Enter the 17-character VIN of your MCC 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 MCC decoder reads the manufacturer, the model year and the country of manufacture from it. Our data for the brand is small: one model, Smart, with version data for model years 1998 to 2000, in Convertible and Hatchback body styles. The highest power figure we hold is 55 hp.
A VIN carries no accident record, mileage, theft status or ownership details. That information comes from a paid vehicle history report, while the decoder itself stays free and needs no registration.
Pick a MCC model to see how its VIN works.
Every VIN of a car built since 1981 has 17 characters, and the letters I, O and Q are never used. The first three characters are the WMI, which identifies the manufacturer. For MCC we have no WMI codes mapped at the moment, so there is no list of codes or countries to show here. That is a gap in our list, not a statement about any particular VIN.
Characters 4 to 8 describe the vehicle, and character 9 is a check digit. North American VINs are required to use it, while many European VINs fill that position differently. Character 10 gives the model year, and character 11 usually points to the plant. Characters 12 to 17 are the serial number.
For the model years in our MCC data, the tenth character is W for 1998, X for 1999 and Y for 2000. So a VIN with an X in position 10 points to model year 1999.
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.
The VIN is often visible on the car near the base of the windscreen and is normally printed on the registration papers. Copy all 17 characters exactly, and remember that I, O and Q do not appear in a VIN.
The first three characters are the WMI, the code for the manufacturer. We do not have any WMI codes mapped to MCC yet, so we cannot list them here. Other starting characters are not a sign of a problem, since our list is not complete.
Look at the tenth character. In the range covered by our data, W stands for 1998, X for 1999 and Y for 2000.
It cannot show accidents, mileage, theft or previous owners, because none of that is stored in the VIN. It also does not tell you the condition of a particular car.
Compare the VIN on the car with the one in the registration papers and make sure they match character for character. Then check the body style and power against what the seller claims, keeping in mind that our data lists Convertible and Hatchback and a top figure of 55 hp.