How do I find my VIN?
If you need to locate your car's vehicle identification number, the following advice should helpYour car’s vehicle identification number, or VIN, is an important identifier.
You may from time to time need to provide it to authorities, lenders or insurers. Finding a VIN is not hard – you just need to know where to look.
Australia adopted the International Standards Organisation (ISO) 17-character VIN over 30 years ago. All cars sold here since that time have the still-current 17-digit number.
Typically each car's VIN is displayed in a small metal plaque that can be viewed from the outside through the windscreen at the bottom corner near the front passenger-side door.
If the VIN cannot be found there then open the driver's door and look at the door post (where the door latches when it is closed). It is likely that the VIN will also be displayed in this location.
Once you have found the VIN, use your smartphone to take a picture of it on the car. Alternatively, write it down or use the voice-transcription function to read the VIN into the 'notes' app on your phone.
Your vehicle’s VIN is also often reproduced in the front of your owner's manual, which is also where you'll find all the locations where the VIN is reproduced.
Just look up 'Vehicle Identification Number' in the index and it will direct you to the page where all the locations are listed. The VIN is also found on build plates and compliance plates, fastened to the car.
And what are those build plates and compliance plates? A subject for another article, that's what.
Related: How old is my car?
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Related: What documents you need to sell your car?
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