Enter the 17-character VIN and within seconds you'll get the car's history: registrations, mileage, accident record, auctions, theft alerts and liens. And you can decode the structure of the VIN itself and learn where to find it right here, for free.
Data from open registries and auctions · no sign-up needed to decode
From the VIN we pull the car's history into a single report: make, model and year, registration actions, year-by-year mileage, accident record, data from Copart and IAAI auctions, photos and a risk assessment. Below is what it looks like on a real example.
Enter your VIN in the field above to get the same report.
Open the sample report →A VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) is a unique 17-character identifier that the manufacturer assigns to a car at the factory. It never changes over the entire life of the vehicle, even after a resale or a change of license plates, which is why the VIN is used to track a car's history worldwide. The code uses digits and Latin letters except I, O and Q — these were removed so they aren't confused with the digits one and zero. Under the ISO 3779 standard, a VIN consists of three parts, each with its own meaning.
A VIN is divided into three blocks. The first three characters — the WMI — point to the manufacturing plant and country, the next six — the VDS — describe the car itself, and the last eight — the VIS — identify the specific unit.
| Positions | Block | What it encodes |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | WMI | WMI — World Manufacturer Identifier: the 1st character indicates the world region, the 2nd–3rd the country and the specific plant. |
| 4–9 | VDS | VDS — Vehicle Descriptor Section: model, body type, engine and safety system. The 9th character is the check digit used to verify that the VIN is correct. |
| 10–17 | VIS | VIS — Vehicle Identifier Section: the 10th character is the model year, the 11th is the assembly plant, and the 12th–17th are the car's serial number on the production line. |
Position 10 encodes the model year, so even without any databases you can quickly gauge a car's age, while the check digit in position 9 helps detect an error or a forgery in the number.
We'll break down the code structure right in your browser — the manufacturer's region, the model year and the WMI/VDS/VIS blocks. No sign-up.
The VIN is duplicated in several places on the body and in the documents — if one is worn off or unreadable, look in another. Here are the most common locations.
If the VIN doesn't match across different places and the marks on the plates look fresh — that's a reason to be wary and check the car more thoroughly.
By VIN we bring together data from open sources: government registries of the police and service centers (registration actions, region, dates), Copart and IAAI auctions (lots, photos, damage, bids), mileage history from listings and registrations, as well as signs of theft alerts and liens (seizure, pledge). This lets you see whether the car isn't "flood-damaged", whether it hasn't had serious accidents, whether the mileage isn't rolled back, and whether it's legally clean. The data is updated, so occasional discrepancies with the actual condition are possible — but the overall picture already gives grounds for a decision.
The VIN is also a key to a car's factory specifications. From the code you can recover the make, model and year, body type, engine size and type, transmission, drivetrain and the market the car was built for. This is especially useful when a seller "forgets" some options or passes the car off as a higher trim: factory data tied to the VIN is harder to fake than a listing. In the report the specifications are pulled automatically together with the history.
Check specifications by VIN →Both the VIN and the license plate identify a car, but in different ways. The VIN is permanent and encodes the vehicle itself, while the plate is tied to the registration and changes. If you only know the license plate — start with a plate check, and the VIN will be there too.
| Parameter | VIN | License plate |
|---|---|---|
| Permanence | Constant for the car's entire life | Changes on re-registration |
| What it identifies | The specific vehicle unit | The current registration |
| Depth of history | Mileage, accidents, auctions, photos | Make, year, region and registration date |
Decoding the VIN structure, determining the manufacturer's region and the model year, and basic data from open registries are available for free and without sign-up. The full report with mileage history, accidents, auction photos and a risk assessment is generated after you log in — this is how we protect the sources from automated scraping. In other words, you can get your bearings for free and dig deeper once a car has genuinely caught your interest.
Enter the VIN in the field above — decoding the code structure, the manufacturer's region and the model year are shown for free and without sign-up. Basic data from open registries is also available right away; the full history opens after you log in.
Most often — in the lower corner of the windshield on the driver's side, on the driver's door pillar, in the engine bay, and also in the vehicle title and the insurance policy. The VIN is duplicated in several places, so you can always cross-check it.
A VIN is a 17-character factory identifier of a car made up of three parts: WMI (manufacturer and country), VDS (model description) and VIS (the specific unit, including the model year in position 10). You can decode its structure with our online decoder above.
For that, use the license-plate check — the report by plate also shows the car's VIN if it's in the registry. It's a separate tool on our site.
Yes. From the VIN the factory specifications are recovered: make, model, year, body type, engine, transmission and drivetrain. This helps you check whether the real options match what's stated in the listing.
A VIN has exactly 17 characters. The letters I, O and Q are not used so they aren't confused with the digits 1 and 0. So any "VIN" of a different length or with these letters is invalid.
Registration actions and changes of owners, year-by-year mileage, accident record, lots and photos from Copart and IAAI auctions, as well as signs of theft alerts and liens. Together this gives a fuller picture than any listing.
This isn't always bad: the car may be new, rare, or not yet in our sources. Check that the VIN is correct (17 characters, no I, O, Q) and try again later — the data is updated periodically.
Enter the 17-character VIN and get the car's history, decoding and specifications.
Check a car by VIN