpicVIN’s free VIN decoder and VIN lookup reads a 17-character VIN to identify vehicle specifications such as the year, make and model, engine type, body style, trim level, transmission type, and country of origin. A VIN number lookup then connects the decoded vehicle with available history records.
Looking for the VIN?
Here is there you’ll find it:
Using the EpicVIN decoder is simple. Follow these steps and learn how to interpret a particular sequence:
A vehicle identification number (VIN) is a unique 17-character sequence used to identify a vehicle. The standardized 17-digit VIN has applied to most vehicles manufactured for the U.S. market since model year 1981 under NHTSA requirements.
A VIN uses numbers and capital letters. The letters I, O, and Q are excluded to reduce confusion with 1 and 0. The number identifies the vehicle in registration, title and recall records.
A 17-character VIN is divided into several functional positions. Together, they identify the manufacturer, vehicle specifications, model year, assembly plant, and individual serial number.
| Characters | Section | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | World Manufacturer Identifier (WMI) | Country of assembly and manufacturer: 1, 4 and 5 – United States, 2 – Canada, 3 – Mexico, J – Japan, K – South Korea, W – Germany |
| 4-8 | Vehicle Descriptor Section (VDS) | Model, body style, engine type and size, transmission type, restraint system |
| 9 | Check digit | Validates the other 16 characters; a wrong digit means a typo or a forged plate |
| 10 | Model year | One letter or digit per year; see the table below |
| 11 | Assembly plant | Manufacturer-specific plant code |
| 12-17 | Serial number | Production sequence of that individual vehicle |
| Characters | Sample | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | 5FN | United States (5), American Honda Motor Co. (FN) |
| 4-8 | YF7H5 | Passport, SUV body, 3.5 L V6, EX-L trim |
| 9 | X | Check digit – valid |
| 10 | M | Model year 2021 |
| 11 | B | Lincoln, Alabama plant |
| 12-17 | 007135 | Serial number |
| Code | Year | Code | Year | Code | Year | Code | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1980 | L | 1990 | Y | 2000 | A | 2010 |
| B | 1981 | M | 1991 | 1 | 2001 | B | 2011 |
| C | 1982 | N | 1992 | 2 | 2002 | C | 2012 |
| D | 1983 | P | 1993 | 3 | 2003 | D | 2013 |
| E | 1984 | R | 1994 | 4 | 2004 | E | 2014 |
| F | 1985 | S | 1995 | 5 | 2005 | F | 2015 |
| G | 1986 | T | 1996 | 6 | 2006 | G | 2016 |
| H | 1987 | V | 1997 | 7 | 2007 | H | 2017 |
| J | 1988 | W | 1998 | 8 | 2008 | J | 2018 |
| K | 1989 | X | 1999 | 9 | 2009 | K | 2019 |
| L | 2020 | M | 2021 | N | 2022 | P | 2023 |
| R | 2024 | S | 2025 | T | 2026 | V | 2027 |
| W | 2028 | X | 2029 | Y | 2030 | 1 | 2031 |
| 2 | 2032 | 3 | 2033 | 4 | 2034 | 5 | 2035 |
Vehicles manufactured before model year 1981 may use shorter vehicle identification numbers.
A VIN appears in several places on the vehicle and its documents:
If the VIN is unreadable, use License Plate Lookup as an additional way to identify available vehicle information.
VIN decoding helps confirm what a vehicle is before you evaluate what has happened to it.
✅ Verification: Confirm the year, make and model, and compare the VIN across the dashboard, door label, and vehicle documents.
✅ Safety: Run a recall check and identify safety campaigns associated with the vehicle.
✅ Vehicle specifications: Review the engine type, transmission type, body style, trim level, model year, and country of origin.
✅ History access: Use a free VIN lookup as the starting point for a vehicle history report covering available title and odometer records.
Every VIN lookup on this page is matched against 294,600,609 passenger-vehicle records – cars, SUVs and pickups; motorcycles, trailers and RVs are counted separately. In that set, 22.6% of vehicles carry at least one problem record, and 22.0% have passed through a salvage auction. The average vehicle here is 11.4 years old with a last recorded odometer reading of 75,123 miles.
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Passenger vehicles in the database | 294,600,609 |
| Data as of | August 2026 |
| Makes covered | 63 |
| Average age | 11.4 years |
| Average last recorded mileage | 75,123 miles |
| Average mileage per year | 11,464 miles |
| At least one problem in history | 22.6% |
| Appeared at a salvage auction | 22.0% |
| Salvage title | 13.7% |
| Rebuilt title | 0.2% |
| Odometer rollback | 1.1% |
| Odometer reported as not actual | 1.9% |
| Flood damage | 0.5% |
| Fire damage | 0.3% |
| Hail damage | 0.3% |
| NHTSA recall campaigns per model year, average | 4.06 |
| Moved between states | 12.0% |
Source: EpicVIN Vehicle Data Research
| Figure | What it is | What to do about it |
|---|---|---|
| 22.6% | Carry at least one problem record – a salvage auction, a title brand, an odometer flag, or a damage entry | Almost all of it comes from the salvage-auction lane: 22.0% of vehicles passed through one, with auction photos and a damage estimate attached. Ask the seller for those photos before the test drive. |
| 13.7% | Salvage titles, against 0.2% rebuilt | A gap of 65 to 1. Most salvage cars are never re-titled as rebuilt, so the paperwork rarely announces the damage. Screen by the auction record, not by the brand printed on the title. |
| 3.0% | Odometer problems – 1.1% rollbacks plus 1.9% flagged as not actual | The average vehicle here covers 11,464 miles a year. Add that to the last recorded reading for every year since, and compare the result with the dashboard. |
| 4.06 | NHTSA recall campaigns filed for those model years, on average | That is a count for the model year, not for one car – which is exactly why the VIN goes to the manufacturer and the NHTSA directly, not to an average. |
| 12.0% | Registered or sold in more than one state | A state change right after a damage event is the classic title-washing pattern. Read the timeline, not just the current title. |
| 54.1% | Built in the United States; 11.8% Mexico, 10.5% Japan, 10.3% Canada | The first character of the VIN tells you the country of assembly. It says where the car was made, not how it was treated – for that, check the 22.6%. |
Across the 46 makes with at least 50,000 records, the share of vehicles with a problem record runs from 5.2% (Genesis, average fleet age 2.9 years) to 60.6% (Plymouth, 28.7 years). Fleet age drives most of that spread, which is why the make pages below compare each brand with makes of a similar age rather than with the overall figure.
| Country of assembly | Share |
|---|---|
| United States | 54.1% |
| Mexico | 11.8% |
| Japan | 10.5% |
| Canada | 10.3% |
| South Korea | 5.5% |
| Germany | 3.6% |
Three out of four vehicles in the database were assembled in North America – the VIN starts with 1, 4, or 5 for the United States, 2 for Canada, and 3 for Mexico. A Japanese or Korean badge does not mean a Japanese or Korean plant: the first character settles it.
| Type | Share | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Collision | 16.0% | Covers everything from a bumper strike to frame damage – severity comes from the photos and the repair estimate, not the label. |
| All Over | 1.0% | Damage across multiple panels: hail, vandalism, or a heavy multi-point impact. Most often followed by a total-loss decision. |
| Mechanical | 0.7% | The vehicle sold for a drivetrain or engine fault rather than body repair. |
| Water / Flood | 0.4% | Rare, and the category where a repaired car is usually worth walking away from. |
| Rollover | 0.3% | Rare and structural. Treat it the same way as a flood record. |
Run the VIN lookup and read the damage line before the seller's description.
| Make | Records | Problem record | Salvage title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ford | 39,396,034 | 21.3% | 12.1% |
| Toyota | 35,614,115 | 24.1% | 15.4% |
| Chevrolet | 35,351,275 | 21.6% | 12.8% |
| Honda | 23,953,630 | 26.2% | 17.3% |
| Nissan | 19,135,612 | 27.5% | 17.9% |
| Jeep | 12,658,912 | 16.1% | 9.6% |
| Hyundai | 12,586,431 | 24.2% | 15.8% |
| Dodge | 10,492,902 | 29.5% | 16.5% |
| Kia | 10,213,697 | 21.3% | 13.9% |
| GMC | 9,950,183 | 14.6% | 8.5% |
Each make page compares the brand with makes of a similar fleet age – Dodge's 29.5% and Kia's 21.3% are not the same signal when the average Dodge is 15.5 years old and the average Kia is 8.1.
A VIN decoder identifies factory vehicle specifications. A VIN check can then add available title, mileage and auction history.
Year 2017
Make MASERATI
Model Ghibli
Fuel Type Gasoline
Engine 3L V-Shaped M156B
Made in ITALY
Complete accident history requires a full vehicle history report.
A VIN decoder tells you what a vehicle was when it left the factory. It identifies specifications such as the make and model year, body style, trim level, engine type, transmission type, and assembly plant.
A VIN check goes beyond factory specifications and looks for recorded events associated with that VIN, such as title brands, salvage-auction appearances, odometer flags, theft records, or damage entries.
A vehicle history report provides the most detailed available timeline, including ownership changes, mileage readings, accident or auction records, title events, and other reported history.
A buyer reviewed report photos pulled from service records and auctions. The VIN plates didn’t match: different font weight/spacing, inconsistent mounting angle, and one character differed entirely. Layered with a suspicious state change soon after a police-related flag, the pattern pointed to VIN swapping or cloning. The buyer skipped the deal—no losses, no headaches.
Further reading
Yes. The decoder on this page reads any 17-character VIN at no cost and returns the year, make, model, trim, engine, body style, and assembly plant, plus a snapshot of the vehicle's records among 294,600,609 passenger vehicles in the EpicVIN database. The full vehicle history report with accident photos, title events, and odometer readings is paid.
A VIN decoder, or VIN reader, reads the 17 characters in three sections: characters 1–3 identify the manufacturer and country of assembly, 4–8 describe the model, body style, engine and transmission, and 10–17 give the model year, the plant and the serial number, with character 9 as a check digit that validates the whole string. Manufacturers file these patterns with the NHTSA, and the decoder matches your VIN against them; EpicVIN then matches the decoded vehicle against its own 294.6 million records.
For year, make, model, engine, and plant, the decoding is exact because every 17-character VIN since model year 1981 follows the same manufacturer-filed pattern, and the 9th character catches typos. What a decoder cannot tell you is how the car was treated: in the EpicVIN database, 22.6% of vehicles carry a problem record, and only a history check shows which ones.
Vehicles built before model year 1981 carry 11 to 13 characters, and the 17-character standard does not apply to them. The decoder on this page works on 17-character VINs; for older vehicles, use the classic car VIN lookup, and expect some state DMVs to require a physical VIN inspection before registration.
Yes. A VIN lookup returns the factory specifications encoded in the number: year, make, model, trim level, body style, engine size and type, transmission type, drive type, fuel type, and assembly plant. For the sample VIN on this page that is a 2021 Honda Passport EX-L, 3.5 L V6, gasoline, built in Lincoln, Alabama. The VIN itself does not encode the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP); that information may require the original window sticker or manufacturer data.
No. Owner names and addresses are protected by the Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) of 1994 and are not part of any public VIN lookup. What a report does show is the number of ownership changes and the states involved – in the EpicVIN database, 12.0% of vehicles have records in more than one state.
A VIN decoder tells you what the car was when it left the factory; a VIN check tells you what happened to it since. Decoding gives specifications and the plant. A check adds title brands, salvage-auction records, odometer readings, and damage entries – the layer where 22.0% of vehicles in the EpicVIN database have a salvage-auction record that no decoder can see.
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