VIN Basics Blog

Never before have there been more ways for auto dealers to market inventory to customers - who are able to take advantage of unprecedented availability of vehicle data and methods of comparison shopping.

In our VIN Decoding 101 series of articles we have focused on which vehicles are required to have 17-digit VIN numbers assigned and what data is and is not captured within the VIN.  We have seen that country of sale, vehicle segment and type, model year and manufacturer all play a big role in the usefulness of VIN decoding and the type and depth of vehicle details the VIN will encode.  For many applications a basic VIN decode, one that decodes only what is encoded in the VIN, will provide all the details that your business needs.  However, there are also many common VIN decoder applications where there is need and substantial benifits for more detail, as much as possible.  How can this need be met?

I was reading an interesting article on-line today about Apple's sales in 2011.  It noted that Mac sales are rising fast and that 2011 was the best year ever for Mac sales.  "Somewhat interesting, I guess", you say.  But hear is the interesting part: In 2011 alone Apple sold more iOS devices then it has sold Macs over their 28 year existence. Granted Macs have not been the most popular computer over the years but the fact that iOS devices outsold 28 years of the Mac in a single year is pretty remarkable.  It is just further evidence that mobile is not the next big thing, it has become the current big thing and only is continuing to grow.