Enter the 17-character VIN of your Austin to see the factory basics. Free, with no registration.
Look on the dashboard, the driver's door frame or in the registration document.
Type all 17 characters. The letters I, O and Q are never used in a VIN.
See the factory basics for free, and order a full report for the history behind the VIN.
This free decoder reads the 17-character VIN of an Austin and shows the manufacturer, the model year and the country of manufacture. Our data for the brand covers 8 models, among them Allegro, Ambassador, Maestro, Maxi, Metro, Mini, Montego and Princess, with version data from 1967 to 1993. The body styles we hold are Hatchback, Wagon and Sedan, and the highest power figure in our data is 150 hp.
A VIN does not record accidents, mileage, theft or previous owners. That information comes from a paid vehicle history report. The decoder itself needs no registration and costs nothing.
The 17-character VIN is split into fixed blocks. Characters 1 to 3 are the WMI, which identifies the manufacturer. Characters 4 to 8 describe the vehicle, character 9 is the check digit, character 10 gives the model year, character 11 the plant, and characters 12 to 17 are the serial number. The letters I, O and Q are never used, so if you read one of them on a plate, look again at the stamping.
At the moment we have no WMI codes mapped to Austin, so we cannot list a prefix or a country for the brand here. That does not say anything about your car. Our list is not complete, and the decoder can still read a VIN whose first three characters are not on it.
The model year is the part you can check by hand. Our version data runs from 1967 to 1993, but the 17-character format applies to cars built since 1981. In that format a D in position 10 means 1983, an L means 1990 and a P means 1993. Cars from before 1981 often carry a shorter or differently built number, which a 17-character decoder cannot read.
Every VIN has six parts. This is what each of them means.
| Part | Characters | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| WMI | 1 to 3 | World manufacturer identifier: who built the vehicle and where |
| VDS | 4 to 8 | Vehicle descriptor: model, body type and engine, as set by the manufacturer |
| Check digit | 9 | Control value that helps confirm the VIN is valid |
| Model year | 10 | Code for the model year |
| Plant | 11 | Code for the assembly plant |
| Serial | 12 to 17 | Production sequence number of this vehicle |
On the driver's side, visible through the windshield.
On a sticker on the door frame or the edge of the door.
Printed in the vehicle registration or title.
Stamped on the firewall or the frame on many models.
A VIN is built from six parts, and each one says something about the vehicle. Our guides explain how to read it and what it can and cannot tell you.
Enter the 17-character VIN and see the factory basics in seconds.
Start with the registration document, then look at the car itself, commonly at the base of the windscreen or on a door pillar. Compare the two and make sure the characters match.
The first three characters are the WMI, the manufacturer code. We have no WMI codes mapped to Austin yet, so the decoder cannot show a country from them. A VIN with any prefix can still be entered.
Look at character 10 of a 17-character VIN. For cars built from 1981 on, B stands for 1981 and P for 1993, which is the end of our version data. Cars from before 1981 may not have a 17-character VIN at all.
It cannot show accidents, mileage, theft or owners, because none of that is stored in the VIN. It also does not confirm the condition of the car or the work done on it.
Make sure the VIN on the car matches the one in the papers and that every character is legible. Then compare the model year from the decoder with the year in the advert. Inspect the body and mechanics in person, since the VIN says nothing about them.