The International Vehicle Identification Number (or 'VIN') is a 17 character code that is supposed to identify every vehicle made anywhere in the world since 1980 with a unique code.

It's quite easy to decode the VIN:

The first character identifies the country in which the car was manufactured.

1=USA 2=Canada 3=Mexico. 4=USA 5=USA
J=Japan K=Korea Z=Italy S=England W=Germany

Since MINI's are made un UK, you'd think they'd all have an 'S' in the first character - but they don't. It's a 'W' for 'Germany'!

The second character tells you who manufactured the car.
A=Audi B=BMW 4=Buick 6=Cadillac 1=Chevrolet
C=Chrysler B=Dodge F=Ford 7=GM-Canada G=General Motors
H=Honda A=Jaguar L=Lincoln D=Mercedes Benz M=Mercury
N=Nissan 3=Oldsmobile 2=Pontiac 5=Pontiac P=Plymouth
8=Saturn T=Toyota V=VW V=Volvo

MINI's are made by MINI who have the letter code 'M'. Notice that there are several cases where two companies share the same code. That's OK because they don't manufacture in the same country. So WM means Germany/MINI and not Mercury because they would use 1M, 4M or 5M because they are made in the USA. Some companies made so many cars that they need more than one letter code - which is presumably why Pontiac has both '2' and '5'.

The third character identifies either the division of the company - or perhaps the type of vehicle. MINI's all have a 'W' here.

Characters 4 through 8 identify things like body style, engine type, series or model. Each manufacturer can pick their own scheme for these five characters.
For MINI's, character 4 is always an 'R'. Character 5 is:

'A' for a MINI One 'B' for a MINI One/D,
'C' for a MINI Cooper 'D' for a MINI One Convertible,
'E' for a MINI Cooper'S 'F' for a MINI Cooper Convertible
'H' for a MINI Cooper'S Convertible.

Character 6 is a '3' for all gasoline MINI's and '1' for the Diesel.
The next is '1' for a Left-Hand drive car, '2' is a Right-Hand drive car and (for some reason) all cars destined for the USA get a '3'.

The eighth digit was always a '4' in cars built before 2005 but some '05 models (and possibly later) are showing up with a '5' in this position. Some people tell me that this is something to do with the restraint system employed in the car which may have been redesigned in 2005.

The 9th character is a 'residue 11' check digit that can be used to check that the VIN number hasn't been mis-typed or something. It's always either a digit ('0' through '9') or an 'X' (which means 'ten' in this context).

The 10th character is the model year of the car:
If it's a digit then just add 2000 to get the year. So 2004 cars have a '4' here.
If it's a letter then it's messier. I, O, Q, U and Z are not allowed because they are easily confused with other characters.
A = 1980 B = 1981 C = 1982 D = 1983 E = 1984
F = 1985 G = 1986 H = 1987 J = 1988 K = 1989
L = 1990 M = 1991 N = 1992 P = 1993 R = 1994
S = 1995 T = 1996 V = 1997 W = 1998 X = 1999
Y = 2000

After 2009, cars will start using letters for the year code - so cars in
2010 will use 'A', 2011 will be 'B' and so on. It's not clear how they'll make
sure that a car made in 1982 doesn't get the same VIN as one made in 2012.
The 11th character tells you which plant the car was built at. I think all MINI's have a 'T' there.

The last six characters (mixed letters and numbers) is the serial number of the car. These don't usually start from zero - so there is no easy rule for what number you get.

The first three characters are also known as the 'WMI' for World Manufacturer Identifier. Since some countries in the world are running out of VIN numbers, it is likely that some manufacturers will end up with more than one WMI code

 

Thank you for the informative post!

 

There theoretically will be some cars from the early 80s and today with the same vin numbers, but it is implied that one can tell the difference between a modern car and one from 30 years ago. Another thing, how many cars from 30 years ago are even still around? There are plenty of older cars, but the early 80's wasn't known for it's quality automobiles.

 

A lot of 1980s Japanese cars survive here in California. Civics, Camrys, and so on. I'm guessing that one of the other positions (like the 3rd digit, or the 9th, or the 11th) will somehow wind up denoting the date in conjunction with the 10th one.

 

My vin doesn't match the 4th character. Any ideas?

WMWMF73587TT86186

 

M is normal for you. actually if you click on your vin it takes you the site's vin decoder and you can find everything about your car out. Mine is also an M. Im a 2008 mini s, so it is probably r56 s.

 

Oddly 4,5, and 7 don't match up on my 2013's VIN.

WMWSU3C54DT370357