Where is the VIN number on a car, and how do you check it?

A Vehicle Identification Number is a 17-character code assigned by the manufacturer. It uses digits and capital letters but never I, O or Q, which are left out to avoid confusion with 1 and 0. Vehicles built for the Australian market from 1 January 1989 must carry one.

The first three characters identify the manufacturer and country of build. Characters four to nine describe the model, body and engine, with a check digit in some systems. The tenth character usually encodes the model year, and the last six are the serial number.

Unlike a number plate, the VIN stays with the car for life. That is why the PPSR, the Written-Off Vehicle Register and every history service search by VIN rather than by rego.

Manufacturers put the VIN in several places so that one damaged or removed plate does not erase the identity. Cars first supplied in Australia from mid-2021 may not have a traditional compliance plate. Their identity is recorded on the Register of Approved Vehicles instead, but the VIN is still stamped on the body and shown on the windscreen.

• Base of the windscreen on the driver's side, visible from outside through the glass on most cars built since the 1990s
• The compliance plate or build plate, usually in the engine bay on the firewall or strut tower, or on the driver's door pillar
• Stamped directly into the body: on the firewall, the chassis rail, under the bonnet or on the floor under a seat or the carpet in the boot
• The driver's door jamb sticker, which on many cars carries the VIN with tyre pressures and paint codes
• Some manufacturers also etch the VIN into windows and headlights as an anti-theft measure

The registration certificate or renewal notice prints the VIN in full in every state. So does the insurance policy schedule, the service book on most makes, and the original purchase contract. A seller who cannot produce any of these should be asked why.

If you only have a number plate from an online ad, the free Victorian rego check prints the full VIN for Victorian cars and Queensland's usually does. New South Wales and South Australia show only the last four characters, Western Australia masks part of it, and Tasmania, the ACT and the NT show none.

1. Read the VIN from the windscreen and the compliance plate, and photograph both.
2. Compare them to each other and to the VIN on the registration papers. All three must match character for character.
3. Look at the compliance plate itself. Factory rivets are uniform, the plate sits flat and the paint around it is undisturbed.
4. Check the stamping on the body for ground, re-struck or uneven characters.
5. Decode the VIN with a free decoder to confirm the manufacturer, model and year match the car. A VIN that decodes to a different model is a warning sign.
6. Run a PPSR search on the VIN at ppsr.gov.au for $2 and compare the NEVDIS make, model and colour against the car.

Motorbikes carry the VIN stamped on the steering head or the frame near the headstock, with a plate on the frame downtube. Caravans and trailers built since 1989 have a VIN on a plate near the drawbar or on the chassis rail. Older trailers may only have a chassis number, which the PPSR accepts as a search key.

Boats use a hull identification number (HIN) rather than a VIN, usually on the transom. The PPSR searches boats by HIN.

Once you have the 17 characters, two kinds of online check are worth running. A VIN decoder reads the manufacturer, plant, model and model year from the code itself at no cost. It confirms the VIN is structurally valid and matches the badge on the car, but it holds no history.

The PPSR search at ppsr.gov.au is the check with consequences. For $2 it returns finance owing, stolen status and written-off status for that VIN, with the make, model and colour on file. For cars first supplied from about 2021, the Register of Approved Vehicles adds the build date and approval pathway free.

Type the VIN carefully. A single wrong character returns a result for a different vehicle or no vehicle at all, and the certificate will not warn you.

The VIN unlocks the checks that matter. A $2 search at ppsr.gov.au returns finance, stolen and written-off status. The Register of Approved Vehicles confirms identity for 2021-plus cars. The recall site vehiclerecalls.gov.au lists open recalls by make and model.

Our VIN check runs the PPSR search for $12.95 and returns the certificate with the vehicle details decoded.

Run a VIN check