If you own the vehicle, the state DMV where the car or truck is registered may be able to help you locate the VIN in some cases.It's a good idea to search old photographs for: While some of this information may not directly lead to a VIN number, it can provide valuable information on the history of a vehicle. If you aren't able to locate a vehicle's VIN through these methods, you might want to try searching through old photographs. VIN information might be available if the vehicle was ever involved in an accident.Repair receipts are also a possibility.Either your insurance company or a previous owner's.The bank from which the loan was obtained may also have this information on file.If the VIN plates and stickers are missing, or if you don't know the VIN of an old car or truck you used to own, there are several ways you can locate a particular vehicle's VIN, such as:

Your first step to locating an older vehicle or obtaining more information about a particular vehicle's history is to obtain an accurate VIN or serial number. Because older cars and trucks typically have a larger monetary value, the risk is often greater-especially if you don't have any way of knowing basic information of a car or truck's history. Like any used car, it's important to know as much about a vehicle's history as possible. Determining an accurate value for a vehicle before you decide to sell.Obtaining production numbers for rare or special edition vehicles.Getting the exact history for an old car you already own.Checking the authenticity of an older vehicle before you decide to purchase it.Searching for an old car or truck you used to own.Whether it's for pure nostalgia or business purposes, there are many reasons you may need to locate the VIN of an older vehicle. In the first few decades of VIN assignment, the numbers themselves varied depending on the vehicle's manufacturer-there was no standard regarding length, character type, etc.īeginning with the production of vehicles model year 1981 and newer, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) standardized the assignment of VINs to be a combination of 17 characters (numbers and letters). Since 1954, all vehicles made in the United States are assigned a vehicle identification number (VIN).

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