Recently, in order to protect cars, they began to, roughly speaking, “hide” the body number. It is knocked out in such a place and in such a way that it will not be possible to interrupt it in the future. Meanwhile, the VIN code is an important identification number by which you can find out everything about a particular vehicle. For various reasons, car owners are interested in the question of where the body number is located. Each car manufacturing company stamps this data in different places on the car. It should be said right away that VIN and body number are most often different things. Let's talk in more detail about each of them.
What is a VIN code?
The VIN number usually includes 17 characters. The code also reveals information about the manufacturing plant. In most cases, the body number is already included, but not always. Seventeen characters are letters and numbers, from which the car owner can easily find out about the country of origin and date of manufacture. The code also contains data about the engine, including its size, and transmission type.
Decoding the body number
Domestic manufacturers and some representatives of the Asian automobile industry prefer to encrypt information about the car the old fashioned way with a digital code, which contains from 9 to 12 digits.
Part of this sign - the first 4 to 6 characters - contains information about the make and type of car body. The remaining numbers indicate the factory serial number of the vehicle itself.
Are VIN and chassis number the same thing?
These alphanumeric combinations may not always coincide. And before you find out where the body number and VIN code are located, you should understand the differences between them in order to avoid misunderstandings with traffic police officers.
In recent years, everything has changed and improved, which helps to simplify the life of modern people to some extent. So in the automotive industry, the VIN code is gradually replacing the body number. To date, 24 producing countries have abandoned the latter in favor of the former. It is important to know that if a car has 17 characters, this already includes the body number.
Meanwhile, these numbers and letters may differ, which leads to no less surprise to the car owner than their complete coincidence. Most often you can see this phenomenon on foreign cars. Confusion arises due to the fact that the body number may be foreign, and the VIN code may be Russian. In any case, you shouldn’t worry and panic ahead of time. If this information coincides with the data specified in the PTS, there is no crime. As a last resort, you can contact the dealer’s hotline or the manufacturer directly to find out about the possibility of a match or mismatch of these data on a specific make and model of car.
Asian encoding
Not the entire automotive industry in Eastern countries recognizes ISO standards, but the 17-character designation is used. Although there are identification numbers with a combination of 12 characters.
Asian manufacturers use the lower part of the B-pillar for the main plate and the outer part of the bottom under the front seats for the additional one. Very rarely, the VIN code is stamped in the engine compartment.
The body or VIN number is indicated in the technical passport of the vehicle. When buying a car on the secondary market, you can independently check it for theft using any available database on the Internet.
It is definitely worth checking whether the 17 symbols indicated in the PTS match those printed on the main plate. Even if you have to climb into the hatch under the right rear seat, where the body number of a Mercedes is often located.
After all, it is better to immediately clarify all identification codes and check the future purchase than to later have troubles with state inspectors, proving your non-involvement in the theft.
Where can I find the VIN number?
Since recently this data is increasingly identical, the location of the VIN code may also coincide with the possible locations of the body number. Depending on the make, model, year of manufacture and some other parameters of the car, the data location area will differ. So, the places where the VIN and body number are located:
- on the plate under the hood;
- at the junction of the hood and windshield;
- in the lower part of the windshield, in the window with a barcode;
- on the floor covering near the driver's seat;
- on the driver's or front passenger door pillar;
- on the driver's side dashboard;
- on the spar, cylinder head, cylinder block;
- on the partition between the engine and the passenger compartment.
Focus 3 engine number location
As for the engine number, on all 1.6-liter units (85, 105 and 125 hp) it is located in the front of the engine, to the left towards the car on a vertical milled platform:
View from above
Detail
Until now, Ford employees assign a number to the engine consisting of the last characters of the VIN code. If the data of the vehicle being tested does not match, it means that the original power plant has already outlived its usefulness.
The 2.0-litre power unit is marked on the back on a slanted tab next to the gearbox, and is quite difficult to see, at least without getting it dirty:
If Ford Focus 3 gasoline units allow you to check the engine number without any problems, then you will have to tinker with the 2-liter Duratorq diesel engine. First of all, it was not resistant to corrosion, so it definitely requires cleaning. Secondly, it is located where you simply cannot reach it with a rag, or rather in the front lower part of the engine in the area of the second cylinder. It is impossible to see the symbols from above; you need to arm yourself with a mirror or a phone with a camera. Or take off your protection and look down.
Finally, I would like to point out that a stolen Ford Focus 3 is not so small as to neglect a full check of the VIN and engine number. Thieves are very happy to take a car in search of spare parts, which, due to the high cost of the original, are in constant demand. There are many cars on the used car market with the engine from a stolen car. It goes without saying that it will not be possible to legally register such a car.
VIN code designation
In 1977, the international standardization organization ISO passed a law on the format of the vehicle VIN number, thanks to which each code is unique and can never be the same as any other around the world. This is a simple but effective way to protect your car from theft. Alphanumeric combinations are reliably protected by a control calculation algorithm. By finding out where the body number is located on a particular car, as well as calculating the values, anyone can protect themselves from purchasing a stolen vehicle. Strict adherence to ISO is especially characteristic of cars from the USA. But Asian, Russian and European manufacturing plants, unfortunately, do not always follow this system.
To compile a VIN number, it is allowed to use all numbers from 0 to 9, as well as capital letters of the English alphabet, with the exception of I, O and Q, which are similar to each other, with 0 and 1. The code is conventionally divided into 3 parts:
- WMI (3 characters) – world manufacturer index. Each country has its own set of letters and numbers. The first reflects the geographical area: 1-5 – North America; SZ – Europe; AH – Africa; JR – Asia; 6-7 – Oceania; 0, 8, 9 – South America. The second is the country: from 10 to 19 and from 1A to 1Z - USA; 2A-2W – Canada; 3A-3W – Mexico; from W0 to W9 and from WA to WZ – Germany. And the third is set individually for the manufacturer.
- VDS (6 characters) – vehicle description. In this part, data about a specific machine is presented, which corresponds to the design documentation of the manufacturer. Therefore, knowing where the body number is located on the car, it is possible to obtain the necessary information about your car. So, from 4 to 8 inclusive - symbols telling about the type of body and engine, model, series, etc. For example, for Toyota, the 4th and 5th symbols will be 31 if it is a pickup truck with a single cab; 52 – three-door hatchback; 53 – sedan; 63 – coupe, 72 – station wagon. The ninth character is a number by which you can determine the correctness of the VIN.
- VIS (8 characters) – information about the model range and assembly plant. The last 4 characters in the VIN code must be numbers. The first part of VIS is the model range, and the second is the assembly plant.
How to check a car by chassis
Previously, it was impossible to check a car from Japan online. Since 2022, the functionality of the Autocode service has solved this problem. The test can be completed within 2 minutes. For this:
- above the search bar, select the “Body (for Japanese)” button;
- Enter the available values into the search bar and get brief information about the car;
- pay for the full report (399 rubles) and get complete information about the car.
The resulting report will contain all the necessary information. You will receive a link to the report by email.
VIN code on domestic cars
Where is the body number on the VAZ (Lada)? In most cases, you can find the code in the engine compartment. If it is not there, you should look on the bottom shelf of the air supply box. Also, the VIN number can be stamped on the upper part of the right mudguard pillar, on the upper amplifier of the shield on the right and on the radiator trim panel. The location equally depends on the VAZ model.
The same situation applies to UAZ cars. Depending on the year of manufacture, in addition to standard seats, the number may also be stamped on the hinges of the driver's or rear left passenger door. If you need to find out where the body number is located on the UAZ “Patriot”, then you should look for it in the engine compartment or in the opening of the right front door on the B-pillar.
In general, with old cars it is somewhat more difficult. It happens that the VIN code is simply nowhere to be found. In this case, it is recommended to search on specialized resources for the possible location of the number depending on the specific model and its year of manufacture.
On GAZelle cars, the location of the VIN code is identical to the previous options. In order not to look for it for a long time, it is recommended to first inspect the space under the hood, on the engine, and also on the frame of the open driver's door. These are the main areas where the GAZelle body number is located.
Cars from the American market
On cars driven in the States, the body number is stamped at the junction of the windshield with the hood and on the instrument panel on the driver's side. A duplicate nameplate is attached to the doorway near the driver.
You can also find the VIN in other places. True, there is not such a quantity as among the Germans. Most often this is the engine compartment and the front part of the cabin.
VIN number for a foreign-made car
In order to better protect a vehicle from theft, manufacturing plants of both domestic and foreign cars duplicate numbers in several places on the vehicle. For example, on American cars you can most often see the VIN on the windshield, where it touches the hood. The Americans also duplicate it on the nameplate in the driver's door opening or in other areas of the body.
On German cars, as in the case of Russian cars, the location depends on the year of manufacture. Especially when it comes to BMW. If we take the “troika” in the back of the E36 as an example, then there are as many as 13 possible places for applying the VIN code, starting from the bumper beam under the decorative panel and ending with the frame of the front seats. But on the X5 it is located in a small box under the hood on the right side. In the same places you can find the VIN on a Volkswagen, and on a Mercedes-Benz the number is usually hidden in the window on the windshield.
On Asian cars, the number is most often located on a plate located on the lower part of the B-pillar of the driver's doorway. Traditional application areas also include the cylinder head and engine compartment. The same answer can be given to car owners who are interested in where the body number is located on Renault and other European-made brands. Especially if the car is new. In this case, if it is not in the window on the windshield, the easiest way is to look in the doorway or under the hood.
How to fake a number and what the consequences are
Numbers can be faked in two ways:
- the numbers in the code change to similar ones (example: from 3 they make 8);
- The plate with the number is removed from the body, and a new one is installed in its place.
When examining a car, traffic police officers check the welds to determine whether the code has been changed. To identify a fake, an examination is carried out, which includes three stages. The first one checks how professionally the seam on the body looks; only experienced swindlers can weld a new plate without visible marks. At the second stage, compliance with technical specifications is checked. In the third step, a special compound is applied to the welding areas, revealing seams that were not made at the manufacturer’s plant.
There is a penalty for falsifying a number. A person can be fined 80 thousand rubles, imprisoned for six months, or forced to perform community service.
