Conducting a VIN check is beneficial for a number of reasons. When you are buying a used vehicle, you want to be sure that you are getting what you are paying for. This is when VIN helps you by providing you with exact details regarding the features and specs of the car. It offers the proof about when and where the car was manufactured. It also ensures that the car is safe to buy, and not linked to any malicious activities.
Checking a VIN number is easy. All you need to do is follow these steps:
- Locate the VIN number of the car. It could be located beside the engine.
- Use a VIN number lookup service, like VinPit, and enter the extracted VIN number.
- Hit enter, and wait for the details to be served to you.
What Can I Do With a VIN Number Lookup?
Once you have found the VIN of the vehicle, the next thing to do is look it up online through a VIN lookup.
VIN lookup is crucial when buying a used car. With the VIN lookup, one can look up the authenticity of the vehicle. A VIN is a 17 character code assigned uniquely to every vehicle. Through this number, you can decode a lot about a vehicle like its manufacturer, model, make, year of manufacturing, country of manufacturing, engine and body type, type of vehicle like car, truck or bus, serial number of vehicle, and more.
Matching up the VIN of a vehicle with its engine can also help find the originality of the vehicle, as a car’s engine also has a VIN imprinted on it. Also, the car dealer may lie about the vehicle’s year of manufacturing, but VIN can help you know the right answer.
It can also be used to track down your car if stolen. A VIN also has a security code represented by the ninth character of the VIN. This security code is calculated by taking into consideration the other characters of the VIN. It thus helps in knowing if the VIN you have belongs to the vehicle in question or not.
What to Look Before A Car Purchase
Buying a car is a big ordeal. To make sure you don’t get your money in the wrong hands, here are some of the critical considerations to make before a final car purchase.
An Eye On The Budget
Set the budget before purchasing a car and stick to it. Don’t get carried away by the promotional tactics of the dealer and end up purchasing out of your budget.
Maintenance Cost
Maintaining a car after making a purchase is not easy. Make sure you take into consideration the after-purchase cost of it too. These extra costs would include the gas charges, servicing charges, and costs that you might spend on your car’s upkeep from time to time.
Purpose Of The Car
Keep the purpose of the car in mind while purchasing. Communicate to the dealer why you are buying the car, be it for daily commuting, overhauling, and gifting purposes. The dealer will be able to guide you better then.
Safety Features
Every car goes through various safety and crash tests before entering the market. To top it, nowadays cars are made with advanced safety features. Ensure the one you are purchasing at least has the most important ones like airbags, anti-lock brakes, traction control, stability control system, and so on.
Features Of The Car
Do a bit of research on your choices and their features before approaching the seller. This will give you an upper hand in negotiating for the price. Also, some additional features cost extra. Decide if they are worth the extra dime and proceed further accordingly.
World Manufacturer Identifier (WMI)
The first three characters of the VIN are collectively termed as World Manufacturer Identifier as it provides information on the vehicle’s manufacturer.
WMI | Region | Notes |
---|
A-H | Africa | AA-AH = South Africa |
J-R | Asia | >J = Japan KL-KR = South Korea L = China MA-ME = India MF-MK = Indonesia ML-MR = Thailand MS = Myanmar PA-PE = Philippines PL-PR = Malaysia RF-RG = Taiwan |
S-Z | Europe | SA-SM = United Kingdom SN-ST, W = Germany SU-SZ = Poland TA-TH = Switzerland TJ-TP = Czech Republic TR-TV = Hungary TW = Portugal VA-VE = Austria VF-VR = France VS-VW = Spain VX-V2 = Yugoslavia XL-XM = The Netherlands XS-XW = USSR X3-X0 = Russia YA-YE = Belgium YF-YK = Finland YS-YW = Sweden ZA-ZR = Italy |
1-5 | North America | 1, 4, 5 = United States 2 = Canada 3 = Mexico |
6-7 | Oceania | 6A-6W = Australia 7A-7E = New Zealand |
8-0 | South America | 8A-8E = Argentina 8F-8J = Chile 8X-82 = Venezuela 9A-9E, 93-99 = Brazil 9F-9J = Colombia |
VIN Check by Make
We also provide VIN check by make, i.e., just click on the given make of your vehicle and extract information faster.
VIN Check by State
To help you refine your search, we also provide a VIN check by state. This would allow you to extract information on your VIN faster. Just click on the state you have the VIN from and extract information quickly.