Enter the 17-character VIN of your FAW 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 FAW decoder reads the manufacturer, the model year and the country of manufacture from it. Our data covers 15 FAW models, among them A6, Admiral, Audi 100, Besturn B30, Besturn B50, Besturn B70, Besturn B90, Besturn X40, Besturn X80, Bora, City Golf, Jetta, Jinn, Senia R7 and Vita. The version data we hold runs from model year 1988 to the present, with sedan, SUV and hatchback body styles and a highest listed output of 193 hp.
The decoder is free and needs no registration. It only reads the VIN itself, so it cannot tell you about accidents, mileage, theft or previous owners. That information comes from a paid vehicle history report.
Pick a FAW model to see how its VIN works.
The first three characters are the World Manufacturer Identifier, or WMI. For FAW we recognise LFM, LFP, LFV, LH1 and LTV, and all five belong to China. So a VIN that begins with LFV, for example, is decoded as a FAW built in China. Our list of codes is not complete, which means a VIN starting with other characters is not a problem in itself, it simply may not be one we map to this brand.
Characters 4 to 8 form the descriptor section, where the maker encodes details of the vehicle. Character 9 is a check digit, which is required in North America, while many European VINs fill it differently. Characters 12 to 17 are the serial number, and character 11 marks the plant.
The model year sits in character 10. A letter J stands for 1988 and also for 2018, since the letters repeat after thirty years, so the rest of the VIN and the car itself help you pick the right one. Later years run on through K for 2019 and L for 2020, and so on. Letters I, O and Q are never used in a VIN, which is worth remembering if you are copying one by hand and a character looks doubtful.
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 in the registration documents and also marked on the car, often on a plate at the base of the windscreen or on a door frame. Copy all 17 characters exactly, remembering that I, O and Q are never used.
The first three characters are the WMI, the manufacturer code. We map LFM, LFP, LFV, LH1 and LTV to FAW, and all of them belong to China.
Look at the 10th character. J means 1988 or 2018, K means 2019 and L means 2020, for example. The decoder reads this character for you and shows the year.
It shows the manufacturer, model year and country of manufacture, nothing more. Accidents, mileage, theft and owners are not stored in the VIN.
Compare the VIN on the car with the one in the registration papers, character by character. Then decode it to see that the manufacturer and model year match what the seller tells you.