Enter the 17-character VIN of your Honda 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 the 17-character VIN of a Honda and the decoder tells you the manufacturer, the model year and the country of manufacture. It reads only the VIN itself, so it works the same for an Accord, a Civic, a CR-V or a Jazz, and it is free with no registration.
The VIN does not contain accidents, mileage, theft records or the number of previous owners. That information comes from a paid vehicle history report, which you can order separately once you know what the VIN says about the car.
Pick a Honda model to see how its VIN works.
The first three characters are the World Manufacturer Identifier, or WMI. For Honda we recognise these codes: 19X, 1HG, 2HG, 3CZ, 4S6, 5J6, 5KB, 7A3, 7FA, 8C3, 93H and 9C2. The first character points to a region or country, so 1HG starts with the 1 used for the United States, 2HG with the 2 used for Canada, and 3CZ with the 3 used for Mexico. Across the full list, the codes belong to the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Japan, China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Germany and Luxembourg. Our list is not complete, and a VIN that starts with other characters is not a reason for concern.
Characters 4 to 8 describe the vehicle, and character 9 is the check digit. North American VINs must use it as a check digit, while many European VINs fill that position differently. Letters I, O and Q are never used in a VIN, so they cannot be mistaken for 1 and 0.
Character 10 is the model year. A J means 2018, an A means 2010, and a B can mean either 1981 or 2011, because the letters repeat after 30 years. Character 11 is the assembly plant and characters 12 to 17 are the serial number. This 17-character system applies to cars built since 1981, so very early Hondas will not follow it.
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 the insurance papers first, since the VIN is printed there. On the car itself it is usually stamped on the body and visible at the base of the windscreen on the driver's side. Compare the number on the car with the number in the papers.
The first three characters are the WMI, which identifies the manufacturer and the country. For Honda we recognise 19X, 1HG, 2HG, 3CZ, 4S6, 5J6, 5KB, 7A3, 7FA, 8C3, 93H and 9C2. The list is not complete, so other prefixes are possible.
Use the 10th character. For example, J stands for 2018 and A for 2010. Digits are used for 2001 to 2009, so a 7 means 2007.
It does not show accidents, mileage, theft records or previous owners, because none of that is stored in the VIN. It also does not list equipment or body style for a specific car. It gives the manufacturer, the model year and the country of manufacture.
Make sure the VIN in the papers matches the one on the car, and decode it to see that the model year and country fit the advertisement. Then check the 10th character against the year the seller states. Honda has been sold as a hatchback, sedan, wagon, coupe, SUV, convertible and roadster, so also confirm that the body in front of you is the one described.