Enter the 17-character VIN of your Mini 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 or paste a 17-character VIN and the Mini decoder reads what is built into it: the manufacturer, the model year and the country of manufacture. Our data covers nine Mini models, from Aceman, Clubman and Convertible to Countryman, Coupe, Electric, Hatch, Paceman and Roadster, with model years from 2001 to the present. It is free and needs no registration.
The decoder reads only the VIN itself, so it says nothing about how a particular car has been used. Accidents, mileage, theft records and previous owners are not stored in the number, and that information comes from a paid vehicle history report.
Pick a Mini model to see how its VIN works.
The first three characters are the World Manufacturer Identifier, or WMI. For Mini we recognise two of them, WMW and WMZ, and both belong to Germany. A VIN that begins with one of these codes tells the decoder who built the car and in which country. Our list of codes is not complete, so a VIN that starts differently is simply one we may not map to the brand.
Characters 4 to 8 form the descriptor section, and character 9 is the check digit. North American VINs must use it as a check digit, while many European VINs fill it differently, so do not expect it to behave the same on every car. Character 10 is the model year, character 11 the assembly plant, and characters 12 to 17 the serial number.
The tenth character is the one most buyers want. A 1 stands for 2001, the first year in our Mini data, and an R stands for 2024. The letters I, O and Q never appear in a VIN, which helps when you are copying one by hand from a document and a character looks unclear.
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 first, since the VIN is printed there. On the car itself it is usually visible at the base of the windscreen or on a plate at the door pillar. Check that the number on the car matches the paperwork.
The first three characters are the WMI, which identifies the manufacturer and the country. We map WMW and WMZ to Mini, and both codes belong to Germany.
Read the tenth character. For example, 1 means 2001 and R means 2024. Our version data for Mini starts in 2001, so letters for earlier years are outside what we cover for this brand.
It cannot show accidents, mileage, theft or previous owners, because none of that is stored in a VIN. It also does not tell you the condition of a particular car.
Make sure the VIN on the car matches the registration document, and that the decoded model year and country fit the advert. Then ask for service records and inspect the car in person, or have someone you trust do it.