As you know, each vehicle has certain distinctive features that make it unique. In accordance with the ICO standard of the 3779-1983 series, which, by the way, is not mandatory, car manufacturers may not indicate the specific place of assembly of the car. Moreover, some automobile concerns do not indicate the year of manufacture of the vehicle. In this case, various signs, symbols and conventions are used that are incomprehensible to ordinary people.

When buying a car in a reputable car dealership, many people think that it has just rolled off the assembly line, but this is not always the case. In order not to breed unnecessary controversy here, it should be noted that the year of manufacture is the easiest to determine by the body number (according to the so-called Vin code). You can get all the information on vin when checking a car on our website or by checking it yourself. Read more about self-checking in our article!

If the manufacturer bothers to indicate the specific date of manufacture of the vehicle, then in most cases this does not mean anything. For example, oddly enough, but at the plant they can knock out not a calendar year, but a "model" year. In turn, they differ significantly from each other. The following auto giants do not indicate the date of car production in "pure" form: BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan, Honda. How is the “model” year different from the calendar year? It's simple: when releasing another car from the assembly line, the carmaker assigns it the VIN code that corresponds to the given model range. This is done so that the manufacturer has a little time left to transport the car, sell it, re-register, etc.

Today, many motorists need to decipher vin and get useful information about their vehicle as a result. This is especially important if you are planning to buy a used car, learning as much as possible about which is paramount. Suppose she is suddenly listed as a hijacker?

It should be noted that this standard (ICO 3779-1983) was once developed by the Americans (Association of Engineers SAE), who laid in its foundation part of the traditions of North American manufacturers. For example, at summer car shows in car dealerships, models with the next year of production were demonstrated. Going immediately on sale, they were in some way "guests from the future."

What else does the “standard” give to the consumer and manufacturer? Firstly, he acquires a completely new, "fresh" car, which is eloquently evidenced by the year of issue in vin, deciphered by a specialist. If you are going to sell your car in the future, a potential buyer will certainly turn his attention to this circumstance, which will be in your favor. Secondly, as for the auto concern, it manages to sell almost all of its cars before the start of the new calendar year. As you can imagine, this is important for a large business.

It should be noted that not all manufacturers indicate the release date of the vehicle, which should be assigned in accordance with the actual calendar or "model" year. For example, the notorious AvtoVAZ sometimes refers the release of its cars not to the current model date, but to the next one. There is only one reason for these circumstances: all actions are taking place under pressure from the Ministry of Tax Collection. As for the Ukrainian auto concern "ZAZ", the situation there is about the same. In general, each business dictates its own terms, with which the consumer either agrees or does not. Whatever it is, but it is quite possible to determine the year of production of the car with an accuracy of one year using the VIN code. As you probably already guessed, you just need to be aware of some of the nuances.

VIN is an elementary identification number that is stamped on the body of every modern car. It consists of 17 alphanumeric characters, which, if correctly decoded, can give the owner a lot of useful information. The code is used for identification in 24 countries of the world, including Russia.

So, how to determine the year of production of a car by the body number? By decrypting the first 3 digits of the VIN-code, you can find out at which plant the car was produced. The next 4 digits identify the type and make of the vehicle. The ninth character usually remains empty, but the tenth and, in some cases, eleventh positions just allow you to determine the date of car production.

In American factories, the symbol responsible for the year of manufacture is located in the 11th place of the VIN code. For Renault, Volvo, Rover, Isuzu, Opel, Saab, VAZ, Porsche, Volkswagen and other famous cars, the production date is regulated by the tenth character. By the way, European-assembled Fords can be safely attributed to the "Americans", because there the VIN-code is built according to similar principles (the year is at the 11th position, and the month at 12th).

Year of issue	Designation	Year of issue	Designation

As can be seen from the table, the designation of the year of manufacture is repeated every 30 years. This is quite enough, since the rest of the VIN will still be different - in fact, only in the CIS, some models can hold out on the assembly line for a very long time.

Knowing the VIN code of a particular vehicle, you can find out not only the year of its production, but also the model, body color, type of transmission, chassis and much more. But do not rely on the symbols that are embossed under the hood of your car - some motorists during the purchase are faced with a car stolen, whose VIN code has been changed. Of course, only an experienced specialist can draw such conclusions, having checked it using one of the popular methods.

Of course, everyone who wants to buy a car wants it to be not very old. The younger your car, the longer it will last and, accordingly, vice versa, the older, the less. You can determine the date of production and release of your car if you look at the entry that is affixed in the technical passport for this car or try to decipher the identification number (body number).

It is not at all difficult to establish the production number of a car by the markings that are applied to the car window glass. The name of the manufacturer, the standards of compliance are displayed there, the month and year of glass manufacture are indicated. Basically, the year of production is indicated by one digit, which is the last in the calendar, and the month is indicated by dots and this date stands before the beginning of the year. This is the simplest way to determine the month of car production.

It so happens that the fraction symbol is used in the date of glass manufacture. Each of the slanted fractions replaces five months and appears in the markings of glasses that have been released since May. In general, in the car you can find many marked parts, from the markings of which you can determine the release date, and the time from the start of mass production to the warehouse is about six months, after that you yourself can determine the time when your car was born.

The date of manufacture of the car must be clearly indicated in all documents for the car itself. But there are situations when it is not easy to determine the date of production and release, for example, when there are no relevant documents for the car. It is also required to know the exact month of production of the car, this is very important for crossing the border.

The release date can be set according to the numbers of the main units of the car and its parts: gearbox, engine, chassis. There is also its own methodology that allows you to determine the release date, it was developed by the vehicle manufacturers themselves. There are also rules: for the month of release, the exact date is the fifteenth, and if you could find out only the year of release, then the date is generally taken as the first of July of that year.

Remember, only the manufacturer of this car or a regional representative of the company can accurately determine the date of production and release from the known part numbers of the car. In his competence, how to find out the month of production of the car. There are also certain situations when it is impossible to determine the release date of the car and then you need to turn to a specialized examination, which is carried out in customs laboratories or licensed organizations.

Good afternoon, dear reader.

In this article I will tell you about an interesting way that allows with a high degree of probability determine the year of manufacture of almost any car.

Of course, many drivers are familiar with this method, but for some it will turn out to be an interesting discovery.

So, you can determine the year of production of a car after a careful study of its glasses.

Year of manufacture on car glass

Almost every car glass contains information about the year of its production. You just need to be able to find it and interpret it correctly.

Typically, the information stamp is located in one of the lower corners of the car glass.

Consider the example shown in the figure on the left.

In this case, we are only interested in the lower part of the information stamp, namely the string "0....".

The number in the given line - this is the last digit of the year in which the car was produced. In this example, the number 0 indicates that the car was produced in 2010.

However, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that in practice the number 0 means both 2010 and 2000, 1990, etc. To determine the exact year, you need to have some information about a specific car model.

For example, look at the picture at the beginning of this article. On it you can see that the last digit of the year of manufacture of the car is 4. This photo was taken on a VAZ 2112 car, which was produced from 1999 to 2008. Obviously, the model year of the car is 2004.

Note that only a few cars have been produced unchanged for more than 10 years. For example, these include VAZ 2107 and Niva. In practice, however, it is usually not difficult to distinguish between a new car and a 10-year-old car. On an older car, rust usually appears, there are a large number of dents and other body defects.

Another car glass stamp secret... In addition to the year of glass production, it also contains the month of production, but it is a little more difficult to determine it. The month is encrypted in the number of dots next to the year digit. Namely:

0 - January 2010.
... ... ... ... ... 0 - February 2010.
... ... ... ... 0 - March 2010.
... ... ... 0 - April 2010.
... ... 0 - May 2010.
... 0 - June 2010.
0. - July 2010.
0. ... - August 2010.
0. ... ... - September 2010.
0. ... ... ... - October 2010.
0. ... ... ... ... - November 2010.
0. ... ... ... ... ... - December 2010.

Note that the three dots to the left of the year number are April, and the three dots to the right of the year are September. Nothing complicated.

Using this diagram, you can easily determine that the first example of this article is about February 2004, and the second is about September 2010.

Using this method, you can find out the year of manufacture of almost any car.

However, I want to note some features to consider:

1. If one of the car windows has been replaced, then the year of manufacture will be different from the rest. Therefore, for greater accuracy, I recommend inspecting all windows in the vehicle.

2. Some cars produced at the beginning of the year have different glasses for different years. For example, a car manufactured in January 2014 may have some glasses from 2013. This is normal.

3. On some new cars, the glass shows not one, but the last two digits of the year of manufacture.

4. On some glasses, information stamps may be erased or even absent. In this case, the year of manufacture of the car cannot be determined.

As you know, the year of the car can be found out according to the data in the title and registration certificate. But few people know, it is also possible to find out the year by related units and markings on car windows, seat belts, etc.

It is important to remember the main thing, sometimes at the factory itself they can install glasses from last year's batch and, accordingly, the year on the glasses will be, for example, 2010, and cars in 2011 - this is normal. But if your car has a year of glass more, for example 2014, and the car is 2013, then you should think about whether your car was in an accident.

The year marking on the glass is to some extent encrypted and it is difficult for an ordinary car owner to make out this "code" and calculate the year of the car on the glass. In this article, we will take a closer look at how to find out the year and even the month of glass production. Thus, when inspecting the car for sale, no one will mislead you, trying to hide from you the real age of the used car.

Typically, automotive glass markings are located in one of the bottom corners. As an example, consider the factory stamp shown in the figure.

Now, in order:
Number 1 - designation of the type of car glass.
Digit 2 is the code of the country that grants the approval.
Number 3 - compliance with UNECE requirements.
Number 4 - indicates the year and month of glass production.
Digit 5 \u200b\u200bis a sign of the manufacturer.

As you probably already guessed, we will especially need to disassemble the lower part of this stamp (symbols indicated by the number 4). In this example, the number "14" represents the last two digits of the year of manufacture. That is, this car was produced in 2014. But, please note that not all manufacturers can indicate two numbers in the release date. Some are limited to just one. For example, if on the glass you are considering, instead of the number "14" there is one digit, for example "0", then it is the last, fourth digit of the year of manufacture. Therefore, this car was released either in 2000, or in 2010, and maybe even in 1990.

In this case, its model will help you determine the year of manufacture of the car on the glass. Let's say a manufacturer started producing a certain car model in 2005. Therefore, if we see the number "0" on the stamp of the glass, then this can in no way mean the year of issue of 2000, and, moreover, 1990. Most likely, this car was produced in 2010. Or let's take another example - more specific. Let's say that the marking also contains only one number, for example "4". The brand of this car is VAZ 2112. Even if you are not very versed in cars, then by looking for information on the Internet, you can find out that the VAZ 2112 was produced by the car plant in the period from 1999 to 2008. Therefore, the number "4" can indicate only one version of the year of manufacture - 2004, and not 1994 or 2014, since in those years this car was simply not produced! As you can see, everything is quite simple.

Of course, there are rare exceptions when a certain car brand has been produced for more than 10 years. Such machines include, for example, "Niva" from VAZ. In such cases, in order to find out the year of the car, it is necessary to pay attention not only to the markings on the glass, but also to the external condition, for example, the presence of corrosion, scratches, dents and other features of a used car. Be that as it may, I think many will be able to distinguish a relatively new car from the one that was released more than ten years ago.

Well, now let's try to figure out the month of the car's release. Defining it is a little more difficult, but also quite realistic. There is a certain number of dots near the numbers indicating the year of manufacture (see the figure). It is with them that we will now learn to determine the month. The diagram below shows how this can be done:

14 (six dots, then year) - month January
... ... ... ... ... 14 (five points, then the year) - the month of February
... ... ... ... 14 (four dots, then the year) - the month of March
... ... ... 14 (three dots, then year) - month April
... ... 14 (two dots, then the year) - the month of May
... 14 (one point, then year) - month of June
fourteen . (first year, then one point) - month of July
fourteen . ... (first year, then two dots) - month August
fourteen . ... ... (first year, then three dots) - month September
fourteen . ... ... ... (first year, then four points) - month October
fourteen . ... ... ... ... (first year, then five points) - month November
fourteen . ... ... ... ... ... (first year, then six points) - month of December.

As you can see from this diagram, if the dots are located in front of the numbers, then this is the first half of the year, if after the numbers, then the second. Now, looking competently at the above picture, we understand that this car was released in February 2014.

And finally, I would like to draw your attention to some non-standard situations. It so happens that a used car previously had an accident, or for other reasons, one or two of its windows were once broken. And since the damaged glass has been replaced, the markings on the glasses themselves may differ. In this case, it is recommended to pay attention not to one, but to all the car windows in order to have a complete picture of it.

If, for some reason, the stamp on the glass is missing or simply wiped out, then this method will no longer be able to determine the age of the car, you will have to do it in another accessible way.

Attention! put up for testing
Auction Sheet Translation Assistant Version 1.0!

Instructions for using the search system for the release date, catalog data and calculating the duty of Japanese cars.

Everything is very simple:

1.Select the brand of the car.
2. Enter the Brand of the body.
3. Enter the body number.
Then we press the button "Search": we find the data on the electronic catalog EPC.
4. According to the data found, you can find a modification of this car in our catalog of Japanese cars.

If you do not know how to enter your data correctly, we explain:

The body number of Japanese cars (Frame No., Chassis No.) consists of two fields:
1. body model or brand;
2. directly the number itself.
You can find the body number on the engine compartment plate of the car, as well as in the documents for the car (vehicle passport, registration certificate, bill of lading)
Example of an engine compartment plate
In the line titled Frame No, we see the body number.

There are some subtleties for individual brands ():

Toyota .(toiota, Toyota, taiota)
Body model - a combination of letters and numbers (4 - 6 characters).
Number - 7 digits or a letter and 6 digits.
Example.
Body EXZ10 - 0020027, can also be written as: EXZ100020027
Model or body brand - EXZ10, must be entered in the "Body brand" field
Number - 0020027, must be entered in the "Body number" field

Draw your attention to! Unlike other Toyota release date programs that are featured on many websites, our Database takes data directly from the Japanese EPC database. The date of issue in these programs is based solely on the Toyota numbering plan. In order not to merge with the general mass, we decided to use a more complex method, which in our opinion is better in the interests of visitors. For those who want to determine the release date of European or Arabic versions of cars, we plan to connect the corresponding modules of the EPC base in the future.
The TOYOTA base works for Japanese-built cars manufactured before 2005.

Nissan. (Nisan, Nissan, Nissan)
Body model - a combination of letters and numbers (3 - 8 characters).
Number - 6 digits.
Example.
SS28MN body - 304093, can also be written as: SS28MN304093
Model or body brand - SS28MN, must be entered in the "Body brand" field
Number - 304093, must be entered in the "Body number" field.
The NISSAN base works for Japanese-built cars manufactured before 2005.

Determining the release date (year) for MMC .Mitsubishi (Mitsubisi, Mitsubishi,
Mitsubishi, Mitsubishi)
Body model - a combination of letters and numbers (3 - 5 characters).
Number - 7 digits.
Example.
Body V43 - 4010807, can also be written as: V434010807.
Model or body brand - V43, must be entered in the "Body brand" field.
Number - 4010807, must be entered in the "Body number" field.
The MMC base works for Japanese-built cars manufactured before 2005.

Determining the release date (year) for ISUZU .(Isuzu, Isuzu)
Body model - a combination of letters and numbers (0 - 7 characters).
Number - 7 digits.
Example.
The body of UBS69GW is 7289223, it can also be written as: UBS69GW7289223.
Model or body brand - UBS69GW, must be entered in the "Body brand" field.
Number - 7289223, must be entered in the "Body number" field.
For ISUZU cars, the option is possible when only the 7-digit body number is present, for example, 0466891. It must be entered in the "Body number" field
The ISUZU base works for Japanese cars manufactured before 2005.

Determining the release date (year) for SUZUKI .(Suzuki)
Body model - a combination of letters and numbers (3 - 5 characters).
Number - 6 digits.
Example.
Body JB23W - 312775, can also be written as: JB23W312775.
Model or body brand - JB23W, must be entered in the "Body brand" field.
Number - 312775, must be entered in the "Body number" field.
The SUZUKI base works for Japanese-built cars manufactured before 2005.

Determining the release date (year) for SUBARU .(Subaru)
Body model - a combination of letters and numbers (3 symbols).
Number - 6 digits.
Example.
Body CXW - 007221, can also be written as: CXW007221.
Model or body brand - CXW, must be entered in the "Body brand" field.
Number - 007221, must be entered in the "Body number" field.
The SUBARU base works for cars of the Japanese assembly, produced before 2005.

Determining the release date (year) for DAIHATSU .(Daihatsu, Dayatsu, Daihatsu) .
Body model - a combination of letters and numbers (3-5 characters).
Number - 6 or 7 digits.
Example.
Body L710S - 0044788, can also be written as: L710S0044788.
Model or body brand - L710S, must be entered in the "Body brand" field.
Number - 0044788, must be entered in the "Body number" field.
The DAIHATSU base works for Japanese-built cars manufactured before 2005.

Determining the date (year) of production for cars MAZDA .(Mazda)
Body model - a combination of letters and numbers (3-8 characters).
Number - 6 digits.
Example.
Body SG5W - 400065, can also be written as: SG5W400065.
Model or body brand - SG5W, must be entered in the "Body brand" field.
Number - 400065, must be entered in the "Body number" field.
The MAZDA base works for cars of the Japanese assembly, produced before 2005.

Determining the date (year) of production for cars HONDA . (Honda).
Body model - a combination of letters and numbers (3-4 characters).
Number - 7 digits.
Example.
Body CL9-1002882, can also be written as: CL91002882.
Model or body brand - MF08, must be entered in the "Body brand" field.
Number - 1000001, must be entered in the "Body number" field.
The HONDA base works for Japanese-made cars produced from 1999 years to 2003 year.