BMW VIN Decoder
Paste a 17-character BMW VIN and get the model, year, engine and assembly plant — plus the original factory brochure for your exact car.
17 characters, no spaces. We never store the VINs you enter.
What a BMW VIN tells you
Every BMW carries a 17-character Vehicle Identification Number. The first three characters identify the manufacturer and where the car was built, characters four to eight describe the model and engine, the ninth is a check digit, the tenth is the model year and the eleventh is the assembly plant. The last six are the serial number.
Where to find it
On the windscreen at the base of the driver’s side, on the door jamb sticker, in the service book and on the insurance documents. On older cars it is also stamped in the engine bay.
Why the check digit sometimes fails
The check digit is mandatory for cars built for North America. European-market cars often do not follow the same rule, so a mismatch there is normal rather than a sign of a typo.