Enter the 17-character VIN of your DAF 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 DAF decoder reads the manufacturer, the model year and the country of manufacture from it. Our DAF data covers the models 46 and 66, with model years from 1972 to 1975 and the body styles Sedan, Wagon and Coupe. The highest power figure in our data is 57 hp.
The decoder reads only the VIN and does not look anything up about the individual car. Accidents, mileage, theft records and previous owners are not stored in a VIN, and that information comes from a paid vehicle history report.
The first three characters of a VIN are the World Manufacturer Identifier, or WMI. The code we map to DAF is XLR, and it belongs to the Netherlands. If your VIN starts with XLR, the decoder will name DAF as the manufacturer and the Netherlands as the country of manufacture. Our list of codes is not complete, so a VIN that begins differently is not a problem. XLR is simply the code we recognise for the brand.
Characters 4 to 8 are the descriptor section, where the maker describes the vehicle type. Character 9 is the check digit. It is required in North America, while many European VINs fill that position differently, so a DAF VIN should not be judged by it. Character 10 stands for the model year, character 11 for the assembly plant, and characters 12 to 17 are the serial number. The model year sequence for 17-character VINs starts with B for 1981.
There is one thing to keep in mind with DAF. Our version data runs from 1972 to 1975, but the 17-character VIN applies to cars built since 1981. A car from the early 1970s may therefore carry a different kind of number on its plate. The decoder can only work with a full 17-character VIN. Letters I, O and Q are never used in one, so if you see something that looks like one of them, it is probably a 1, a 0 or a different letter.
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 papers first, then compare them with the number on the car itself. Common places are the base of the windscreen and a plate or stamping in the engine bay or on the body. The exact spot varies, so check the owner documents for guidance.
XLR is the manufacturer code we map to DAF, and it belongs to the Netherlands. It tells you who made the vehicle and in which country. It does not tell you the model, the body style or the engine.
On a 17-character VIN, the model year is the 10th character, either a letter or a digit. Our DAF version data covers 1972 to 1975, which is earlier than the 1981 start of the 17-character system. The decoder will show the year only when the VIN is a full 17 characters.
It cannot show accidents, mileage, theft status or the number of owners, because none of that is stored in the VIN. It also cannot say whether a car is a 46 or a 66, or which body style or power output it has, unless the VIN itself points to that data.
Make sure the VIN in the papers matches the number on the car, and that it is written the same way everywhere. Then see whether the decoded manufacturer and country fit what the seller tells you. For anything the VIN cannot confirm, ask for documents and have the car inspected in person.