VIN decode (PRO)

Type a 17-character VIN and GarageManager fills in make, model, year, engine, body style, and country of manufacture for you. Saves typing, and stops the small mistakes (wrong year, wrong engine) that turn into wrong parts.

How to use it

1. Open a client and click + Add vehicle, or open an existing vehicle.
2. Type or paste the 17-character VIN into the VIN field.
3. Click Decode.
4. The make, model, year, and other fields fill in. Review and edit if anything is wrong, then save.

How the decode works

GM tries two sources in order:

1. NHTSA (primary). The free US government database. Best for US-market vehicles — returns full specs.
2. SA-priority WMI fallback. When NHTSA does not know the vehicle (common for Asian, EU, and Chinese imports), GM looks up the first three characters of the VIN — the World Manufacturer Identifier — against a 50-entry table covering Honda Asia, Toyota Thailand, Suzuki/Maruti India, Mahindra, Tata, Hyundai/Kia Korea, EU and Chinese makers, and SA-built vehicles. You get make and country at minimum, and the year is decoded from the 10th VIN character.

What we do not check

GM validates the VIN format (17 characters, ISO 3779 layout) but does not enforce the checksum digit. Strict checksum validation would lock out roughly 30% of SA-imported premium cars whose VINs do not match the official spec — which would be worse than letting a rare typo through. If the decoded make and model look wrong, the first thing to check is whether the VIN was entered correctly.

If it does not decode

• Check the VIN is exactly 17 characters with no spaces.
• Letters I, O, and Q are not used in VINs — if you see one, you are reading a different character.
• If both lookups fail, you can still save the vehicle by typing the make, model, and year yourself.