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.

Read more How to connect your phone to your car

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

380 comments

  1. Hi! Looking at a car for sale “BN07DUH” Auris 5dr 2.0l diesel. Can you supply vin number prior to my viewing the vehicle? many thanks Martin.

    1. Hi Martin,
      Thank you for your comment. Unfortunately we cannot release this information without proof of ownership, due to security reasons. We’d advise going to the current owner for this information. Many thanks.

  2. Hi there!
    Hope you are doing well.
    We are planning to buy a Toyota Premio (2017 Model) car from Dhaka, Bangladesh. So far i know that there is no difference between a 2016 model Premio & a 2017 model Premio car. As a result i want to know how i will be able to confirm myself that the car that i am going to buy is genuinely a 2017 Model Toyota Premio car.

    Thank you very much for your co-operation in advance.

    1. Hello, Fayeem

      We recommend you contact the local distributor in Bangladesh. We are Toyota GB and have never imported the Premio model you reference.

      Thank you.

    1. Hello,

      We’re sorry but we don’t hold details on this car at Toyota GB as we didn’t import it to the UK. Please speak with your local distributor or the retailer that sold the vehicle to you.

      Thanks.

  3. Hi I need model code for my Toyota voxy/noah 2010
    Zrr700346092 my local authority need cade for put model name model name
    Please help

  4. Hi Amjad,
    Thanks for your comment. We can confirm that the model code is ZRR70 or full Katashiki is ZRR70G-BRXEP. Your local Toyota dealer can look up the frame number for you so we’d advise going to them. Many thanks.

  5. Hi I am interested in a 1995 Toyota Carina E. And I need to know whether the engine has been changed. VIN number is SB164ABK00E115962. Can you please confirm the original engine number.

    1. Hi Cee,
      Thanks for getting in touch. Unfortunately, we can not give details about a car which is not currently owned by you due to privacy issues. Many thanks.

  6. Hi Khan,
    Your model, Toyota Voxy / Noah, isn’t available in the UK. We can only advise speaking to Toyota in your region. Many thanks.

    1. Hi Abz,
      Thanks for getting in touch. Our 2009 Yaris cars were built in Valenciennes, France.
      Hope this helps.

    1. Hi Paul,
      Thanks for getting in touch. The VIN numbers for the car should be on the passenger side of the windscreen, however this isn’t always the case. If its not on the windscreen it will be on the inside of the passenger car door. Hope this helps.

  7. I have a Toyota Wish, and was wondering where I would find the numbers on that particular model please. I am presuming that this is the number required to get another key made from Toyota isn’t it?

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