Market Motors, 23785 US Highway 33, Elkhart Indiana
Call us at: 574-875-9700
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Verify Vin Number
The number of characters you have entered (0) does not match a valid VIN number
OR the Vehicle was manufactured BEFORE 1980 (model year 1981)
How The VIN Verification Works
The above VIN check verifies a VIN number by doing a series of calculations to get what is called a check digit. And then comparing the calculated check digit with the check digit that is given in the VIN number. If the check digit values match then it's deemed a valid VIN number. The check digit is always the 9th digit from the left. *NOTE this check only applies to vehicles that were manufactured after 1980 (Model Year 1981). Before 1980 there were no accepted standards for VINs. So different formats were used by different manufacturers.
For Example 5J6YH28523L006239 the 9th digit (2) is the check digit for this particular VIN.
How is the check digit calculated?
1) First you must give transliterate the VIN number, which means getting rid of all the letters and substituting them with their appropriate number values.
Transliteration Key for VIN decoding
| A: 1 | B: 2 | C: 3 | D: 4 | E: 5 | F: 6 | G: 7 | H: 8 | N/A |
| J: 1 | K: 2 | L: 3 | M: 4 | N: 5 | N/A | P: 7 | N/A | R: 9 |
| S: 2 | T: 3 | U: 4 | V: 5 | W: 6 | X: 7 | Y: 8 | Z: 9 |
Note that Letters I, O, and Q do not exist in VIN numbers since they can be confused with 1 and 0 respectively. Also S is 2 and not 1.
2) Weights are then given to each character in the VIN based on their position. Please notice that the check digit is given a weight of 0 so that it will be canceled out in the multiplication step.
| Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
So for our example VIN 5J6YH28523L006239
| VIN | 5 | J | 6 | Y | H | 2 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 3 | L | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | 5 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| Weight | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Products | 40 | 7 | 36 | 40 | 32 | 6 | 16 | 50 | 0 | 27 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 8 | 9 | 18 |
3) Now generate the products for each character of the VIN (Value x Weight)
4) Next we add all of our products together:
40+7+36+40+32+6+16+50+0+27+24+0+0+30+8+9+18 = 343
5) Next divided the value by 11 and the remainder is your Check Digit:
343/11 = 31 with a REMAINDER of 2 (31x11=341) The remainder is then compared with the VIN's check digit (9th character of VIN), which is 2 in our case, and if it's the same then it's considered a valid VIN.
*if the remainder comes out to be 10 then the check digit is changed to a 0.
This is just one way to check to see if your vehicles VIN has been altered and thus revealing a possible stolen vehicle. There is still a 1 in 11 chance that the check digit will come out correctly. Some other ways in detecting if a car you may be purchasing is stolen:
1. Do an Experian AutoCheck
2. Check StolenCarReports Database
3. Check the NMVTIS (National Motor Vehicle Title Information System) database