VW VIN Decoder: How To Decode A Volkswagen VIN

A free Volkswagen VIN decoder lets you look up options, models, years, engines, transmissions, and specifications. In addition, you can also check the title records and accidents by clicking Check History.

At a Glance

Positions 1 to 3 (WMI): who built it and where, such as WVW for VW cars, WVG for SUVs, 3VW for Mexico.
Position 10: model year; I, O, Q, U, Z and 0 are never used, and the letters repeat every 30 years.
Position 11: the factory, such as W for Wolfsburg or C for Chattanooga.
Positions 7 and 8: the VW model code on most cars, such as 1K for Golf 5 and 6.
European cars often show ZZZ in positions 4 to 6, so the VIN reveals little.
For exact parts, use the PR codes on the vehicle data sticker, usually in the spare wheel well.

Use this free online VIN Decoder Tool to check what engine, transmission, and options are installed on your vehicle.

How to Decode VW VIN Number

The first three digits uniquely describe the manufacturer of the vehicle. There are many hundreds of assigned combinations.

Position 1

Describes the region where the vehicle is made.

A-H is in Africa,
J-R is Asia,
S-Z is Europe,
1-5 in North America,
6-7 in Oceania,
8-0 in South America.

Position 2

It generally describes the vehicle manufacturer. For VW, this is usually ‘V,’ but sometimes not. It is assigned with Digits 1 and 3 and may only make sense when the whole 3-digit WMI is considered.

Position 3

It generally describes the vehicle type. This might be a passenger car, commercial, pickup, SUV, truck, motorcycle, etc.

For Volkswagens, the most common 3-digit WMIs you’ll see are:

WVW: Volkswagen Cars
WVG: Volkswagen SUVs (G for Gelande)
WV1: Volkswagen Commercials
WV2: Volkswagen Bus, Van
WV3: Volkswagen Trucks
VWV: Volkswagen Spain
AAV: Volkswagen South Africa
1VW: Volkswagen USA (cars)
1V1: Volkswagen USA (commercials)
3VW: Volkswagen Mexico
8AW: Volkswagen Argentina
9BW: Volkswagen Brazil
WAU: Audi
TRU: Audi Hungary
93V: Audi Brazil

The next group of six digits (4 to 9) in the VIN describes the exact vehicle type, giving information on the model platform and body style. Each maker assigns its meaning to these six digits. Every vehicle built for the North American market, VWs included, uses position 9 as a check digit. Cars built for Europe usually do not.

On European market Volkswagens, meaning is only given to digits 7 and 8. Positions 4, 5, 6 and 9 are usually filler and contain the letter ‘Z.’

Positions 4, 5 and 6

ZZZ for VWs sold in Europe and many other countries, including Australia. For USA-market VWs, these digits give information on body and trim styles, engine specs, and restraint systems.

Positions 7 and 8

Volkswagen’s Vehicle Descriptor Section. Many are consistent with VW’s old model-type system, so you should spot some familiar numbers here. The most common Volkswagen combinations are:

11: Beetle (Brazilian, Mexican, Nigerian)
13: Scirocco 3
14: Caddy Mk 1 (European Golf 1 pickup)
15: Cabriolet (1980 Beetle, Golf 1)
16: Jetta 1 and 2 (early)
16: Beetle (2012-on)
17: Golf 1
18: Iltis
19: Golf 2 (early)
1C: New Beetle (US market)
1E: Golf 3 Cabriolet
1F: Eos
1G: Golf and Jetta 2 (late)
1H: Golf and Vento 3
1J: Golf and Bora 4
1K: Golf and Jetta 5, 6
1T: Touran
1Y: New Beetle Cabriolet
24: T3 Transporter Single/Double Cab Pickup
25: T3 Transporter Van, Kombi, Bus, Caravelle
28: LT Transporter 1
2D: LT Transporter 2
2E: Crafter
2H: Amarok
2K: Caddy, Caddy Maxi 3
30: Fox (US model ex-Brazil)
31: Passat 2
32: Santana sedan
33: Passat 2 Variant
3A: Passat 3, 4
3B: Passat 5
3C: Passat 6, 7, 8, CC
3D: Phaeton
3H: Arteon
50: Corrado (early)
53: Scirocco 1, 2
5K: Golf and Jetta 6
5M: Golf Plus
5N: Tiguan 1, 2, Tiguan Allspace
5Z: Fox (Europe)
60: Corrado (late)
6K: Polo Classic, Variant 3
6N: Polo 3
6R: Polo 5
6X: Lupo
70: T4 Transporter Vans and Pickups
74: Taro
7H: T5 Transporter
7J: T6 Transporter
7L: Touareg 1
7M: Sharan
7P: Touareg 2
86: Polo and Derby 1 and 2
87: Polo Coupe
9C: New Beetle
9K: Caddy 2 Van (ex-SEAT Ibiza)
9N: Polo 4
9U: Caddy 2 Pickup (ex-Skoda Felicia)
AA: Up!
AU: Golf 7
AW: Polo 6
SY: Crafter 2

Position 9

The third and final set of digits, the group of eight from numbers 10 to 17, identifies the particular vehicle in question. They will identify the model year, the exact place where the car was made, and finally, the vehicle’s unique serial number.

Position 10

The model year. For Volkswagens, this is the year from 1 August to 31 July as before. The code begins with 1980 and assigns a consecutive letter or number for each year (except that I, O, Q, U, Z, and 0 are not used). The codes for year models are:

1980: A 1990: L 2000: Y 2010: A 2020: L
1981: B 1991: M 2001: 1 2011: B 2021: M
1982: C 1992: N 2002: 2 2012: C 2022: N
1983: D 1993: P 2003: 3 2013: D 2023: P
1984: E 1994: R 2004: 4 2014: E 2024: R
1985: F 1995: S 2005: 5 2015: F 2025: S
1986: G 1996: T 2006: 6 2016: G 2026: T
1987: H 1997: V 2007: 7 2017: H 2027: V
1988: J 1998: W 2008: 8 2018: J 2028: W
1989: K 1999: X 2009: 9 2019: K 2029: X

There are several logical consequences. The letters I, O and Q are never used, so there is no confusion with 1 and 0. The characters repeat the sequence every 30 years, with ‘A’ beginning in 1980, 2010, 2040, etc. And, when the numbers begin after Y, the number coincides with the year.

Position 11

This is the exact place where the Volkswagen was made. VW has tried to assign specific characters for each of its factories, although there have been some double-ups. If in doubt, consult Digit 1, which gives the region (see above). The codes are:

A: Ingolstadt, Germany
B: Brussels, Belgium
C: Chattanooga, USA
D: Bratislava, Slovakia
E: Emden, Germany
F: Ipiranga / Resende, Brazil
G: Graz, Austria
H: Hanover, Germany
K: Osnabrück, Germany
L: Lagos, Nigeria
M: Puebla, Mexico
N: Neckarsulm, Germany
P: Mosel, Germany
P: Anchieta, Brazil
R: Martorell, Spain
S: Salzgitter, Germany
T: Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (up to 1994)
T: Taubaté, Brazil
U: Uitenhage, South Africa
V: Westmoreland, USA (up to 1988)
V: Palmela, Portugal (from 1994)
W: Wolfsburg, Germany
X: Poznan, Poland
Y: Pamplona, Spain
1: Győr, Hungary
2: Anting, China
3: Changchun, China
4: Curitiba, Brazil
6: Düsseldorf, Germany (Mercedes-Benz)
7: Ludwigsfelde, Germany (Mercedes-Benz)
8: Dresden, Germany
8: General Pacheco, Argentina
9: Wrzesnia, Poland

Positions 12 to 17

Six digits, starting with 000001, for each vehicle of the defined make, model, year, and factory. This is the unique identifying number for that vehicle.

The PR code sticker tells you far more than the VIN

As the sections above show, a Volkswagen VIN carries less detail than you might expect, particularly on European market cars where positions four to six are simply ZZZ. The information people actually want when ordering parts lives somewhere else entirely, on the vehicle data sticker.

Every Volkswagen carries one, and on most models there are two copies: one in the trunk, usually under the carpet in the spare wheel well or on the floor beneath it, and another printed in the service book. The sticker lists the VIN, the model code, the paint and interior codes, and then a block of three character PR codes.

Those PR codes are the real specification. They identify the exact gearbox, the brake disc sizes front and rear, the suspension variant, the steering rack, the axle ratio, the seats, the wheels and every option the car was built with. When a parts supplier asks whether your Golf has the larger front brakes or which of three gearbox codes it uses, the PR list answers in seconds where the VIN cannot. Photograph that sticker and keep it with the VIN.

What a VIN decode cannot tell you

Decoding the number tells you how the car left the factory. It says nothing about what has happened since. Mileage, accident history, outstanding finance, title status and whether a vehicle has been reported stolen all live in separate databases, which is why a history report is a different service from a VIN decode and why a decoder returning plausible looking results is not a verification of anything.

Recalls are the exception worth doing yourself. Volkswagen and the national road safety authority will both take a VIN free of charge and tell you whether any open safety campaigns apply to that specific vehicle. It takes a minute and it is worth doing on any car you have just bought.

If you are buying, check the number appears consistently in more than one place: the base of the windshield, the sticker in the door jamb, the stamping on the body and the trunk sticker, and confirm all of them match the registration document. A missing trunk sticker on its own is common and usually innocent, since they are removed by body shops and sometimes simply fall off, but a windshield plate that looks disturbed or a stamping that has been ground and restruck is a reason to walk away.

One last practical note. The VIN is also stored electronically in the engine control module and the instrument cluster. If the number read from the modules does not match the plate on the car, a module has been replaced at some point with a used unit, which is worth knowing about because it can cause immobilizer problems. A full system scanner that supports Volkswagen will read the stored VIN, which is the same check a dealer performs.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do the first three characters of a VW VIN mean?

They show the maker and the plant region. WVW is used for Volkswagen cars built in Germany, WVG for many VW SUVs, 3VW for cars built in Mexico and 1VW for cars built in the USA.

Can the VIN tell me my VW options?

Not directly. Options are stored as PR codes, which are printed on the sticker in the spare wheel well or service book and in VW factory data.

Is the check digit used on Volkswagen VINs?

Position 9 is a calculated check digit on VINs for North America. Cars built for other markets may use a filler character there, so a VIN that fails the check digit test is not automatically fake.

VW VIN Decoder

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At a Glance

How to Decode VW VIN Number