Decode a vehicle VIN for production Month & Year?

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I'm shopping for a new car online and many of the dealers post the VIN number.

I'd like to find not only the production Year, but also the Month of manufacture.

I know the Month is embedded within this cryptic code, but I'm not sure where it's specifically referenced.

I see lots of web sites that will, partially, decrypt the VIN but I haven't figured out how to find the Month of manufacture.

Does anyone know how to do this or is there a website that will do this for you?

Thank you,
Ed
 
Originally Posted by blupupher
Date and year is on the door tag, not in the vin


That's true, but if I can determine that before I even, potentially, waste my time going to open the door...that's good time efficiency in my book.

smile.gif


Ed
 
What brand of car are you shopping for? There are vin decoders out there that will use a manufacturer's database and it will have a lot more info on options and date of manufacture. That all comes from the manufacturer's database, it's not in the vin. Mercedes makes it easy to look info on a particular car just by vin, Ford use to have one open to the public, but I think it's much harder now to look things up. You could try this vin decoder, but if you're looking at new cars, the database it uses might be old and might not have the vin number of new cars.

https://www.vindecoderz.com/
 
Originally Posted by Wolf359
What brand of car are you shopping for? There are vin decoders out there that will use a manufacturer's database and it will have a lot more info on options and date of manufacture. That all comes from the manufacturer's database, it's not in the vin. Mercedes makes it easy to look info on a particular car just by vin, Ford use to have one open to the public, but I think it's much harder now to look things up. You could try this vin decoder, but if you're looking at new cars, the database it uses might be old and might not have the vin number of new cars.

https://www.vindecoderz.com/

Specifically, I'm looking at GM vehicles.

Ed
 
Originally Posted by Lolvoguy
Why is the month of build relevant?

Dealers do not "buy" the vehicles on their lots from the manufacturer, they lease them. In my experience, dealers are much more willing to negotiate on price for a vehicle that just arrived rather than one that's been on their lot for months, that they've been unable to sell. They're going to try harder to recover some of their leasing costs on that vehicle, i.e., not budge on price.

Ed
 
In the US, the month code is not in the VIN number. The year is in the VIN. You will have to look on the door pillar placard for the month of manufacture. The website you are looking at is for Europe and Asia. Some of those manufacturers have up to 23 numbers in their VIN. The US has standardized on 17 numbers. The last 6 in a US VIN is the sequential number.
 
Originally Posted by Ed_Flecko
Originally Posted by atikovi
The VIN does not break down the month of manufacture.


This site https://bit.ly/2YnpACx seems to suggest that it does.

Ed


Not sure if you noticed, but that webpage is from India so it probably doesn't apply here.
 
The last digits are the sequence number, so the first of a new model year will be very very low. Find out how many they sell in a year and you have a rough estimate.

Sadly though GM cranks out so many cars (trucks in particular) they've run out of the sequence and changed out a digit up front to "start over".

I have reservations about your negotiating based on this technique, but anything's worth a shot!
 
Originally Posted by Ed_Flecko
They're going to try harder to recover some of their leasing costs on that vehicle, i.e., not budge on price.

Ed

They would be falling for the sunk cost fallacy, which is a terrible way to do business. The car is just going to sit there longer, and become impossible to sell for full price after the next year model comes out.
 
I highly doubt a dealer would care if its been on the lot 10 months. As long as its the same MY.
Guys I can explain vehicle aging on the lot. I spent many years as the guy that everyone had to bring the deal to and or get the numbers from. Every day a vehicle sits on the lot, past 30, cost the dealer money. They must pay interest on the vehicle once it is on the lot over 30 days. Have any of you ever heard of the term floor plan? The dealer has a line of credit that he uses to buy the vehicles from the manufacturer and the first 30 days are usually interest free if they are utilizing the finance arm of the manufacturer, I.e. General Motors dealers using GMAC. So I guarantee you that a vehicle that’s been sitting on the dealers lot for a long time needs to be sold, EVEN AT A LOST. Many times the sales manager will put a spiff, bonus of cash to the salesperson if they sell today. Other times they may place a large flat commission on the vehicle.
 
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