Enter the 17-character VIN of your Rover 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 Rover VIN and the decoder tells you who made the car, which model year it belongs to and in which country it was built. It is free and needs no registration. Our Rover data lists 14 models, from the 100, 200 and 25 to the Maestro, MGF, Mini MK and Montego, with model years running from 1963 to 2005.
The decoder reads only the VIN itself, so it cannot tell you about accidents, mileage, theft or previous owners. That information comes from a paid vehicle history report.
The first three characters of a VIN are the World Manufacturer Identifier, or WMI. For Rover we recognise two of them, SAR and SAX, and both belong to the United Kingdom. Our WMI list is not complete, so the codes shown here are simply the ones we map to the brand. A VIN that starts with other characters is not a reason for concern in itself.
The tenth character gives the model year. A V in that position means 1997, a Y means 2000, and a 5 means 2005, which is the last year in our Rover version data. Positions 4 to 8 describe the vehicle, position 11 stands for the plant, and positions 12 to 17 are the serial number. The standard 17-character format applies to cars built since 1981, so a Rover from the 1960s or 1970s may carry a different kind of number that this decoder cannot read.
Position 9 is a check digit. North American VINs must use it, but many European VINs fill it differently, so do not treat an unusual ninth character on a British-built car as a fault. The letters I, O and Q are never used in a VIN, which helps when you are unsure whether a character is a 1 or a 0.
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.
On many cars it is stamped or printed on a plate near the base of the windscreen or on a door pillar, and it also appears on the registration document. Check more than one place and make sure all 17 characters match.
They are the first three characters, the WMI, and they identify the manufacturer. We map both codes to Rover, and both belong to the United Kingdom.
Look at the tenth character. For example, V stands for 1997, Y for 2000 and 5 for 2005. This works for cars built since 1981, and our Rover version data ends at 2005.
It shows the manufacturer, model year and country of manufacture, nothing more. Accidents, mileage, theft and owners are not stored in the VIN.
Compare the VIN on the car with the one in the paperwork and look for signs that a plate or stamping has been altered. Then inspect the car in person and ask the seller for service records.