Enter the 17-character VIN of your Toyota 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 Toyota and the decoder reads the manufacturer, the model year and the country of manufacture straight from the code. Our data covers 146 Toyota models, from the 4runner and Aygo X to the Corolla Cross and the bZ4X. The body styles range from hatchback, sedan and wagon to SUV, coupe, convertible, van and estate. The decoder is free and needs no registration.
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.
Pick a Toyota model to see how its VIN works.
The first three characters are the WMI, the code for the manufacturer and the place of build. We recognise these WMI codes for Toyota: 602, 2T1, 3TM, 4T1, 4T3, 5YF, 6T1, 8AJ, 93R, 9BR, AHT and JT0. Together they cover Canada, Mexico, the United States, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Belgium. The first character already hints at the region. A 2 stands for Canada, a 3 for Mexico, a 4 or 5 for the United States and a J for Japan, so 2T1, 3TM, 4T1 and JT0 are quick to place. Other codes may exist, and our list is simply the set we map to the brand.
Characters 4 to 8 describe the vehicle, and character 9 is a check digit. In North America the check digit is required and follows a fixed calculation. Many European VINs fill that position differently, so a odd-looking ninth character is not a problem in itself. Characters 12 to 17 are the serial number of the individual car.
The model year sits in position 10 and is a single character. A VIN that begins with 4T1 and has an L in position 10 points to model year 2020, and a J would mean 2018. The letters repeat after 30 years, so a B can mean 1981 or 2011. Check the rest of the car before you decide which one applies. The 17-character format applies to cars built since 1981, and Toyota models in our data go back to 1935, so very old cars may carry a shorter number that this decoder cannot read. The letters I, O and Q are never used in a VIN.
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 on the driver's side and on a plate or sticker in the door frame. Make sure the number on the car matches the paperwork character by character.
The first three characters are the WMI, which identifies the manufacturer and the country of build. Codes we recognise for Toyota include 4T1, 2T1, 3TM, JT0, 6T1 and AHT. If your VIN starts with something else, it can still be correct, because our list is not complete.
Use the 10th character. For example, R means 2024, S means 2025 and T means 2026, while N means 2022 and P means 2023. Letters repeat every 30 years, so check the car itself to tell an early 1980s year from a 2010s one.
It cannot show accident damage, mileage, theft records or the number of previous owners, because none of that is stored in the VIN. It reads only the manufacturer, the model year and the country of manufacture.
Compare the VIN on the car, in the registration document and in the sales listing, and make sure all three are identical. Then check that the decoded model year and country fit what the seller tells you. Ask for service records, and have the car inspected in person.