What is the meaning of BMW's 17-digit VIN?
2 Answers
The meaning of BMW's 17-digit VIN is as follows: 1. The meanings are as follows: The first digit identifies the country/region of origin: L stands for China, J stands for Japan. The second digit identifies the vehicle manufacturer. The third digit identifies the manufacturer's internal division or conventional vehicle type. The fourth digit represents the code for vehicle weight or horsepower. The fifth digit identifies the vehicle's chassis type. The sixth digit is a special code used by the manufacturer and can also identify the specific model of the vehicle. The seventh digit can be used to identify the body type. The eighth digit provides information about the engine. The ninth digit is always a check digit. The tenth digit is the model year code. The eleventh digit is the plant code, indicating the assembly plant of the vehicle. The last six digits (i.e., 12-17) are the production sequence number. 2. Additional information: Illegal characters in the VIN include O, Q, I, 0. The letter Z is invalid in the year position. The ninth digit can only be a number from 0-9 or the uppercase letter X. The last four digits must all be numbers and cannot be letters.
As a BMW owner, I'm very familiar with the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), which serves as the car's ID card. The 17-digit code is segmented for interpretation: the first three digits are the WMI code, with BMW commonly using 'WBA' or 'WBS' to denote standard models and M-series performance cars respectively; digits four to nine describe vehicle characteristics, such as the fourth digit identifying whether it's a 3 Series or X5, while the fifth and sixth digits relate to engine and transmission configurations; the tenth digit indicates the model year, with letters cyclically reused (e.g., 'M' corresponds to 1991 or 2021); the eleventh digit identifies the assembly plant, such as '1' for Dingolfing, Germany, and 'A' for Spartanburg, USA; the last six digits are the unique serial number for each vehicle. Understanding the VIN helps with maintenance part lookup or fraud prevention during buying/selling—like verifying the year to detect tampering in used cars. Remember, the VIN is located on the rear windshield or door frame, and online decoding tools can quickly provide detailed information.
