Obviously when looking at the history of a vehicle it is critical to know its true origins. Whether you are planning to aquire a Minivan and need to know its specifications, or you are looking to sell your Mustang and want to give the most complete information on it to potential buyers, it’s important to know where to got to find this information on the Internet.

Since the turn of the century every car and truck produced that is sold in the world includes a unique identifier called a VIN (Vehicle Identification Number). The Vehicle Identification Number decoder consists of critical information that acts like a fingerprint for that car or truck. No two vehicles will ever have the same VIN number.

Before to 1981 each manufacturer had control to create whatever system they wanted to use for their VINs. This led to mass confusion with no easy way to figure out what vehicle a VIN number represented just by looking at it. The problem was solved by an industry standard 17-character VIN format that was released in 1981. In order to read the older formats there are several resources on the Internet, but only Decode This! (http://www.decodethis.com) provides a free VIN decoder that will decode all early VINs from one web site.

The new VIN format is divided into several sections that allow certain information to be determined from the ID. Each manufacturer, for example, is identified by the first few characters. The VIN also includes an engine code, model year, restraint system, and a six-digit serial number. Taken together this information makes up the VIN. Again, Decode This! provides a detailed modern VIN decoder to allow you to automatically decode this information.

While the VIN includes quite a bit of information it is important to note what it does NOT include. There is no data on the specific optional equipment items installed on an individual vehicle. Since the VIN number is assigned to the car or truck at the start of the assembly line, and the optional equipment items are installed later in the process, the VIN has no data on this optional equipment. This means the VIN can tell you the possible equipment that was available for a particular model, but it will not be a vehicle history report on a certain vehicle. The original manufacturers have this data in separate databases that they license for use to certain vendors.

VIN decoders such as Decode This! take the VIN number and using a database of information to decode the data contained in that identifier in an easy to understand format. Decode This! for example has an extensive on all the information available for each model year and manufacturer of cars and trucks in the US. You can get a detailed report of the information available for your vehicle.

Other web sites can use this VIN data to provide a way to quickly identify a vehicle. WindowSticker.us (http://www.windowsticker.us), a custom car window sticker application, uses the VIN to determine the make, model, and year, as well as what the standard and optional equipment was available for the model year. It also can determine the possible internal and external color choices that were available.

So when you’re looking for information about a vehicle the VIN number is a great way to start the process.

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