Enter the 17-character VIN of your Chevrolet 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.
Type the 17-character VIN of a Chevrolet into the decoder and it tells you the manufacturer, the model year and the country where the car was built. It is free and needs no registration. Our Chevrolet data covers 80 models, from Agile, Aveo and Bel Air through Camaro, Corvette and Silverado-era trucks such as the C-10 to Equinox EV, Bolt EUV and Blazer EV, with model years running from 1953 to the present.
The decoder reads the VIN and nothing else, so it does not know about accidents, mileage, theft or previous owners. That information comes from a paid vehicle history report, which you can look at once you know what the VIN says about the car.
Pick a Chevrolet model to see how its VIN works.
The first three characters are the World Manufacturer Identifier, or WMI. For Chevrolet we recognise these codes: 124, 309, 1G1, 1GA, 1GB, 1GC, 1GN, 1Y1, 2G1, 2GC, 2GN and 3G1. The first character points to a region, so a VIN beginning with 1 comes from the United States, 2 from Canada and 3 from Mexico. Together the codes on our list also cover Australia, Chile, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Lithuania. The list is the set we know for the brand and is not necessarily complete.
Characters 4 to 8 describe the vehicle, and character 9 is the check digit. North American VINs must carry a real check digit, while many European ones fill that position differently. Character 10 is the model year, character 11 the assembly plant, and characters 12 to 17 are the serial number. Letters I, O and Q are never used, so they cannot appear anywhere in a valid VIN.
The model year character is the easiest part to check yourself. An M in position 10 means 2021, and a 5 means 2005. Because the 17-character format applies to cars built since 1981, the decoder is meant for vehicles from that year onward, even though our Chevrolet model data reaches back to 1953.
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.
It is usually printed on the registration papers and on a plate or label on the car itself, and the common places to look are the base of the windshield on the driver side and the door frame. Compare the number on the car with the one in the documents before you decode it.
The first three characters are the WMI, which identifies the manufacturer and the region of production. We map 124, 309, 1G1, 1GA, 1GB, 1GC, 1GN, 1Y1, 2G1, 2GC, 2GN and 3G1 to Chevrolet. A VIN that starts differently is not a problem in itself, since our list does not claim to be complete.
Look at the 10th character. A letter or digit stands for a year, for example M for 2021 or 5 for 2005. The decoder reads this character for you and shows the year.
It does not show accidents, mileage, theft records or the number of owners, because none of that is stored in the VIN. It also does not tell you the condition of the car or whether the number matches the car in front of you.
Make sure the VIN on the car, in the registration papers and in the advert is the same, and that the model year the decoder gives fits the car as described. Then check the body style and model against what you were told, for example a Sedan, Coupe, Pickup or SUV, and have the car inspected in person.