VIN Guide

The VIN, or Vehicle Identification Number, tells you a lot about a vehicle. It tells you where the vehicle was manufactured, identifies certain attributes of the vehicle, and most importantly, the model year. It’s always a good idea to double check the stated model year of a truck against the VIN. Tool trucks, particularly step vans, are not manufactured on the same schedule as the modern American light car or truck. Building a step van is a two part process. A frame is sent to a body company, and then a body is built. Quite a bit of time could pass between the two processes. What if someone ordered a new truck, and the body company shipped a truck one week after the body was built, but on a chassis that had been on their holding lot for a while? The model year of the truck on the title is the year the chassis was built, not the body. It would be easy, for example, to assume you just bought a 2007 when the title reads 2006, because the truck had just arrived at the truck builder. Mistakes happen. So to know what you're buying, new or used, always check the VIN.

American auto manufacturers have provided VINs since 1954 in a number of configurations, which differed by car company and could be fairly confusing. In 1981,VINs were standardized at 17 digits, in what is known as a fixed VN format.

Here is an example of an older step van VIN:

1GBKP32Y4J3304788

A typical Isuzu NPR VIN might look like this:

JALC4B1K7T3304141

A newer Freightliner step van has a VIN like this:

4UZAAR5V18CW09933

Decoding the VIN in Two Easy Steps

Lots of numbers, right? There’s lot of information in the VIN, but much of it is manufacturer-specific and too obscure for our purposes. We’ll cover the 2 most significant digits. Counting from the left of a 17-digit VIN, check the…

First Digit: Identifies country of manufacture

1 = USA (the numbers 4 & 5 also denote the US).
2 = Canada
3 = Mexico
J = Japan
K = Korea

And definitely check the most important of all, the…

Tenth Digit: Identifies the model year. Once you get the hang of it, it’s easy to spot the 10th digit and confirm the model year quickly.

             1989=K       1998=W
B=1981       1990=L       1999=X
C=1982       1991=M       2000=Y
D=1983       1992=N       2001=1
E=1984       1993=P       2002=2
F=1985       1994=R       2003=3
G=1986       1995=S       2004=4
H=1987       1996=T       2005=5
J=1988       1997=V       2006=6

In our three examples above, check the first digit. The step van has a “1” there, so it was manufactured in the USA. The Isuzu has a “J” – made in Japan. But you knew that already! The Freightliner has a 4, also built in the US. Continuing our 10th digit example, a 2007 model has a "7" as the 10th digit, and a 2008 has a...go ahead,you know it, you can say it: "8".

The 10th digit from the left in the step van VIN is a “J”. See the table above – that makes our step van a 1988. The 10th digit in the Isuzu VIN is a “T”. A 1996. The 10th digit in the Freightliner step van is an "8". A 2008. Getting easier?

Most of the other digits cover things like engine and assembly plant. The last 6 digits are the production sequence order. If you had ...000001, it would be the first one off the line, and if it were a Corvette, very valuable.

You could make a good business out of decoding VINs for muscle cars, by the way. Only the VIN will tell you if the 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner you found in Hemmings really had a 440 V8 when it is was built, and not the standard 383. Or if it is a real Roadrunner at all and not a Satellite.

This decoding system applies to all vehicles manufactured since the 1981 model year. Looking at a 1980 or older? The VINs from 1980 and older are 13 digits. There's a way to decode them, but we aren't going into it here. Sorry, you’re on your own!

* We made up the VINs used in the example above. Any resemblance to an actual VIN, living or dead, is purely a coincidence.