Free VIN decoder
Enter a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) to look up the make, model, year, body type and engine from the US NHTSA vPIC database. Only vehicle specifications are decoded, there is no owner or registration data, and your VIN is never stored.
How VIN decoding works
A VIN is a structured code: the first characters identify the manufacturer and region (the World Manufacturer Identifier), the middle section describes the vehicle (model, body, engine, restraint system), and the last characters form the model year and serial number. The NHTSA vPIC service reads those positions and returns the specifications it can resolve. Coverage is strongest for vehicles sold in the United States.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a VIN?
- A Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is the unique 17-character code stamped on every modern car. It encodes the manufacturer, vehicle attributes (make, model, body, engine) and a serial number. You usually find it on the dashboard by the windscreen, the driver-side door jamb, or in the vehicle documents.
- Is the VIN decoder free?
- Yes. This decoder is free and needs no sign-up. It uses the public NHTSA vPIC database, which returns the vehicle specifications encoded in the VIN.
- Do you store my VIN?
- No. The VIN you enter is only forwarded to the NHTSA vPIC service to decode it for this one request. It is not saved to our database or logged.
- What information does a VIN decode show?
- Only vehicle specifications: make, model, model year, vehicle type, body class, manufacturer, fuel type, cylinders and engine displacement when available. It does not reveal any owner, registration or ownership-history data.