Enter the 17-character VIN of your Caterham 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.
Enter a 17-character VIN and the decoder reads what is built into the number itself: the manufacturer, the model year and the country of manufacture. Our Caterham data covers 3 models, among them the 21, the CSR and the Seven, with model years from 1992 to 2014. The body styles on file are Roadster and Convertible, and the highest power figure in our data is 260 hp.
The VIN does not record accidents, mileage, theft or previous owners, so the decoder cannot show any of that. That information comes from a paid vehicle history report. The decoder itself is free and needs no registration.
A VIN has 17 characters, and the letters I, O and Q are never used, so they cannot be mistaken for 1 and 0. The first three characters are the WMI, which identifies the manufacturer and the country. At the moment we have no WMI codes mapped to Caterham, so we cannot list any here. Our list is not complete, and a VIN that begins differently from anything we show is not a cause for concern.
Characters 4 to 8 form the descriptor section, where the maker encodes details of the vehicle. Character 9 is the check digit. North America requires it, while many European VINs fill that position differently, so a European number that does not pass a check-digit test is not a problem in itself.
The model year is in character 10. Within the Caterham range in our data, an N in that position stands for 1992 and an E stands for 2014. Character 11 marks the plant, and characters 12 to 17 are the serial number of the individual car.
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.
Look at the vehicle registration document or title and at the insurance papers, then find the same number on the car itself. The two should match character for character before you rely on the decode.
The first three characters are the WMI, which identifies the manufacturer and the country. We have no WMI codes mapped to Caterham in our data, so the decoder may not name the brand from those characters alone. That says nothing about whether your VIN is genuine.
Read character 10. For the years in our Caterham data, N means 1992, P means 1993 and so on up to E for 2014. The decoder translates the letter for you.
It shows only what the 17 characters contain: manufacturer, model year and country of manufacture. Accidents, mileage, theft and owners are not stored in a VIN.
Compare the VIN on the car with the one on the paperwork, and make sure the model year the decoder gives fits what the seller says. Ask for service records and look the car over in person, ideally with someone who knows the model.