Enter the 17-character VIN of your Renault Samsung 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 Renault Samsung and the decoder reads the manufacturer, the model year and the country of manufacture from the code itself. It is free and needs no registration. Our version data for the brand covers six models, QM3, QM6, SM3, SM5, SM6 and SM7, with model years from 1998 to 2017, in SUV and Sedan body styles, and power up to 258 hp.
A VIN does not record accidents, mileage, theft or previous owners, so the decoder cannot show them. That information comes from a paid vehicle history report, which you can look at once you know the basic identity of the car.
The first three characters of a VIN are the World Manufacturer Identifier, or WMI. It tells you who built the car and in which country. For Renault Samsung we have no WMI codes mapped to the brand at the moment, and we cannot name a country of manufacture for it. Our list of codes is not complete, so a VIN is never wrong just because we do not recognise its first characters.
Characters 4 to 8 are the descriptor section, where the maker encodes details such as model and body type. Character 9 is the check digit. It is required in North America, while many European VINs fill it differently. Characters 12 to 17 are the serial number, and character 11 points to the plant. Letters I, O and Q are never used in a VIN, which helps when you copy one from a worn plate or a photo.
Character 10 is the model year. For the years in our Renault Samsung data, W stands for 1998, A for 2010 and H for 2017. So a VIN with H in the tenth position points to model year 2017, the end of the range we cover. VINs like this exist for cars built since 1981.
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.
Check the vehicle registration document first, since the VIN is printed there. On the car itself, look for a plate at the base of the windscreen on the driver's side and for a stamped number on the body or in the door frame. Compare these copies, they should all show the same 17 characters.
The first three characters are the WMI, which identifies the manufacturer and the region. We have no WMI codes mapped to Renault Samsung yet, so the decoder may not name the brand from those characters alone. That does not say anything negative about the VIN.
Look at the tenth character. Within the 1998 to 2017 range of our data, W means 1998, A means 2010 and H means 2017. Digits are used for 2001 to 2009, so a 7 means 2007.
It reads only the VIN, so it gives the manufacturer, the model year and the country of manufacture. Accidents, mileage, theft records and owners are not stored in the VIN.
Make sure the VIN on the plate, the body and the registration papers match, and that the model year from the tenth character fits the seller's description. Ask for service records, inspect the car in daylight, and take a test drive. If the engine or body style matters to you, compare it with the SUV and Sedan versions in our data, for example QM6 or SM6.