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 in the event of a vehicle breakdown. The vehicle's production date can be found by the VIN number.

There are several ways to find out the release date of the vehicle by the vehicle VIN code:

1. 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-decryption, you can only find out the year, without specifying the date and month.
2. 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.
3. Send 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 authorized representative (dealer).

How to decipher the year of issue

You can find out the year of production of a car by wine code by reading the 10th symbol of the identification number. This applies to manufacturers from North Europe, America and some Asian countries that adhere to the international VIN standard ISO 3779-1983. The following designations have been assigned over the years:

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 the indicated characters.

Exceptions

Japanese manufacturers adhere to their own VIN (chassis number) compilation standards and they do not encrypt the vehicle's year of manufacture 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, the number 0 and the letters I, O, Q cannot be in place of the 10th character. At the same time, the presence of the number 0 (but not the indicated letters) is allowed in other positions.

You can find out the year of manufacture of a vehicle whose VIN code does not correspond to ISO 3779-1983 in three ways:

• Across specialized services... For example, on the website drom.ru at the link www.drom.ru/frameno you can find out the year of production of Japanese cars manufactured up to 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's company.
• On the glass of the vehicle, where the year of its manufacture is always indicated. It should be noted that the glass could have been changed on the car earlier.

What is the Difference Between Model Year and Calendar Year

The calendar year is the actual year the vehicle was manufactured. Model - means that a specific vehicle model or its restyling belongs to a specific 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 the vehicle is 2017, and the model year is 2020, since only this year the mass production of this version of the car began.

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 vehicle 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 model and calendar years, therefore, to obtain accurate information, the car owner must use either 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 network that allow you to obtain information about a vehicle using its VIN code. Among these:

1. partsfan.com. A foreign site, therefore, does not show information about vehicles from Russian companies. The service is free. It can be used to determine the following vehicle data:
2. Manufacturer.
3. Full name of the car.
4. Model year.
5. The exact date of manufacture.
6. Information about the engine and transmission.
7. 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-language 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 on Japanese cars at all. The service is free.
• avtoraport.ru. Russian-language site. Besides technical information about the vehicle, determines its registration history, use in a taxi, previous accidents, restrictions (bail, arrest), etc. The service is paid. As of August 2020, one check costs 299 rubles.

Before signing a contract for the sale of a used car, you must check its year of manufacture. This will make sure that the seller is honest before buying a car, and not get a "pig in a poke". You can break through 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 issue by VIN (VIN) code

VIN of the machine - its special identification number, it indicates the year of production and information about the manufacturer. The stamp with the year of issue is in tenth place in the line of the VIN-code. It is worth noting that the entire stage of car production includes several methods of car marking.

Important To avoid fraudulent activities when buying a car, use the online service "AvtoVin". One VIN code or one 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, Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, FNP, taxi registers, car dealers, insurance companies. To prevent the loss of time on litigation, the emergence of unpleasant situations, you should carefully consider the choice of car.

Few car manufacturers apply their own procedure for applying the VIN code of a car. So, the American manufacturer Ford places data on the release date of its cars in eleventh and twelfth places, reporting the year and month. Japanese manufacturers do not use the VIN code at all. It can also be confusing that automakers in most cases do not use a standard calendar layout. They indicate data about model year the release 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 the car actually consists, also have stamps.

Manufacturers put a stamp where the date is indicated by a number indicating the number of the calendar year. For example, glass has a mark of 4, which means that the car 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. It is usually denoted 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 97th, 2007 or 2017. The month defines only the first letter in the line, regardless of the position in the row.

There is also an exception to these rules. The Fiat company brands the cars produced in a slightly different way, starting in 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 the same stamps will allow the buyer to understand if the car got into a traffic accident. If the glass markings diverge, you need to check with the seller for the reason for the replacement.

Seat belts.

The stamping details the day of manufacture, month and year. It is located below, on the tag. The same mark is applied to the fixers.

Hood and trunk shock absorber struts

At the end of the last century, manufacturers began to apply markings on these transport elements. There are two types of branding. They are easily decrypted, it is enough to know the meaning of the embossed numbers:

• For example, the numbers are 26/99. The first number is a sequential number indicating the week of the year (out of 52), followed by the year of production;
• 220/99 - ordinal day and year of manufacture.

The muffler is marked in the same way.

Important If units and assemblies are found that do not coincide with the year of manufacture, which is indicated in the TCP, you should think again whether you need to purchase given transport... The owner may not tell you the true reason for replacing them. Deception is fraught with serious breakdowns and problems with finding spare parts that match the production date.

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Before concluding a DCT (sale and purchase agreement) for a used car, it is important to know the date of the car's release. This procedure will help identify attempts to deceive the seller of the vehicle and make a conclusion about the rationality of the intended purchase. Today "Autocode" will talk about the methods by which you can determine when the car was released.

What the VIN will tell you about

Most vehicles have a VIN - a special identification code consisting of 17 characters (numbers and letters). It contains information about the manufacturer and the release date of the car. Most often, the year of production of the vehicle is located on the 10th position of the VIN-code. It is important to know that in different periods the methods of marking the date of production of the vehicle have changed.

Including:

• from 1980 to 2000 and, since 2010, the letters of the Latin alphabet from A to Y are used for this, with the exception of the letters I, O, Q, U and Z
• from 1971 to 1979 and from 2001 to 2009. the date of production of cars had a digital designation.

Please note that the VIN contains only the last digit in the year number. For example, Latin A denotes cars of both 1980 and 2010, the number 4 - 1974 and 2004, etc.

Some car manufacturers use their own labeling system. For example, in the United States on ford vehicles the production date of the machine is located on the 11th and 12th positions of the VIN. It also includes a month of production. And vehicles from Japan do not have a VIN at all.

In addition, when checking a car, you need to know that most manufacturers indicate in the VIN code information about the so-called model year of car production. It does not start on January 1, but on July 1. Therefore, the VIN code data may not correspond to the calendar we are used to.

From all of the above, it is clear that it is not so easy to find out the year of car production by VIN on your own. Therefore, it is better to use a trusted Internet resource to check the vehicle.

How to find out the year of car manufacture online

A simple and reliable way to find out the year of issue by wine or state. car number - use the services of the Autocode service. Enter the VIN or state registration number of the car in the special search form. Within a few minutes, the system will generate a report with information about the year of manufacture of the vehicle and other useful information. In particular about:

• the number of vehicle owners;
• mileage;
• the presence of restrictions (bail, arrest, etc.) and other data that are important for making a purchase decision.

The cost of a detailed report is 349 rubles.

How to find out the year of manufacture of the machine by marking the components

Various parts and mechanisms of the car also carry information about the production date. Let's consider how to find out such information.

Glass

You can find out the month and year of the car production by stamps on the glass. Auto glass manufacturers use different branding methods. The year of manufacture is indicated by one digit, which corresponds to the last digit of the calendar year (by analogy with the VIN). Thus, the number "6" can mean 1996, 2006 and 2016. Next, you need to be guided by logic. For example, if you know that this vehicle model was produced from 1998 to 2010. - accordingly, the figure "6" will mean 2006 release.

The month is indicated by Latin letters (from A to M in alphabetical order) or combinations of dots and / or slashes.

For clarity, here are some examples:

• … .6 or 6…. - April 1996, 2006 or 2016;
• 9 ABC or ABC 9 - January 1989, 1999 or 2009 (only the first letter of the three counts).

There are exceptions to the rule. For example, on the glass of Fiat cars, January is indicated by the letter "B". Accordingly, the designation system is shifted by one position, and December is already branded not "M", but "N".

When determining the production date of a car, it is important to check all the glasses. If you find that the marking individual elements does not match - ask the seller if the vehicle has been involved in an accident that caused the replacement of one or more glasses.

The date of manufacture of the machine is stamped on a label attached to the bottom of each seat belt. Belt anchors have a similar branding. The notation is simple: day, month and year of issue. Therefore, it will be easy to understand them.

Shock struts on the hood and trunk

Since the mid-90s of the XX century, on cars from Europe, these units have also been marked, by which it is easy to determine when the car was produced. The year of manufacture is indicated in two ways:

• 25/98 (where the first digit is the ordinal number of the week from 1 to 52, and the second is the year);
• 318/95 (where the first digit is the ordinal number of the day from 1 to 365, and the second is the year).

Similar markings can be applied to terminals batteryas well as a muffler.

Data mismatch on individual nodes with the production date specified in the vehicle registration certificate is a good reason to think about the advisability of purchasing it. Often, buyers are faced with the fact that "native" parts for one reason or another have been replaced with new ones. It is impossible to find out the exact release date of a car from them. Therefore, we still recommend using the all-Russian service for checking

Drivers are repeatedly faced with, providing it to the insurance company, when registering a car with the traffic police and in other areas of the auto industry. But for most of us, a set of VIN codes, consisting of 17 digits, is a simple set of letters and numbers, which at first glance has no logic. But this is not the case.

A lot has been written about the car on the Internet. Various online resources offer numerous ways to decrypt 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 edition decided to combine all the information available on the network, which will be simple for quick use, with the help of which you can quickly decipher the VIN number of your car.

What is 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. Before that, there was no standardization, so decoding the VIN of cars produced before this date is a problem.

In simple words, 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 system for standardizing vehicle identification at the global level.

The VIN code of a car consists of a combination of 17 characters consisting of letters and numbers that identify the make, model and year of the car, and also carry more detailed data such as the type of engine, 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 do I need to decrypt VIN?

Decoding the VIN of a car is first of all necessary to make sure that you are not deceived by providing inaccurate 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 they can also hide some data about the car. For example, often new car they sell, hiding the year of manufacture from the buyer, taking advantage of the opportunity to change the year of manufacture of the vehicle, making it a year younger when the vehicle is first issued by customs or authorities.

For example, in our country there are legal ways to change the year of manufacture of a car if the date of issue 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 issue in the vehicle passport (PTS), which gives them the opportunity to sell cars at an inflated price.

Where is the VIN of the vehicle? Step 1

Depending on the country of the manufacturer, the VIN number is located in different places. For example, the vast majority of cars made for the US market have a VIN, which is located under the windshield, which 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 sill 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, such a plate can be located inside the dashboard.

Once you find the VIN number, the fun begins.

VIN decoding: Step 2

In order to start decoding the VIN, you need to visually break it into six parts, as shown in the figure.

Brand, model: (symbols 1 to 3) Indicate the make, model and manufacturer of the vehicle

Car 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 a complete set and additional options motor vehicles.

Check #: (9th character in the code) The value of the ninth character from the left is calculated using a complex mathematical formula that is interconnected with other digits in the code. This is done for a control check for the VIN code value forgery.

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 number, although in fact it has not yet come.

Factory: (11th digit in the number) Indicates the plant where the car was produced.

Serial number of the car (digits from 12 to 17) These digits indicate the serial production number, which means which car came off the assembly line at the car factory.

Note: VIN numbers never include the letters I, O and Q due to the similarity to the numbers 1 and 0.

An example of decoding VIN number: 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 car manufacturer.

To do this, we need to decrypt the first three characters: 1ZV.

First digit in VIN number always indicates the country of the vehicle 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 is made in the USA. The next two symbols indicate the vehicle manufacturer.

The full designation of international codes of car manufacturers can be found. For example, the letter "F" - means that the car manufacturer is k. The letter "G" is for GM. For example, if the VIN starts with "1gc", it means the American brand trucks Chevrolet when “1g1” means the car is made in the USA and that it is a brand passenger cars Chevrolet.

Taking advantage of the decoding using the table of international car manufacturers' indicators, we can conclude that the code that starts with 1ZV indicates that the car was produced by an international automobile alliance, which is formed for the production of stamps 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 make of the car, we can proceed to the further decoding of the VIN in order to find out by the symbols located from 4 to 8 places in the code, which denote data about the car. Unfortunately in different countries manufacturers use a different format for encoding information about the model's equipment and additional options.

However, for example American cars You can decode VIN. So, having learned in the above example that our car is a Mazda or Ford, then by code HT82H we can further learn in more detail what this code means.

The first letter "H" is the code for the safety equipment that is factory installed in the vehicle and indicates that vehicle has front and side airbags. If instead of the letter "H" there was the letter "B", it would mean that the car is without 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 decoding the VIN numbers of Ford cars, we learned that Ford stands for Mustang coupes with T8__ symbols.

When detailed consideration table, we concluded that it was either a Mustang Bullitt, Coupe GT or Coupe Shelby GT. So, if someone tries to sell you a Ford Mustang and claims that it is a "GT" series, and the VIN number shows that this is a T80 model, then they are lying to you.

Using 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 4.6 liter engine V8. If there was the letter "N", it would mean that the car is equipped with an engine with six cylinders, which would alert us if, upon examination, we saw an eight-cylinder engine in the car.

Check Digit Usage: Step 5

Most car manufacturers use the ninth character in the VIN number of the check digit, which means that the entire VIN number is real. The check digit is calculated using a special mathematical algorithm. So all numbers and letters (for this, letters are assigned numbers) in the code are multiplied (except for the check digit in the 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 vehicle's model year: Step 6

Since 1980, a generally accepted format for the designation of the year of manufacture or lineup produced cars, which is indicated in decimal place. For example, if the car was produced from 2001 to 2009, then in the VIN number of the car there will be a digit from 0 to 8. In our example, the tenth place in the code indicating the year of car production is the digit "8". This means that the car is 2008.

If the car was produced between 1980 and 2000, then instead of numbers, letter designations were used, starting with the Latin letter "A" and ending with the letter "Y". For example, if the car was produced in 1994, the Latin letter "R" will be in the tenth place in the VIN number.

The year 2000 will be identified with the letter "Y". After 2000, as we described above, manufacturers began to use numbers to indicate the year of production of cars. Starting in 2010, manufacturers again began to use the letter designation to indicate the year of manufacture of the vehicle. So the car of 2010 was designated with the letter "A".

Decoding where the car was made: Step 7

The 11th digit in the vehicle identification number indicates where the vehicle was produced. Unfortunately, there is no generally accepted standard for denoting this element in the code. Each manufacturer uses its own established standards. All information on the procedure for designating the place of production is in 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 produced by the Auto Alliance in Flad Rock, Michigan.

Car serial number: Step 8

The last digits of the wine numbers (from 12 to 17) mean the serial number by which the car came off the assembly line of the plant. In the case of our example, the Mustang car has a serial number " 113456 ".

For most car owners, this figure is not of particular interest. But for rare cars or cars that were produced in a limited edition, this figure can mean a lot. For example, the lower the serial number, the more expensive cost rare car.

In our example, Mustang cars are assembled on the same line, so the serial number does not carry any important information.

By zooming out the photo, which shows our example of VIN code, we can see that the code belongs to the car 2008 Ford mustang Bullitt. Compare this photo with the information obtained by us by decoding the VIN number.

Remember that there is a large number of various services that offer you to find out information about the car by VIN number. Let's remind that a lot of information on the network is not reliable. The best is vIN decoding code by hand, as we did in the example on a Ford Mustang.

Also, be careful when buying a car from your hands. If you find a discrepancy in the information provided by the owner of the car, then it is better to refuse to buy this car.