Posts Tagged ‘Social Insurance Number’


Automotive V.i.n. Numbers What Do They Mean




How can you determine the V.I.N. of your vehicle? That is easy if have ready access to your registration and insurance documentation. If not, or if you want to confirm the VIN number assignment you can simply find out your vehicles stamp. Simply look through the windshield on the driver’s side of the auto at the corner of the dash. It should be clearly stamped on a plate attached to the dash. As well that same designation should be clearly listed on your bill of sale. If the 2 numbers do not match – this could be a sign of future trouble if you are ever involved in a collision and have to deal with auto insurance claims and payment to yourself or your auto body shop.

A short course in how to read a VIN to be of use to you – should you be in the car buying mode, need registration information or want to import a car into Canada. Where an auto is manufactured often determines import duties and taxes.

Reading a V.I.N. First things first look at the first number on the left hand side. This first character designates where the vehicle was built – 1 is the US, 2 is Canada, 3 is Mexico, J for Japan, K for Korea for example.

Next the second character in line designates the manufacturer or who built the car. The letter “G: stands for General Motor or G.M. products. Next is the third character – in this example if the number 2 is the third character – this would indicate the Pontiac division of GM. Characters 4 and 5 indicate the car line series, eight represents the body style for example 2 door coupe, 4 door sedan, hatchback. The seventh character indicates the type of safety restraint system that was installed at the factory. Eight character stands for the engine code – each type of engine has its own stamp. Between the eighth and the last sequence of letters is a check digit – a spacer to prevent confusion. The last sequence of digits is the grouping that singly identifies the vehicle and makes it wholly unique.

Why all this effort in creating this system and nomenclature of listing and describing each car individually. How else could the automotive trades work if they could not id each and every vehicle separately , track it , keep detailed records and lastly allow you as a car , truck , SUV , Van or motorcycle driver to research the past history of your new found vehicle.


» Popular Posts

» Pets

» Auto

» Games