Find your Toyota VIN (Vehicle Identification Number)

Vehicle Identification Number

The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is your Toyota’s legal identifier, and is applied to your car during production.

Each VIN is unique, and is usually a 17-character code made up of letters and numbers, and reveals important details about your vehicle. As well as containing information on the time and place of your car’s creation, it also contains information about its specification and design.

First introduced in 1954, Vehicle Identification Numbers are an important component in determining the history and identity of a vehicle, particularly when combined with the car’s DVLA licence plate and V5 or V5C documents.

While licence plates can be altered, the car’s VIN remains unchanged, and therefore is the primary identification number for your Toyota.

How to locate your Vehicle Identification Number

In most modern Toyota cars, you’ll find a visible Vehicle Identification Number through a special cut-out at the bottom of the windscreen. Additional VINs are printed on tamper-proof stickers located just inside the shut line of the front nearside door. Earlier models may have a metal plate instead of a sticker.

The VIN is repeated on the vehicle’s chassis, stamped into the metal floor of the car under the right-hand (driver’s side) front seat. It’s usually visible through a small flap, deliberately cut into the vehicle’s carpet.

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Of course, there are some important exceptions to the rule…

These include the four-door Hilux pick-up – in which the tamper-proof sticker is mounted just inside the nearside rear door, and the five-door Aygo – in which it is applied to the body just inside the offside rear door shut.

Decoding your Vehicle Identification Number

Although there are exceptions to the rule, the first three digits of the Vehicle Identification Number usually refer to the country of manufacture, the vehicle maker and the vehicle type.

For example, if you check the first letter of the code, ‘J’ references Japan, ‘S’ references England, while ‘V’ identifies France. Turkey gets an ‘N’, while Thailand and South Africa (where some of our Hilux vehicles are produced) get an ‘M’ and ‘A’ respectively.

The second letter is usually ‘T’, which describes Toyota, the third describes which group of cars (or sometimes which chassis type) the vehicle sits on.

The next six numbers reference the car’s body style, engine and gearbox, while the remaining eight is a combination unique to the car, listing the year the car was made, the factory it was produced in and where it came in the production process.

For more on your VIN, please contact your nearest dealer, or visit toyota.co.uk/mytoyota

409 comments

    1. Hi Sue,
      Unfortunately, due to this not being a UK spec car, we are unable to advise on where the VIN will be located. However, usually a VIN is located on the inside of the passenger door.

    1. Hi Osman,
      Our system doesn’t recognise the VIN for this car. Are you based in the UK?

  1. Hi I am looking for the Front Gross Axel weight for my1996 KZH116 TOYOTA Hiace can anyone help

    1. Hi there,
      Thanks for getting in touch. For information regarding this vehicle, we would have to recommend speaking to a Toyota Centre. Many thanks.

  2. Hello
    Why are the VINs in different places in different versions?
    I am new to driving so all dis is new to me too

    1. Hi Lily,
      Thank you for contacting us. There is no particular reason why they are in different places; it depends on the cars age and architecture.

  3. Hi, I have 1996 Hiace, The first letters of the VIN Can not be read. Are there any other places I can find the number rather than next to passenger seat.

    1. Hi there,
      Thank you for your comment. If you send us your reg, we can find out the full VIN number for you. Many thanks.

  4. I have a 1992 vxr land cruser with 12 digit VIN is there any way to convert it to 17 digit VIN

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