Vehicle Identification Numbers: A VIN-Win Situation

With digitisation of taxes, registration detail, insurance and now pollution control certificates under a single window portal, the Vehicle Identification Number or VIN is now the key to the process of finding or verifying information and other matters like claims settlements by insurance companies, mortgages hypothecation or police cases details.  

VIN comprises 17 characters. This serial code can be broken into the following three sections for classification.

Manufacturer Identifier: The first three characters of the VIN fall under this category. It is also known as the WMI code. These characters are used to find out about the vehicle manufacturer and the country of origin

Vehicle Descriptor Section: Characters four to nine form the descriptions like the model of the vehicle, body type, etc.

Vehicle Identification Section: Characters 10 to 17 form the Vehicle Identifier Section. This offers clear identification of a vehicle by providing information about the engine, transmission, model year, and plant code.

Using the VIN, the details of the chassis numbers of two-wheelers can be checked online from its registration number.

However, only authorised users such as banks, insurance companies or authorised agencies can check the details online by logging on to the system and searching using the registration number of the vehicle.