Nissan VIN Decoder

Check vehicle information with Nissan VIN

Where to find the VIN? No VIN?
Get EpicVIN reports

  • Safe checkout guaranteed
  • Niada logo
  • Blockchain confirmed data

Please check your VIN and try again.

Nissan VIN Check: What is a Nissan VIN?

Nissan is one of the oldest Japanese car brands, with roots dating back to the beginning of the 20th century. Fearing the failure of their first venture into the American market, the company sold their cars under the name “Datsun” until 1983. They didn’t need to worry: the brand found massive success in the 1970s with their Z sports cars, while their trucks have always been strong sellers. In 2010, they released the Leaf, the first modern battery electric vehicle sold worldwide. Today, they are one of the largest electric vehicle manufacturers in the world and the twelfth largest car manufacturer.

How do you know the vehicle you’re looking at is genuine? When Nissan builds their vehicles, they issue each one a unique VIN number. By using our VIN check, you can decode this number to learn the information it contains, including manufacturing dates, equipment and the location where it was assembled. This makes it easy to verify the vehicle is represented correctly. Want to know more about a used car before buying it? We also offer full VIN reports that gather information from databases connected to the car. This lets you see title information, as well as loans, accident reports and theft reports.

List of Nissan Models

Nissan VIN Number Lookup

With a length of 17 characters, there’s more to a VIN than just a serial number. The VIN also includes government and company-mandated information, including where the vehicle was built, and what equipment it came with. This helps you verify the authenticity of the vehicle. For example, if you’re shopping for a 300ZX, you’d want to know it came with a turbo V6 and a manual, instead of having those parts installed by a former owner. The difference in value between a genuine car and a replica can be thousands of dollars.

Where to Search for the VIN?

Since the VIN is needed to identify the vehicle throughout its life, Nissan puts this code in several spots on their vehicles. Most of these areas are out of the way, so it’s unlikely that they will be damaged or removed over the course of the car’s life. Your Nissan should have the VIN number in at least a few of these areas:

  • Look at the windshield, next to the back edge of the hood. You should see a small plate on the driver’s side of the dashboard. On most newer models, the bottom of the windshield is blacked out, aside from a small window. Here, you’ll find a small metal plate with the VIN.
  • Open the front left door. On the bottom of the body pillar, you will see the Federal/Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standard certification label. The VIN is written on the bottom of this label.
  • Open the hood and look at the firewall. The VIN number is engraved at top center of the firewall, next to the windshield cowl. Older Nissans may also have the VIN stamped into the frame near the radiator.
  • On some Nissan trucks, the VIN is engraved into the passenger’s side frame rail. This engraving is directly below the front passenger door.
  • Slide the front passenger’s seat all the way back. Between the front bolts for the seat, you will see a small flap of carpet. Lift this flap, and you will see the VIN stamped into the frame.
Where to find VIN on a vehicle?
🟡 Basic Report Cost: Free
🟡 Nissan VIN Database: 29.9M+
🟡 Car-on-Sale Photos: Up to 100
🟡 Full Report: Extensive History

Comprehensive VIN Decoder Guide

A vehicle identification number is more than an identifier. It’s written in a way to record factory information, including where and when a vehicle was built, and its original equipment. This information is encoded in 11 of these 17 characters. Here’s what you can learn from each character.

VIN Description

The first character is the country where the car was built. 1, 4 and 5 is used for American-built vehicles, 2 for Canada, 3 for Mexico and J for Japan.

The second character is the manufacturer. Although Nissan uses different characters for their internal divisions, nearly all North American vehicles use an “N” for this character.

The third character is the manufacturing plant. Numbers and letters used in this place are repeated for different countries. You can find more accurate information on manufacturing using other characters in the VIN.

The fourth character is the engine. Characters are frequently reused: “A” alone has 5 engines assigned to it. OurVIN decoderuses this character in connection with other characters to figure out which engine was installed in your Nissan at the factory.

The fifth and sixth characters identify the model. These are the most common model designations:

CodeModel
A0Armada and Titan
A2-4, J0Maxima
B3-5Sentra
C1Versa
D0 and D2Frontier and earlier compact pickups
L0 and L1Altima
N0X-Terra
N1Quest
R0 and R1Pathfinder
S3 and S4200SX and 240SX
S5Rogue
V2Quest
Z0-Z2Murano
Z2300ZX
Z3Z350

Character 8 is the security code, which is the safety equipment installed at the factory. Modern cars will have one of these four characters:

CodeEQUIPMENT
B, HFront airbags
E, FSide curtain and front air bags

Character 9 is a check digit, which verifies the authenticity of the VIN.

Character 10 is the model year. This alternates between numbers and letters. To avoid confusion, it doesn’t use “I”, “O” or “Z”. 1-9 were last used from 2001 to 2009, and will be used again in 2031.

CodeCountryCodeCountryCodeCountryCodeCountry
E1984R199442004E2014
F1985S199552005F2015
G1986T199662006G2016
H1987V199772007H2017
J1988W199882008J2018
K1989X199992009K2019
L1990Y2000A2010L2020
M199112001B2011M2021
N199222002C2012N2022
P199332003D2013P2023

Character 11 is the manufacturing plant. These are the 5 main plants where vehicles are built for the North American market:

CodePLANT
CSmyrna, Tennessee
NCanton, Mississippi
MTochigi, Japan
TOppama, Japan
WKyushyu, Japan

Nissan VIN Samples

What kind of information will you get when you look up your VIN on our website? Here are three examples:

  • JN1AZ0CP5BT000082: 2011 Nissan Leaf built in Japan
  • 1N6AA1ED5MN535866: 2021 Nissan Titan with a 5.6 liter V8 built in the U.S.
  • JN8AS5MV3BW269745: 2011 Nissan Rogue with a 2.5 liter four cylinder built in Japan

Want to know what happened to the vehicle after it left the factory? By ordering a VIN report, you’ll get a complete legal history, including title changes, insurance claims and more.

  • 2009 NISSAN Maxima

    2009 NISSAN Maxima

    VIN 1N4AA51E19C801546
    Listed for sale on:
    06/10/2021
    Price:
    $7,999
    Odometer:
    206,292 km
  • 2009 NISSAN Maxima

    2009 NISSAN Maxima

    VIN 1N4AA51E09C860541
    Listed for sale on:
    12/04/2015
    Price:
    $13,039
    Odometer:
    154,366 km
  • 2009 NISSAN Maxima

    2009 NISSAN Maxima

    VIN 1N4AA51E09C829581
    Listed for sale on:
    01/03/2016
    Price:
    $15,998
    Odometer:
    100,423 km
  • 2009 NISSAN Maxima

    2009 NISSAN Maxima

    VIN 1N4AA51E19C840637
    Listed for sale on:
    05/27/2019
    Price:
    $0
    Odometer:
    0 km
  • 2009 NISSAN Maxima

    2009 NISSAN Maxima

    VIN 1N4AA51E09C808519
    Listed for sale on:
    11/03/2016
    Price:
    $0
    Odometer:
    189,326 km
  • 2009 NISSAN Maxima

    2009 NISSAN Maxima

    VIN 1N4AA51E09C806320
    Listed for sale on:
    04/17/2021
    Price:
    $6,000
    Odometer:
    239,703 km
  • 2009 NISSAN Maxima

    2009 NISSAN Maxima

    VIN 1N4AA51E19C835146
    Listed for sale on:
    08/09/2016
    Price:
    $7,400
    Odometer:
    297,728 km
  • 2009 NISSAN Maxima

    2009 NISSAN Maxima

    VIN 1N4AA51E29C807775
    Listed for sale on:
    06/11/2015
    Price:
    $9,000
    Odometer:
    0 km
  • 2009 NISSAN Maxima

    2009 NISSAN Maxima

    VIN 1N4AA51E29C807971
    Listed for sale on:
    01/01/1970
    Price:
    $0
    Odometer:
    262,195 km
  • 2009 NISSAN Maxima

    2009 NISSAN Maxima

    VIN 1N4AA51E19C843831
    Listed for sale on:
    06/09/2021
    Price:
    $4,000
    Odometer:
    279,043 km
  • 2009 NISSAN Maxima

    2009 NISSAN Maxima

    VIN 1N4AA51E19C855364
    Listed for sale on:
    05/14/2016
    Price:
    $14,998
    Odometer:
    128,894 km
  • 2009 NISSAN Maxima

    2009 NISSAN Maxima

    VIN 1N4AA51E19C803135
    Listed for sale on:
    03/16/2016
    Price:
    $0
    Odometer:
    180,883 km

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

Similar Articles

Discover expert tips, news and advice on buying and maintaining used vehicles

Save Thousands of Dollars

Learn everything there is to know about your next car.

Where to find the VIN? No VIN?
Get EpicVIN reports

  • Safe checkout guaranteed
  • Niada logo
  • Blockchain confirmed data