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

409 comments

  1. hello, hello, i have toyota corolla hatchback 2004 VVT-i (made in UK)
    I need a mirror plate with backing on , the housing is fine, it is electric. Which mirror from your site will fit it please? Can you send me a link or so. I am stupid in cars. thank you

  2. Hello
    I am going to purchase Toyota Premio 2015 (recondition ) in Bangladesh. Chassis no is NZT260-3160336. I am not getting VIN number anywhere ! Is there anyway to get VIN no by using chassis no ? How to verify auction sheet provided by my supplier .Thanks .

      1. Hi Chris,
        Thanks for getting in touch with us.
        We can only provide information regarding UK models and would therefore recommend contacting the Toyota distributor from the region in which the car was newly sold for further help with your query.
        Thanks.

  3. Hello all can anyone help me with the chassis number for my toyota corolla registration AP03 NZF

  4. Hello sir i am uk and have imported toyota prius reg number is LA14 GPK but cant find 17 numbers long VIN number can you please help me, on passenger side sticker it says frame number ZVW30-1840585 but i need 17 digits VIN number thanks

    1. Hi Muhammad,
      Thanks for getting in touch.
      As your vehicle is imported, our system does not recognise your reg, and therefore we cannot provide a VIN.
      The VIN should be on your importation documents.
      Thanks.

    1. Hi Muhammad,
      Thanks for your comment.
      As your vehicle is imported, our system does not recognise your reg, which means that we cannot provide a VIN.
      We’d recommend checking your importation documents as the VIN should be listed there.
      Thanks.

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