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Photo: This “Kool” 1951 car was built 3 years before VINs were introduced. Without a VIN, you won’t find much information about its history in the database.

Vehicle Identification Number and Vehicle History Reports

You just bought a used car and you’re feeling pretty good. You’ve got the sound system, navigation system and fuel efficiency–but do have have the VIN? Of course you do! Every car (and its owner) has one. It started out as just a tracking system, but the VIN has become a useful tool in buying and selling cars. Remember that the VIN is a valuable asset the next time you want to buy or sell a car. If you have the VIN number, you can look up a vehicle’s history and arm yourself with the tools to make a sound purchase.

The automotive industry used a different method to track their vehicles than the State of California, which issues car licenses. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) each include a unique serial code that is assigned to every vehicle. Introduced in 1954, VINs were typically placed on the driver-side door or at the bottom of the front windshield. Different manufacturers used different formats of VINs until 1981, when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration required VINs to be 17 characters and must exclude the letters I, O and Q. By excluding these letters, any confusion with the numbers one and zero was avoided.

A VIN is not merely a random set of 17 characters. Each digit signifies information about the vehicle. A VIN is a vehicles’ DNA, not found on any other car or truck.  The first character identifies the country where the vehicle was made. Each country has a letter or number associated with it- the US is either 1 or 4. The second character identifies the manufacturer such as Toyota or Volkswagen. Each digit of the VIN provides more and more information on the vehicle.

VINs are also printed on several car parts to cut down on part theft. Car parts that are labeled with VINs include transmissions, front and rear bumpers, engines, hoods, right and left doors, sliding cargo doors, right and left quarter panels and side assemblies, pickup/cargo boxes, rear doors and hatchback/deck lid/tailgates.

VINs can help car buyers avoid fraud — by checking vehicle’s history with a car’s VIN at one of the many websites that offer this service (e.g. CARFAX, instaVIN, AutoCheck,) you can learn these things:

• Vehicle registration
• Title information, including salvaged or junked titles
• Odometer readings
• Lemon history
• Total loss accident history
• Frame/structural damage
• Collision indicators, such as airbag deployments
• Service and repair information
• Vehicle usage (taxi, rental, lease, etc.)
• Recall information

Dealers often buy vehicle history reports to provide to their customers to ensure the potential buyer that all information about the vehicle is being disclosed. Dealers also run vehicle history reports prior to acquiring vehicles at auctions to help ensure they are obtaining the vehicle at a fair market value. Information supplied courtesy of California DMV (DMV.ca.gov).