Enter the 17-character VIN of your Volvo 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 Volvo VIN and the decoder returns the manufacturer, the model year and the country of manufacture. Our data covers 39 Volvo models, from the 140, 164 and PV 544 through the 850, V70 and XC90 to the EX30, EX90 and EM90, with model years from 1961 to the present. Body styles in the data are sedan, wagon, coupe, hatchback, SUV and convertible, and the highest power figure we hold is 367 hp.
The decoder reads only the VIN itself, so it says nothing about a car's past. Accidents, mileage, theft and previous owners are not stored in the number, and that information comes from a paid vehicle history report.
The first three characters are the WMI, the code for the manufacturer and the place of manufacture. We map ten of them to Volvo: 9BV, LVY, LYV, MC2, VY1, XLB, YV1, YV2, YV3 and YV4. Together they point to six countries: Brazil, China, India, Serbia, the Netherlands and Sweden. The list is the set of codes we recognise for the brand, not a complete register, so a VIN that starts differently is not a reason for concern.
Characters 4 to 8 describe the vehicle, and character 9 is the check digit. North American VINs must carry a calculated check digit, while many European VINs fill that position differently, so a Volvo built in Europe should not be judged by it alone. Character 10 gives the model year, character 11 the plant, and characters 12 to 17 are the serial number.
Model year letters follow a fixed sequence for cars built since 1981. A 10th character of L means 2020, M means 2021, N means 2022 and P means 2023, while R stands for 2024 and S for 2025. Our model list reaches back to 1961, which is earlier than the 17-character standard, so the oldest entries cannot be matched to a standard VIN. Letters I, O and Q never appear in a VIN, which helps when you are checking a number you copied by hand.
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.
The VIN is normally printed on the vehicle registration document and also marked on the car itself, often in a spot you can read through the windscreen. Compare both and make sure they match before you enter the number.
The first three characters are the WMI. We recognise 9BV, LVY, LYV, MC2, VY1, XLB, YV1, YV2, YV3 and YV4 for Volvo, and they belong to Brazil, China, India, Serbia, the Netherlands and Sweden. Other codes may exist, because our list is not complete.
Look at the 10th character. For example, N means 2022 and P means 2023, and the letters I, O and Q are never used. This applies to cars built since 1981.
It cannot show accidents, mileage, theft records or previous owners, because none of that is stored in the VIN. It gives the manufacturer, model year and country of manufacture, and it is free with no registration.
Make sure the VIN on the car matches the one in the paperwork, then decode it to see whether the model year and country fit the advert. Check accident, mileage and ownership records separately, since the VIN alone cannot answer those questions.