Chassis number:
A chassis number is also called a VIN. This abbreviation stands for: Vehicle Identification Number.
Every car has a chassis number. This is stamped in somewhere. In most cars it is on the bulkhead under the bonnet, but sometimes also in the interior under the floor mat. Often there are also stickers, but these are not official. There must always be a chassis number stamped in. The vehicle registration certificate of the car always states the location where the chassis number is stamped.
When a car is imported from another country, it receives different licence plates. The chassis number always remains the same, and is therefore always traceable.
The table below shows the seventeen characters that are legally prescribed and applied worldwide by manufacturers as identification. The composition of the seventeen characters is laid down internationally in ISO 3779. In the first three characters the World Manufacturer Identification (WMI) is indicated, in the next six characters the Vehicle Description Selection (VDS) and in the last eight characters the Vehicle Idicator Selection (VIS).
The first character of the chassis number indicates the code of the country where the car was produced. The table below shows the codes that are used worldwide. The table shows, for example, that the range 2A-20 stands for Canada, but in the chassis number only the 2 is shown. So if the first character contains a V, you do not know whether the car was produced in France or in Spain. For that you can look at the factory code in the eleventh character.
The second character indicates the brand. A number of brands are listed below. Some brands have different characters and by far not all brands are included in the table.
The ninth character is the production year. This has been used since 1980. The year is shown as a letter or a number. The columns below provide an overview of the production years.
The tenth character indicates the factory where the car was produced. Each manufacturer uses their own letter or number for this. Volkswagen uses the “W” here to indicate the factory in Wolfsburg, but another manufacturer may use the letter W for a completely different location.
Chassis number Volkswagen:
This paragraph describes how Volkswagen’s chassis number is structured. This clarifies the information given in the previous chapter with an example.
W | V | W | Z | Z | Z | 3 | D | Z | 9 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
Position 1, 2 & 3: Factory code:
WVW = VW AG/passenger cars
WVG = VW AG/Touran
WV2 = VW AG/Transporter (Type 2) and LT
WAU = Audi
1WV = Volkswagen America, passenger cars
1V1 = Volkswagen America, pick-up models
Position 4, 5 & 6: Filler numbers:
(3x Z, except USA and Canada)
Position 7 & 8: Type designation:
2-digit abbreviated type designation, from the first 2 digits of the official type designation
e.g. 1J = Golf 4, 1K = Golf 5, 3B and 3C old and new type Passat
Position 9: Filler number:
Z, except North America and Canada.
Position 10: Indicates the production year:
A = 1980
B = 1981
C = 1982
5 = 2005
6 = 2006
etc.
Position 11: Place of production:
0 = Anchieta, Brazil
1 = Gyoer “Ungarn” from 1997
2 = SVW / Shanghai “Volksrepublik China” from 1998
3 = FAW-VW / Changchun “Volksrepublik China” from 1998
4 = Curitiba “Brasilien” from 1998
5 = Taubate, Brazil
6 = Düsseldorf “Bundesrepublik Deutschland” Volkswagen: LT
7 = Ludwigsfelde “Bundesrepublik Deutschland” Volkswagen: LT
8 = Dresden “Bundesrepublik Deutschland” from 2000
9 = Hino/Toyota “Japan” 1989 to 1997
9 = Sarajevo “Bosnien und Herzegovina” from 2002
A = Pacheco, Argentina
A = Ingolstadt
B = Brussels
C = SB Cambo Werk 4, Brazil
C = Taipei, Taiwan
D = Ipiranga, Brazil
D = Bratislava, from 1995
E = Emden
F = Resende “Brasilien”
G = Steyr-Daimler Puch “Österreich” until 1995
H = Hanover
J = Jakarta “Indonesien” from 1998
K = Osnabrück
L = Leipzig “Bundesrepublik Deutschland” from 2001
M = Puebla, Mexico
N = Neckarsulm
N = Mlada / Boleslav “Tschechien” (Skoda: 1U,6Y)
P = Mosel, Saxony
P = Anchieta “Brasilien”
R = Martorell “Spanien” from 1996 (Seat)
R = Resende “Brasilien”
S = Salzgitter “Bundesrepublik Deutschland” 1970 to 1975
T = Sarajewo “Jugoslawien” until 1994
T = Taubate “Brasilien”
U = Uitenhage, South Africa (until the mid-80s Westmoreland, USA)
V = Palmela “Portugal” from 1994 (Auto Europa)
V = Westmoreland “USA” 1979 to 1989
W = Wolfsburg
X = Poznan “Polen” from 1995
Y = Navara / Pamplona “Spanien” from 1986 (Seat)
Z = Zuffenhausen “Bundesrepublik Deutschland” 1995
Z = SKD für Ukraine “Ukraine” from 2005
Position 12 – 17: Serial numbers
Starting with 000 001 for each new model year.
The fictitious chassis number in the example above is therefore for a VW Phaeton, produced in Dresden (Germany) in the year 2009.
Fraud:
It sometimes happens that the chassis number of a stolen car is changed, for example by using the number from another (identical) damaged car that is a total loss and can no longer be repaired. The chassis number of the stolen car then no longer exists, and the damaged car is supposedly ‘repaired’ and then sold. This is called “ringing”.
Fortunately, it regularly happens that the thieves are caught and the stolen cars (with the new chassis numbers) are seized. If, as the owner, the insurance company has not yet paid out, the original chassis number is stamped somewhere on the car again. No longer in the same place as where the number of, for example, the previously mentioned damaged car is located. That number is altered with X. Only X’s can be seen, so the number can no longer be recognised. The original chassis number is stamped in a different place on the chassis. A new vehicle registration certificate is then created on which the location of the new chassis number can be traced.