Enter the 17-character VIN of your Pontiac 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 Pontiac decoder tells you the manufacturer, the model year and the country of manufacture. It is free and needs no registration. Our data covers 19 Pontiac models, from the 6000, Fiero and Firebird to the Solstice, Torrent and Vibe, with version data for model years 1975 to 2010.
A VIN does not contain accidents, mileage, theft records or previous owners, so the decoder cannot show them. That information comes from a paid vehicle history report.
The first three characters are the World Manufacturer Identifier, or WMI. For Pontiac we recognise nine of them: 1G2, 1GM, 2CK, 2G2, 3G2, 3G7, 5Y2, 6G2 and KL2. Together they point to five countries of manufacture: the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia and South Korea. These are the codes in our data for the brand. The list is not complete, so a VIN that begins differently is not a cause for concern.
Characters 4 to 8 describe the vehicle, and character 9 is the check digit. North American VINs must carry a check digit, while many European VINs fill that position differently. Character 10 is the model year. A 6 stands for 2006, a 9 for 2009 and an A for 2010, which is the end of our Pontiac range. Earlier cars use letters instead, for example L for 1990 or B for 1981, the first year of the 17-character VIN.
Character 11 marks the assembly plant, and characters 12 to 17 are the serial number of the individual car. The letters I, O and Q are never used in a VIN, so a character that looks like an O is a zero.
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 at the base of the windscreen on the driver's side and on a label in the driver's door frame. It also appears on the registration papers. Check that the number on the car matches the documents.
The first three characters are the WMI, which identifies the manufacturer and the country of build. We map 1G2, 1GM, 2CK, 2G2, 3G2, 3G7, 5Y2, 6G2 and KL2 to Pontiac. Our list is not exhaustive, so other starting characters do not mean anything is wrong.
Look at the tenth character. A letter or digit stands for one year, for example 6 for 2006, 9 for 2009 and A for 2010. Our Pontiac version data runs from model year 1975 to 2010, but the 17-character VIN with a model year code applies to cars built since 1981.
It reads only the VIN, so it gives manufacturer, model year and country of manufacture. Accidents, mileage, theft and owners are not stored in the number itself. Equipment and body style for a given car are not part of what the decoder reports either.
Make sure the VIN on the car, in the paperwork and in the decoder result all agree, and that the model year fits what the seller says. Then look the car over in person and ask for service records. Models such as the Fiero, Firebird or Solstice are older cars, so condition matters as much as the number.