Character One
identifies the car's country of origin.
(Scroll until you find the matching digit)
Digit 1       Country
1 United States 2 Canada 3 Mexico 4 United States 5 England 6 Australia 9 Brazil J Japan K Korea L Taiwan W Germany Y Sweden Z Italy

Character Two
identifies the manufacturer.
(Scroll until you find the matching digit)
Digit 2       Manufacturer
A Audi A Jaguar B BMW B Dodge C Chrysler C GM Canada/Suzuki D Mercedes Benz E Eagle F Ford G General Motors H Honda H Hyundai J Jeep L Lincoln M Mazda M Mercury N Nissan P Plymouth S Saab S Suzuki T Toyota V Volkswagen V Volvo Y Mazda 1 Chevrolet 2 Pontiac 3 Oldsmobile 4 Buick 5 Pontiac 6 Cadillac 7 GM/Canada 8 Saturn

Character Three
identifies the vehicle type or manufacturing division.

Characters Four through Eight
identify various vehicle attributes, such as: car line and series, restraint system, engine type and body style.

Character Nine
is the check digit (verifies VIN accuracy)

Character Ten
identifies the year of the model.
(Scroll until you find the matching digit)
Digit 10    Year
B 1981 C 1982 D 1983 E 1984 F 1985 G 1986 H 1987 J 1988 K 1989 L 1990 M 1991 N 1992 P 1993 R 1994 S 1995 T 1996 V 1997 W 1998 X 1999 Y 2000 1 2001 2 2002 3 2003 4 2004 5 2005 6 2006 7 2007 8 2008

Character Eleven
identifies the assembly plant.

Character Twelve through Seventeen
provide the production sequence.