VIN Basics Blog

This post has been republished with updates since its original publication date of December 2011.

It is not uncommon for some of the people who express interest in our VIN data to have little experience with automotive data in the past. They may be new to the company/position, or they may be looking to apply an existing business model in a new way that requires a VIN decoder or vehicle data. Many times, these people are not quite sure what to expect to get in return for decoding 17-digit VINs. Below is a list of 10 things that you can expect to be returned when decoding US passenger and light-duty vehicle identification numbers.

This post has been republished with updates since its original publish date of November 2011.

As you might expect, we get a lot of questions about VINs. There is a lot of confusion about what a VIN is, how it is used, what information is captured within it, and what is not. In this series, we hope to provide a good resource that you can use to educate yourself on Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) and VIN Decoding. The articles will progressively build from very basic and general information about VINs to more detailed and specific aspects of using them and vehicle data in business and technical settings. We hope you find them useful.

This blog has been updated since its original publication date of December 2011.

VIN Decoding 101 Part 4: 25 common VIN terms defined

Like almost every area of expertise, VIN Decoding has unique terminology associated with it.  If you haven't worked with a VIN decoder or VIN data in the past, many of these terms may not be intuitive.  Below are the definitions of 25 common terms that you will likely come across as you work with automotive and VIN data.

This post has been republished with updates since its original publication date in June 2012

While the light-duty and passenger segments encompass a large portion of the vehicles that one might be looking to VIN decode, it certainly doesn't cover them all. These additional segments, such as mid-duty, heavy-duty, and motorcycles, each represent huge markets with large direct and allied business opportunities. As a result, there is a fair amount of interest in services to VIN decode these vehicles.

VIN Decoding 101: Part 2 - What's in the VIN?

This post has been republished with updates since its original publish date in November 2011

As we discussed in the preceding article, What is a VIN, there are two ISO documents that established the 17 digit VIN standard and the WMI section of the VIN. However, these documents were only recommendations. The VIN standard created by the NHTSA and enforced starting with the model year (MY) 1981, was required of all vehicles manufactured for use in the US and was much more stringent in its requirements.

Incorporating VIN decoding enhances online shopping and sales.

For online businesses that handle vehicle sales, car parts, automobile accessories, or just about anything car-related, you know there is plenty of competition out there. Competing successfully online requires more than just good pricing. You need to differentiate your offering and online experience to make it stand out. By integrating advanced vehicle data and VIN decoding into your customer's online experience, you can create an advantage over your competition's online offerings. The VIN can be used to pull information on the vehicle and provide back to the customer a custom set of offers focused on the vehicle your customer owns.

VIN Decoding Large Commercial Vehicles

The medium-duty and heavy-duty truck segments offer unique challenges to VIN decode properly.   Almost all commercial trucks offer many options to significantly customize and up-fit the vehicle. These options and up-fits include everything from engines and transmissions to axles, cab types and body types, all of which can substantially change the details and specifications of the vehicle.  (For more information on the challenges of decoding large trucks see our article “VIN Decoding Outside the Light-Duty Segment”.)  The customized nature and complexity of these vehicle segments has contributed to their being few commercial VIN Decoding solutions available for large trucks.

Like an individual fingerprint unique to each person, the Vehicle Identification Number is unique to each individual vehicle. And just like the federal government maintains a database of fingerprints in order to access information on individuals registered in the system quickly and accurately, a VIN database can also access a wealth of information on each vehicle in the system in a quick, organized, and easy manner.