Is a the vehicle manufacture month/year encoded in the VIN somehow? I
mean, is it possible to figure out from the VIN which month the
vehicle was manufactured on? (w/o having to use a service like Carfax.)

bubbabubbs (AT) yahoo (DOT) com wrote:
Yes.

"Paul" <me (AT) this_here (DOT) tv> wrote

Actaully the simple answer should be NO.

The date of manufacture is not encoded in the VIN. The model year and
the production sequence number is, but that can't be used to figure
out the actual date of manufacture without access to the manufacturr's
database. Therefore, you cannot directly "figure out from the VIN
which month the vehicle was manufactured on [in]." A dealer could
probably look it up if you give them the VIN. However, the date of
manufacture will be on the vehicle certification label, usually on the
drives door frame.

Ed

On Mar 19, 12:58*pm, bubbabu... (AT) yahoo (DOT) com wrote:
Look under the hood or on the drivers door for the date. It should
have the month & year if you door hasn't been replaced.

Here is an example of what the VIN shows:

VIN: 1GCGC24R8XR720162
1999 Chevrolet - C2500 Base
VIN Specifications
Country UNITED STATES
Make Chevrolet
Vehicle Type Pickup Truck
GVWR Class Class G: 8,001-9,000 lb
Model C2500
Body Type 2 Door Cab; Regular
Engine Type V8, 5.7L; CPI
Check Digit 8
Model Year 1999
Assy. Plant Arlington, TX
Production Seq. Number 720162
Brake System Hydraulic
Trim Level Base
Drive Line Type RWD
Series 3/4 ton
Vehicle Class Full-size Pickup
Engine Series Code WRN L31
Fuel Type Gasoline
Manufacturer General Motors Corporation
Engine Code R
AAIA 44198/5896
AAIA_ENG 1290/8943
AAIA_LEGACY 1353013/1440687

C. E. White wrote:
I agree. I read it wrong. The vin only gives the model year, not the mfg date,

bubbabubbs (AT) yahoo (DOT) com wrote:

Sample:
1GCES64P73B000001

1st char: Country of manufacture (USA 1,4,5, Canada 2, Mexico 3, etc)
2nd : Manufaturer (G - GM, F-Ford, C-Chrysler, etc)
3rd : Vehicle type or manuf. division

These first three characters are known as the WMI for World Manufacturer
Identifier and are assigned by the Society of Automotive Engineers

4th - 8th chars: Identify vehicle features - body style, engine type,
model and series

9th char: Check digit used to verify VIN accuracy

10th char: Model year -- (1981-B 1982-C, 1983-D, 1984-E, 1985-F, 1986-G
1987-H, 1988-J .......1992-N, 1993-P, 2000-Y, 2001-1, 2002-2,...
2009-9, 2010-A. Sequence then repeats. Letters I, O, Q, Z and number
zero are not used)

11th char: Assembly plant (each manufacturer uses its own codes to id
plants)

Last 6 chars: Serial number