Car Talk
Ways To Tell The Month, Year That Your Car Was Made
Sometimes, it’s necessary to find the manufacturing date of a vehicle. You may want to purchase a used car or need replacement parts to fix a problem. Knowing the car was made is also an important safety consideration because the automakers may recall a specific model produced in a particular period. How to tell what month your car was made in? Well, there are a couple of ways to find out the manufacturing date.
How to Tell What Month Your Car Was Made In?
You’re going to discuss two methods for finding out the exact manufacturing date of your car.
Finding from a Sticker
Most vehicles have a sticker attached to the body frame containing the manufacturing date along with some other important information. You’ll find the sticker on the inside of the driver’s door. It is supposed to be near the door latch where the U-shaped bolt is located. There could be more than one sticker and you have to check the one that has the Safety Standard Certification Label and a bar code. It could also have the VIN number of the car.
The production date and month are likely to be on the first line of the sticker. It could be right after the name of the company and look something like “6/’01”, or “June 2001”. This label will most probably be at a vertical position and you may need a magnifying glass for a better visual.
Finding from the VIN
Each vehicle’s VIN (vehicle identification number) is exclusive. This alphanumeric code can be of 17 or 19 letters/digits. No two VIN codes will ever match and this number cannot be faked.
The VIN contains loads of information about a particular model. You can find the automaker’s name, plant’s name where the vehicle was made, country of origin, model year, engine size, and plenty of other information.
You can find the VIN number in a sticker attached to the driver-side door or imprinted on a dashboard plate near the windshield. It could be engraved on the engine’s firewall too. Here’s how to decode the VIN:
Decoding Manually
It’s not possible to decode the VIN just by looking at it unless you already know the meanings assigned to the numbers and letters.
The letter on the 10th position basically indicates the model year. The model year from 2010 to 2030 is denoted in a serial from the letter “A” to “Y” (excluding the letters “I”, “O”, and “Q”).
Decoding via an Online Tool
How to tell what month your car was made in without manual decoding? Well, you can use an online tool. You just have to put the code in the designated box and the tool will show all the available information. One popular free search tool can be found on the website of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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