According to statistics, more than 48% of Russians who sell their cars on the secondary market hide the real year of production of the car. Buyers, unaware of the trick, clutch their heads after the purchase - the car turns out to be faulty. How not to fall for the bait of scammers? Today, this problem can be easily solved using the Autocode service.
Why do you need to know the date of manufacture of the car
Sellers of used cars overestimate the year of manufacture in order to more profitably sell a used car, which will bring a lot of trouble to the owner due to its large “age”. To avoid trouble, the Autocode service offers to find out the release date of the car by vin or state. number. A free brief report will help you check the volume and power of the vehicle's engine, category and steering wheel position.
A full report along with the ability to check the year of manufacture of a car by wine or state. number will provide you with the following information:
- participation in traffic accidents;
- the presence of encumbrances;
- actual mileage of the vehicle;
- work in taxi companies of the country;
- being in pledge;
- the presence of fines;
- theft, etc.
Complete information collected from official sources (traffic police, registry of pledges, etc.) will also tell you about the legal cleanliness of the car.
How to find out the year of manufacture of a car by vin or state. number
To check the year of manufacture of a car, you will need to go to the Autocode website. You can break through the data both by VIN and by state. number. The check itself takes 5 minutes:
- enter the state license plate or VIN code in the search bar;
- get a short report;
- to receive a full report, pay the amount of 349 rubles.
The Japanese car industry does not have a VIN, and Autocode offers to find out the year of manufacture of the car by the body number. If it is not there, then one state is enough to check a Japanese car. numbers!
Why it is worth breaking through the history of the car through Autocode
All information presented in the reports is collected only from official sources - traffic police, EAISTO, RSA, FTS, FCS, FNP and others.
What are the other advantages of checking through Autocode:
- If you do not have the opportunity to break through the history of the car in advance, with a mobile application you can do it on the deal.
- If you have any questions, you can contact support. Service staff will help solve the problem and explain how to find out the year of manufacture by the car number.
In order not to become a “happy” owner of an old car for the price of a new one, you need to check the car before buying. By ordering a report on Autocode, you will protect yourself from possible troubles and save your own money.
Before you draw up a sales contract for a used car, you need to check its year of manufacture. This will make sure the seller is honest before buying a car, and not buy a pig in a poke. You can check the production date when buying a car online, using the AvtoVin website or by marking glasses and components (seat belts, shock absorber struts, wiring casing, etc.).
Find out the year of manufacture by VIN (VIN) code
VIN of the car - its special identification number, it indicates the year of production and information about the manufacturer. The mark with the year of manufacture is in tenth place in the line of the VIN code. It is worth noting that the entire stage of auto production has several methods for marking a car.
Important To avoid fraud when buying a car, use the online service "AutoVin". One VIN code or state. number, or body number, in a couple of minutes, your attention will be presented with data from: traffic police, EAISTO, RSA, FCS, banks, NBKI, EAS RF, FNP, taxi registries, car dealers, insurance companies. To prevent wasting time on litigation, the occurrence of unpleasant situations, you should carefully consider the choice of car.
Few car manufacturers use their own procedure for applying a VIN code to a car. Thus, the American manufacturer Ford places data on the release date of its cars in eleventh and twelfth place, reporting the year and month. Japanese manufacturers do not use the VIN code at all. It can also be confusing that automakers don't use a standard calendar layout for the most part. They indicate data on the model year of the car, starting not from January, but from July. You need to know the subtleties when deciding to independently check the true year of production. Judging from the above, it follows that it is not easy to understand the nuances of decoding the VIN code yourself.
We look at the marking of components
Spare parts and units, of which, in fact, the car consists, also have stamps.
Manufacturers put a stamp where the date is indicated by a number indicating the digit of the calendar year. For example, the glass has a stamp of 4, which means that the machine was manufactured in 1994, 2004 or 2014. If the model was produced from 1996 to 2006, then the number "4" means 2004 release. The month is also indicated in the stamp on the glasses. Usually it is indicated by Latin letters, dots or stripes.
For example, four dots and the number 8 indicate April 98, 2008, or 2018. The format may also come across - 7 ABC or vice versa. In this case, the release date is January 97, 2007, or 2017. The month is determined only by the first letter in the string, regardless of position in the string.
There is also an exception to these rules. Fiat labels its cars a little differently, starting January not with the letter "A", but with "B". Thus, the calendar is shifted by a letter, and December ends not with "M", but with "N".
Important The presence of identical stamps will allow the buyer to understand whether the car got into a traffic accident. If the labeling of the glasses diverges, you need to check with the seller the reason for the replacement.
Seat belts.
Stamping details the day of manufacture, month and year. It's on the bottom of the label. The same brand is applied to the fixers.
Hood and trunk shock absorbers
At the end of the last century, manufacturers began to label these elements of transport as well. There are two types of branding. They are deciphered easily, it is enough to know the meaning of the embossed numbers:
- For example, the numbers 26/99 are indicated. The first number is a consecutive number indicating the week of the year (out of 52), followed by the year of manufacture;
- 220/99 - serial day and year of manufacture.
The muffler is marked in the same way.
Important If you find units and assemblies that do not match the year of manufacture, which is indicated in the TCP, you should think again whether you need to purchase this vehicle. The owner may not tell you the real reason for replacing them. Cheating is fraught with serious breakdowns and problems with finding spare parts that match the production date.
Drivers repeatedly encounter, providing it to an insurance company, when registering a car with the traffic police and in other areas of the auto sector. But for most of us, a 17-digit VIN code set is a simple set of letters and numbers that at first glance does not make any sense. But it's not.
A lot has been written about the car on the Internet. Various network resources offer numerous ways to decipher the VIN code. Unfortunately, on many sites the information is either incomplete or not reliable, which leads to errors in decoding the VIN number. Our online publication has decided to combine all the information available on the web, which will be simple for quick use, with which you can quickly decipher the VIN number of your car.
What is a VIN number?
VIN is a set of alphanumeric characters that are applied by the car manufacturer to the car body, which is encrypted information about the car. A single VIN code for most of the world's cars was adopted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1980. Prior to this, some kind of standardization did not exist, so decoding the VIN of cars manufactured before this date is a problem.
In simple words, the VIN of a car is like a human DNA code. Each car is assigned its own unique code, which is not repeated. In other words, the VIN number system is the world's first vehicle identification standardization system on a global level.
The VIN code of the car consists of a combination of 17 characters, consisting of letters and numbers, which identify the make, model and year of the car, and also carry more detailed data such as engine type, etc.
Many people wonder why this was done? This is done so that no car of any make and model can be passed off as another.
Why is it necessary to decode the VIN?
Decoding the VIN of the car is first of all necessary to make sure that you are not being deceived by providing false data about the car. Car owners often try to hide various information about the car.
This also applies to new cars that are purchased at car dealerships, where some data about the car may also be hidden. For example, they often sell a new car, hiding the year of manufacture from the buyer, taking the opportunity to change the year of manufacture of the vehicle, making it a year younger during the initial issuance of a title at customs or in the authorities.
For example, in our country there are legal ways to change the year of manufacture of a car if the date of manufacture by VIN number corresponds to the last months of the year. So thanks to this, dealers selling new cars enter not entirely reliable data on the year of manufacture in the vehicle passport (PTS), which gives them the opportunity to sell cars at an inflated price.
Where is the vehicle's VIN located? Step 1
Depending on the country of manufacture, the VIN number is located in different places. For example, the vast majority of cars made for the US market have a VIN located under the windshield that can be viewed without opening the car's hood. The VIN number is printed on the body in a place where access is difficult. This is done to make it difficult for attackers to change this number to another.
Also, this number can be applied to an iron plate, which can be located under the hood, on the threshold of the driver's door or on the side of the driver's door pillar. It is also worth noting that in some expensive cars, a similar plate may be located inside the dashboard.
Once you find the VIN number, the fun begins.
Deciphering the VIN number: Step 2
In order to start decoding the VIN, you need to visually divide it into six parts, as shown in the figure.
Brand, model:(characters 1 to 3) Identifies the make, model, and manufacturer of the vehicle
Vehicle options:(characters 4 to 8) These numbers indicate various features of a particular model, such as trim, transmission. That is, in other words, this part of the VIN code indicates the configuration and additional options of the car.
Examination #: (9th character in the code) The value of the ninth character from the left is calculated by a complex mathematical formula, which is interconnected with other digits of the code. This was done to check for fake VIN code values.
Year of issue:(10th digit in the number) Indicates the date of manufacture of the vehicle. Note that if the car was produced at the end of the calendar year, then the manufacturer has the right to put the next year in the wine number, although in fact it has not yet arrived.
Factory:(11th digit in the number) Identifies the plant where the vehicle was manufactured.
Vehicle serial number(numbers from 12 to 17) These numbers indicate the serial serial number, which means which car came off the assembly line at the car factory.
Note: The VIN number never includes the letters I, O and Q due to the similarity to the numbers 1 and 0.
VIN number decoding example: Step 3
As an example, we will use the following VIN number: 1ZVHT82H485113456, which was presented in the photo above. First, we need to decipher the beginning of the vehicle identification number in order to find out the make, model and country of the vehicle manufacturer.
To do this, we need to decrypt the first three characters: 1ZV.
The first digit in the VIN number always indicates the country of the vehicle's manufacturer. There are numerous country codes, but the most common have the following codes:
- USA: 1, 4 or 5
- Canada: 2
- Mexico: 3
- Japan: J
- Korea: K
- England: S
- Germany: W
- Italy: Z
- Sweden: Y
- Australia: 6
- France: V
- Brazil: 9
According to our VIN number example, the first character in the code is the number "1", which means that the car was made in the USA. The next two characters indicate the manufacturer of the vehicle.
The full designation of international codes for car manufacturers can be found. For example, the letter "F" - indicates that the manufacturer of the car to. The letter "G" is GM. For example, if the VIN starts with "1gc", then this means the American brand of Chevrolet trucks, while "1g1" means that the car was made in the USA and that it is a brand of Chevrolet passenger cars.
Using the decryption using the table of international car manufacturer auto identifiers, we can conclude that the code that starts with 1ZV indicates that the car was produced by the international automobile alliance, which was formed to produce brands and. This means that the beginning of the code means that this VIN is applied to a Mazda or Ford car.
Vehicle characteristics by VIN number: Step 4
Having found out the brand of the car, we can proceed to further deciphering the VIN in order to find out by symbols located from 4 to 8 places in the code, which indicate data about the car. Unfortunately, in different countries, manufacturers use a different encoding format for information about the configuration of the model and additional options.
However, using the example of American cars, you can decipher the VIN. So having learned in the above example that our car is Mazda or Ford, then by code HT82H we can further learn in more detail what this code means.
The first letter "H" is a code for safety equipment that is factory installed in the vehicle and indicates that the vehicle has front and side airbags. If instead of the letter "H" there would be the letter "B", then this would mean that the car does not have airbags, but active seat belts are used in the car.
Symbols from 5th to 7th place in the VIN code carry information about the car itself. In our case, this is part of the "T82H" number. Using this handy guide to deciphering the VIN numbers of Ford cars, we learned that Ford uses the T8__ symbols to designate Mustang coupe cars.
Upon closer examination of the table, we came to the conclusion that this is either a Mustang Bullitt, Coupe GT or Coupe Shelby GT. So, if someone is trying to sell you a Ford Mustang and claims that this is a "GT" series, and the VIN number shows that this is a T80 model, then you are being lied to.
According to the same table, we can determine the type of engine installed on the car. So in our example, after "NT82" is the letter "H", which means that the car is equipped with a 4.6 liter V8 engine. If the letter "N" would stand, then this would mean that a six-cylinder engine was installed on the car, which would alert us if, during the inspection, we saw an eight-cylinder engine in the car.
Using the Check Digit: Step 5
Most car manufacturers use the ninth character in the VIN check digit, which means that the entire VIN number is real. The check digit is calculated by a special mathematical algorithm. So all numbers and letters (for this, letters are assigned numbers) are multiplied in the code (except for the check digit in 9th place), and the result is divided by the number "11". If the result of the division leads to a remainder identical to the number located in the 9th place in the VIN, then the code is real.
If you do not want to independently calculate whether the real VIN number is in front of you, then you can use a special calculator.
Determining the year of manufacture of the car: Step 6
Since 1980, a generally accepted format has been introduced around the world to designate the year of manufacture or the model range of manufactured cars, which is indicated in decimal places. For example, if the car was produced from 2001 to 2009, then the VIN number of the car will contain a number from 0 to 8. In our example, the tenth place in the code indicating the year of manufacture of the car is the number "8". This means that the car is 2008.
If the car was produced between 1980 and 2000, then letters were used instead of numbers, starting with the Latin letter "A" and ending with the letter "Y". For example, if the car was manufactured in 1994, the tenth place in the VIN number will be the Latin letter "R".
The 2000 car will be identified by the letter "Y". After 2000, as we described above, manufacturers began to use numbers to indicate the year of manufacture of cars. Starting in 2010, manufacturers again began to use letters to indicate the year of manufacture of the vehicle. So the car of 2010 was designated by the letter "A".
Deciphering where the car was made: Step 7
The 11th digit in the vehicle identification number indicates where the vehicle was manufactured. Unfortunately, there is no generally accepted standard for designating this element in code. Each manufacturer uses its own established standards. All information about the procedure for designating the place of production is on Wikipedia. For example, here is a page with a complete list of Ford factories. Based on this, in our VIN example, the eleventh digit "5" means that the car was manufactured by the Auto Alliance in Flad Rock, Michigan.
Vehicle serial number: Step 8
The last digits of the VIN number (from 12 to 17) indicate the serial number by which the car left the assembly line of the factory. In the case of our example, the Mustang car has the serial number " 113456".
For most car owners, this figure is not of particular interest. But for rare cars or vehicles that were produced in a limited edition, this figure can mean a lot. For example, the smaller the serial number, the more expensive the cost of a rare car.
In our example, Mustang cars are assembled on the same line, so the serial number does not carry any important information.
If we zoom out on the photo of our example VIN code, we can see that the code belongs to a 2008 Ford Mustang Bullitt. Compare this photo with the information we received by deciphering the VIN number.
Remember that there are a large number of different services on the Internet that offer you to find out information about a car by the VIN number. Keep in mind that a lot of the information on the web is unreliable. The best is to manually decode the VIN code, as we did as an example on a Ford Mustang car.
Also, be careful when buying a car with your hands. If you have identified a discrepancy in the information provided by the owner of the car, then it is better to refuse to buy this car.
| Question | Answer |
| decryption through special services; Self decryption sending a request to the manufacturer. |
|
| The actual year of manufacture of the vehicle. | |
| The belonging of a particular car model or its restyling to a certain year. | |
| the full name of the vehicle; · manufacturer; Model year the exact date of manufacture; information about the power unit and transmission; factory color and other characteristics. |
|
| partsfan.com pogazam.ru/vin; avtoraport.ru. |
The year of manufacture of the vehicle affects the cost of customs clearance when importing a car from abroad (the younger the car, the higher the price), and also helps to choose the right part if the vehicle breaks down. The production date of the car can be found by the VIN body number.
There are several ways to find out the date of manufacture of a car by the VIN code of the vehicle:
- Self decryption. In most cases, the body identification number contains information about the year of manufacture of the car. It is important to understand that with self-decoding, you can only find out the year, without specifying the date and month.
- Decryption using specialized services. Online resources allow you to find out all the basic information about a car: make and model, exact release date, manufacturer, engine type, etc. In some cases, services provide services on a paid basis.
- Sending a request to the manufacturer. The cost of the service is paid, the amount depends on the company. If necessary, you can make a request through an official representative (dealer).
How to decipher the year of issue
The year of manufacture of a car by the VIN code can be found by reading the 10th character of the identification number. This applies to manufacturers from Northern Europe, America and some Asian countries that adhere to the international standard for compiling a VIN code ISO 3779-1983. The following designations were assigned by year:
| Year | Designation | Year | Designation | Year | Designation | Year | Designation |
| 1971 | 1 | 83 | D | 95 | S | 07 | 7 |
| -72 | 2 | 84 | E | 96 | T | 08 | 8 |
| -73 | 3 | 85 | F | 97 | V | 09 | 9 |
| -74 | 4 | 86 | G | 98 | W | 2010 | A |
| -75 | 5 | 87 | H | 99 | X | 11 | IN |
| -76 | 6 | 88 | J | 2000 | Y | 12 | WITH |
| -77 | 7 | 89 | TO | 01 | 1 | 13 | D |
| -78 | 8 | 1990 | L | 02 | 2 | 14 | E |
| -79 | 9 | 91 | M | 03 | 3 | 15 | F |
| 1980 | A | 92 | N | 04 | 4 | 16 | G |
| -81 | IN | 93 | R | 05 | 5 | 17 | H |
| -82 | WITH | 94 | R | 06 | 6 | 18 | J |
Based on the table, the designations are repeated every 30 years. At the same time, manufacturers do not use the number 0, as well as the letters I, O, Q, since there is a possibility of confusing these characters.
Exceptions
Japanese manufacturers adhere to their own standards for compiling a VIN code (chassis number) and they do not encrypt the year of manufacture of the car into it. The same applies to some other countries. To distinguish the international standard ISO 3779-1983, you should know that the identification number according to ISO 3779-1983 always consists of 17 characters and does not contain dashes. Also, in place 10 of the character there cannot be the number 0 and the letters I, O, Q. At the same time, the presence of the number 0 (but not the indicated letters) is allowed in other positions.
There are three ways to find out the year of manufacture of a vehicle whose VIN code does not comply with ISO 3779-1983:
- through specialized services. For example, on the site drom.ru at the link www.drom.ru/frameno you can find out the year of manufacture of Japanese cars manufactured before 2010 inclusive.
It should be noted that in most cases Honda and Suzuki cars are not checked by the online service due to the lack of the necessary database.
- Through a request to an official representative. The car owner can send a request to the dealer, who will redirect it to the manufacturer. In this case, it will be necessary to pay for the services of the dealer and the manufacturer.
- On the glass of the vehicle, where the year of its release is always indicated. It should be noted that the glass could have been changed on the car earlier.
What is the difference between a model year and a calendar year
The calendar year is the actual year the vehicle was manufactured. Model - means that a particular model of a vehicle or its restyling belongs to a certain year. So, manufacturers often release the first versions of cars for the exhibition, and their mass assembly begins as early as next year. For example, the actual (calendar) year of manufacture of the vehicle is 2017, and the model year is 2020, since mass production of this version of the car began only this year.
It should also be noted that some manufacturers set the beginning of the model year, which may not coincide with the calendar year. For example, a model year might start on July 1, September 1, and so on.
The identification number of a vehicle manufactured in accordance with ISO 3779-1983 always indicates the model year. The documents for the vehicle can contain both the model and the calendar year, therefore, in order to obtain accurate information, the car owner must either use specialized online services or send a request to the manufacturer through an authorized dealer.
What other information can be obtained by VIN code through online services
There are several online services on the web that allow you to get information about a vehicle using its VIN code. Among these:
- partsfan.com. Foreign site, therefore, does not show information about vehicles from Russian companies. The service is free. With it, you can determine the following data on the vehicle:
- Manufacturer.
- The full name of the car.
- model year.
- Exact date of manufacture.
- Engine and transmission information.
- Factory color and other characteristics of the vehicle.
The service also searches for Japanese cars. To do this, you must enter the appropriate code in the second line from the right. Registration required.
- pogazam.ru/vin. Russian site. Provides the same information as the above service, however, due to the incompleteness of the database, there may not be information about the transmission, engine, etc., this applies to both European manufacturers (Mercedes, Audi, BMW, etc.) and North American . Also, there is no database of Japanese cars here. The service is free.
- www.avtoraport.ru Russian site. In addition to technical information about the vehicle, it determines its registration history, use in a taxi, previous accidents, the presence of restrictions (deposit, arrest), etc. Service services are paid. As of August 2020, one check costs 299 rubles.
The international standard ISO 3779, adopted in 1977, regulates the application of a number by which a car is identified - the so-called VIN code. The ability to read the VIN correctly will help you quickly determine the date of manufacture of the car. The skill is useful if you plan to buy a car in the secondary market: the code cannot be faked, not only the body is marked, but also the main parts of the power unit, components.
The VIN code consists of a certain combination of Arabic numerals, Latin, which cannot be altered. When creating, manufacturers use the calculation algorithm adopted by most countries. Therefore, using the number, it is easy to see through electronic services whether the car is on the wanted list.
When creating an identifier, it is forbidden to use the letters of the Latin alphabet Q, I, O: O can be confused (or converted) into the letter Q, and the letters I and O duplicate the numbers 0 and 1.
The number is entered either in the vehicle registration certificate or in the registration certificate. Sometimes both documents have a corresponding (same) paragraph. On the car itself, the VIN code can be found on the chassis, one-piece body parts, plates (nameplates):
- instrument panel on the left (the code is visible through the windshield);
- front left pillar;
- cylinder block, block head;
- door sills;
- spars;
- engine compartment - a plate with a number;
- under the driver's seat: the numbers are visible when the seat is moved.
Technical documents for the car indicate all the places where the identification number is stamped.
The American manufacturer uses for marking part of the dashboard on the driver's side, the driver's door opening, where a special sticker with a number is installed.
Vehicle release date via VIN
In the VIN code, manufacturers are not required to indicate the place of assembly of the vehicle, but the production date is required. Companies do not indicate the year of production of the car, which coincides with the calendar, but the model year. It starts on July 1 and lasts up to 18 months if the car does not enter the series.
The following corporations indicate the model date:
- Toyota;
- Mazda;
- Nissan;
- Honda;
- Mercedes-Benz;
American manufacturers, arranging the premiere of a new model, set the date for the series to go on sale, that is, the next one.
You can quickly find out the year of manufacture of a car by VIN by learning the rules for reading the number. Exit is listed at the 10th position, for some American brands at the 11th position, for the month at the eleventh position, for the "Americans" at the 12th position.
The number indicates the last digit of the year for cars manufactured from 1971 to 1979, followed by 20 Latin letters in order (except for those excluded) for cars manufactured from 1980 to 2000. Then the frequency is repeated. If the number 1 is in the tenth place of the number, then the car left the assembly line either in 1971 or in 2001. If the letter D is indicated, then in 1983 or in 2013.
The classification is based on common sense: a motorist can easily distinguish a car that is 5 years old from a thirty-five-year-old model.
You can check your car online. There are enough services on the web that provide such a service. If you make an official request to the traffic police website, then the VIN code will determine when the car was manufactured, specify the number of owners, the status of the car, etc.
Find out the output of the machine from the conveyor by the brand of components
You can quickly find out the release period of a car using the marking of components. However, this is a poor way to check if you need to buy a car from your hands: all removable parts, including the windshield, can be replaced with new ones.
Windshield
Windshield manufacturers always mark the part according to international standards. When branding glass, any form of numbering can be used, but the principle always remains: the year is marked with a number from 0 to 9 and the month with a letter or an exact number of dots or asterisks. In a character combination, characters are used in any sequence (depending on the manufacturer's certificate).
Determining the year of manufacture of the windshield is simple: the year is first marked in the marking, then three (less often more) letters. The first letter corresponds to the month of issue.
The Fiat company assigned the second letter of the English alphabet for the first month for glass marking, shifting the order of reading the stamp by one position.
To make sure that the month of manufacture of the car matches the stamp on the windshield, you need to check all the VIN codes on the body.
Safety belt
This is the second element by which you can check the date of manufacture of the car, provided that the stamp, which some manufacturers put with stamped paint, has not been erased.
A manufacturer's label is attached to the bottom of the belt, where the production date is put. The lower, less often the upper latches should also be marked. The calendar date of production is stamped on the details.
Using the belt check as a VIN identifier, it must be taken into account that when assembling according to a broken cycle, when components are brought to the conveyor from different companies, the date of manufacture of the belt may not coincide with the final year of production of the car.
shock absorber struts
Checking the shock absorber struts of the trunk and hood will tell a lot about the car, but only if the car was assembled in Europe after 1997. On the racks, two numbers are stamped through a fraction. The first represents the week from 1 to 52, the second represents the last digits of the year.
The second standard for marking racks is usually designated as a day from 1 to 365, the second digit after the fraction is the year the part was made. The marking of the racks is different from the VIN code, so many do not pay attention to these two numbers. Knowing such nuances, it is easy to punch the time when the car left the assembly line.
You can find out the year of production of Japanese cars online. The correct determination of the date of release of Japanese cars will allow you to determine the duty on the import of cars into the Russian Federation.
Companies such as Toyota provide their technical databases to determine the period of production directly, since the company provides labeling according to two standards. The body number can be stamped on the car as EXZ10 - 0021028, and in the vehicle it is indicated as EXZ100021028.
If you know the rules for reading the VIN code, then you can immediately determine when the car entered the series. It is important to check if the number matches the rest of the marking characters.
