Check vehicle information with Land Rover VIN
Looking for the VIN?
Here is there you’ll find it:
Using surplus aircraft aluminum and off-the-shelf parts from Rover, the original Land Rover was a simple, go-anywhere vehicle. Its robust design quickly made it the standard for off-road adventures and work in the world's most remote corners. Over the years, the company has changed ownership multiple times, going from British Leyland to BMW, Ford, and finally, Tata. Today, they're known for their luxury SUVs and the rugged Defender, the spiritual successor to the original Land Rover.
Looking for your next luxury off-roader? Use the VIN decoder Land Rover buyers trust for accurate, detailed information. EpicVIN's Land Rover VIN lookup turns the information encoded in this factory-issued number into something you can understand. This makes it easy to verify the provenance of vehicles before you buy.
The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) identifies individual vehicles. This string of 17 characters is more than a serial number. Most of the digits contain information that describes the vehicle, including the manufacturing date, the equipment, and the engine. Our VIN check tool tells you what each of these characters means. This makes it easy to verify seller information about the model and equipment.
Want to know more before you buy? When you order a full VIN report, you'll get a collection of information from federal, state, and commercial databases. This includes vehicle owner lookups, police records, and insurance claims. This helps you avoid mechanical and legal problems, whether you're looking for a late-model vehicle or a classic Defender.
Looking up the VIN can save you time when shopping for a vehicle. The information you get from this code was issued by the factory, so it's always correct. The VIN lets you verify the sales listing, which helps you to weed out vehicles that don't fit your needs.
Our Land Rover VIN decoder helps you verify the authenticity of your vehicle, especially if you want a Land Rover Defender. When U.S. sales ended in 1997, it created a huge demand for this legendary off-roader. In the past, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has seized and destroyed improperly imported Defenders. Our VIN search helps you verify the SUV has a genuine, U.S.-issued VIN.
Where do you find the VIN, so you can look up the vehicle using our DMV VIN check? There are several places you can check, both on and off the vehicle.
Look through the windshield on the driver's side of the vehicle. You will see a small metal plate on the dashboard. This plate has the VIN stamped into it.
Open the driver's door and look at the B pillar. There may be a sticker on the side of the pillar or between the door latch and the sill. The VIN is printed on this sticker above a bar code. Some models also have a manufacturer's plate attached to the steering column, which lists the VIN.
Look under the vehicle. The VIN is usually stamped into the right side frame rail close to the front wheel.
Open the hood. Defenders have a brake pedal box behind the master cylinder and brake booster. There is a VIN sticker on top of this box. Other models may have the VIN stamped into the top of the firewall.
The VIN is also used to identify vehicles on paperwork. You can find the VIN printed on the title, registration, and insurance policies. If you have the license number, you can use our license plate lookup to get the VIN and the information it contains.
What can you learn when you decode the VIN? Here's what each digit in this code reveals.
First Three Digits: World Manufacturer Identifier
All Land Rovers use the WMI “SAL.” “S” stands for Europe, “A” for the United Kingdom, and “L” for Land Rover or British Leyland.
Fourth and Fifth Digit: Model, Seating, and Trim
Together, these two digits identify the model, the number of seats, and, in some cases, the trim level. Land Rover adds a number to model redesigns, so a Discovery II is the second version of the Discovery.
| AE | Discovery III / LR3 SE 7 seat |
| AD | Discovery III and IV / LR4 HSE 7 seat |
| AG | Discovery III and IV / LR4 HSE 7 seat |
| AK | Discovery III and IV / LR4 7 seat |
| DH | Defender 110 |
| DX, DV | Defender 90 |
| FP | Freelander II / LR2 SE |
| FR | Freelander II / LR2 |
| FS | Freelander II / LR2 SE with tech package |
| HC | Range Rover I 108 inch |
| JY | Discovery |
| ME | Range Rover III |
| MF | Range Rover III HSE |
| MN | Range Rover III |
| NE | Freelander HSE |
| NM | Freelander |
| NY | Freelander SE |
| PV | Freelander SE |
| SF | Range Rover Sport |
| TY | Discovery II |
| VP, VR, VT or VV | Evoque |
Sixth Digit: Body Style
| 1 | 3 door wagon or 5 door Defender or Range Rover |
| 2 | 5 door or 2 door open top Defender |
| 3 | 3 door Defender or Range Rover Classic wagon |
| A | 5 door |
| B | soft top |
| C | 3 door |
| M | 5 door |
Seventh Digit: Engine
Here's a list of codes for the most popular engines sold in North America.
| 1 | 2.7l turbo diesel or 3.5l V8 |
| 2 | 3.7l, 2.5l V6 (Freelander,) 3.9 liter (Defender,) or 4.0 liter (Defender) |
| 3 | 4.0l or 4.2l V8 |
| 4 | 4.2l supercharged V8 or 4.6l V8 |
| 5 | 4.0l V8, 4.4l V8, or 2.5l turbo |
| 6 | 4.6l V8 |
| 7,8 | 2.5l turbo |
| A | 4.4l V8 |
| B | 2.0l turbo |
| D | 5.0l V8 |
| C | 3.0l turbo |
| E | 2.0l |
| F | 2.5l turbo |
| G | 2.5l |
| L | 3.5l |
| M | 3.9l V8 |
| P | 4.0l V8 |
| V | 3.5l V8 with carburetor |
| Y | 2.0l |
Eighth Digit: Transmission
| 2 | Automatic 5 speed (Freelander) |
| 4 | Automatic |
| 8 | Manual |
| G | Automatic 6 speed |
Ninth Digit: Check digit
All VINs have a digit in this position generated by a mathematical formula. This helps prevent data entry errors.
Tenth: Model Year
Model years are standard across all VINs, no matter who built the vehicle. This character alternates between numbers and letters. Some characters are excluded to avoid confusion, including the number “0” and the letter “O”. A 2010 model uses “A” in this position.
Eleventh: Assembly Plant
Modern Land Rovers are built in one of two plants:
| A | Solihull |
| H | Heywood |
Remaining Digits: Serial Number
Serial numbers are frequently reused, but you will never see two vehicles with an identical VIN.
Want to know what you can learn from a Land Rover VIN check? Here are a few examples:
Locations vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. However, there are three places you can find the code on most vehicles:
- Look through the windshield at the dashboard. On the driver’s side, you should see a small metal plate with the number stamped into it.
- Open the driver’s door. Look at the front and side of the door pillar for an I.D. sticker. It usually has the manufacturer’s logo on it. The code should be on this sticker.
- Open the hood. You may see a sticker on the firewall or near the passenger’s side strut tower. Some cars have the number engraved in one of these areas.
Since this number is used to identify the vehicle on official documents, you can also find it on the title, the window sticker, and on insurance policies.
We also decode numbers for RVs, heavy-duty trucks and motorcycles. If you need to decode an RV number, make sure it’s the one issued by the chassis manufacturer, not the RV outfitter.
No. Canadian and Mexican cars usually use the same format. Other countries use their own formats.
It’s up to the manufacturer to determine what they want to include for some parts of the number. For example, some companies don’t include information about transmissions or trim levels.
Usually, no. A few manufacturers stamp the code into the engine. If the VINs on the engine and car match, then it’s the original engine. On most vehicles, there isn’t anything that ties an engine to a specific vehicle. At most, looking up the vehicle on our website will tell you if a different type of engine was installed. For example, if someone swaps a V8 into a Ford Mustang, our site will tell you it originally came with a V6.
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