How to Read a Cargo Trailer Vin

In comparison to passenger vehicles with currently 40 manufacturers, trailers are made by hundreds of manufacturers in North America and each has numerous configurations. Commercial VIN decoding solutions for trailers are rare because of the effort required to obtain this data also as the differences in how the VIN is used. Still, they do exist!

Equally you search for the all-time commercial trailer VIN decoding solution, it'south of import that you empathise what data tin exist obtained from the VIN. In this article, we will cover the central information you lot need to know about trailer VIN decoding, including where you tin discover the VIN, which details tin can and cannot exist identified by VIN, and which details are sometimes, only not consistently, encoded.

What is a trailer VIN and what'due south captured?

Just like a vehicle VIN number, a trailer VIN is a unique identifier of the trailer. The NHTSA requires all trailers destined for traveling on the road to be assigned a 17-digit VIN. Though both vehicles and trailers are required to have VINs, what's encoded within those 17 characters varies quite a bit given their obvious differences. Below is the breakdown of a typical trailer VIN and you tin view the breakdown of a vehicle VIN number here.

trailer-vin-updated

Please note that the messages I, O, and Q volition never appear on a trailer (or vehicle) VIN because they tin can go mixed up with the numbers 0 and i.

Here is a detailed breakdown of a trailer VIN:

World Manufacturer Identifier (ane-3)

Positions 1-iii are the visitor identifier characters, also known as the World Manufacturer Identifier (WMI). These outset three characters cover the make of the trailer and the country it was manufactured in.

Brand / Land of Manufacture

Position 1 identifies the land in which the trailer was manufactured. Coupling position 1 with position eleven (Plant) allows for greater specificity of the bodily location down to the urban center and state.

Positions ane-3 are all used to place the manufacturer (besides known as the make) of the trailer, unless the tertiary position is the character "9". Position 3 will always have the number 9 for smaller manufacturers who make less than 1000 trailers per year and share the WMI with other small manufacturers. Identifying these companies by VIN is nonetheless possible, notwithstanding, it would require a change of VIN decoding structure.  Therefore, most trailer VIN decoding solutions don't support coverage of these manufacturers.

Vehicle Descriptor Section (4-8)

Positions four-8 make up the Vehicle Descriptor Section which is dedicated to providing certain key specifications on the trailer. This section is subject to vary across manufacturers and trailer types, however, there are certain fields such as trailer type, length, and number of axles that are required. Hither'south what a typical vehicle descriptor department will look like:

Trailer Blazon / Attachment (Product Line)

Positions 4 and 5 are the trailer product line characters. The product line is made up of the trailer attachment blazon (ex. kingpin, ball, gooseneck, etc) and trailer blazon (ex. platform/flatbed, utility, dump, vehicle carrier, etc).

Trailer Length

Positions half-dozen and 7 encode the length of the trailer. Although these ii characters are typically both numeric (such equally the VIN sample in a higher place), they do non necessarily represent the length (45ft.). Instead, they are simply characters used to encode the length. In most cases, the trailer will accept a unmarried length, typically rounded to the nearest foot. However, in that location are some exceptions where the manufacturer volition give a length range, for example, a 2009 Wells Cargo utility trailer with a length range of 16-19ft.

Number of Axles

Position 8 is where the number of axles is encoded. The axle count may be useful within taxation / registration fee scenarios by state agencies, or for insurance purposes.

Remaining Characters (9-17)

The residue of the VIN is made up of the check digit, model year, establish, and serial number.

Cheque Digit (9)

Position 9 is the bank check digit. The check digit helps verify the validity of a given VIN number using a cheque sum algorithm put in identify by the NHTSA in 1981. Some of the most common reasons for failing the bank check sum test are due to typos in the VIN, invalid characters, or missing characters.

Year of Manufacture (10)

Position 10 is where the year the trailer was manufactured is encoded.

Production Plant (11)

Position 11 indicates which establish the trailer was manufactured at.

Serial Number (12-17)

Merely like any other 17-digit VIN number, the last 6 positions (12-17) are the trailer's serial number. The serial number is what makes each VIN unique, since the VIN design or squish (positions 1-eight, ten, and 11) will be the same, for the about part, for multiple VINs representing the same trailer model in a given year.

Where is the VIN located?

A trailer'due south VIN number is near commonly located near the attachment point of the vehicle and trailer. This could be on the framerail or directly on the body of sure trailer types, and will likely be found in ane of these three forms:

  • In the trailer identifier plate/plaque along with all the other trailer information, including the model number and certain specifications.
  • Printed on a VIN sticker. Some manufacturers practice this, despite it existence more susceptible to damage or loss.
  • Stamped directly into the metal of the trailer. This method is not the all-time since information technology tin be hard to read as the trailer wears over fourth dimension.

What other information can a trailer VIN decoding solution identify?

Equally shown in the trailer VIN breakdown above, year, make, trailer attachment, trailer blazon, length, axles, and production plant can all exist identified from the trailer's VIN solitary. However, some trailer VIN decoding solutions, including DataOne's, can identify some additional coincident data that appears for certain trailers, such as trailer material (ex. aluminum, steel), liquid/dry volume (for tanker/dry out bulk trailers), and DOT specification (for tanker/dry bulk trailers). The DOT specification will be specially valuable for registration and insurance companies and can be identified nigh fifty% of the fourth dimension for tanker/dry out majority trailers by VIN squish (also known equally VIN design).

Upfitting

In many cases, a trailer will be customized after manufacturing. For example, a trailer might be manufactured as a utility trailer so afterwards upfitted as a specialized woodchipper. Unfortunately, this information cannot be identified by VIN since the VIN is assigned at time of manufacturing.

Where tin I decode trailers?

Every bit mentioned previously, in that location aren't many options for trailer VIN decoding on the market today. For single trailer decodes, a costless decoder on a website such as the NHTSA or DMV will be your best pick. As for trailer VIN decoding solutions that can be licensed via a web service API or delivered database, those are fifty-fifty harder to come past from a reliable commercial source.

DataOne provides a trailer VIN decoding solution which covers over 800 trailer manufacturers destined for apply in the U.S. market back to model twelvemonth 1981 (when the NHTSA standardized the 17-digit VIN). This is the ideal business concern solution, giving the stop-user flexibility to decode VINs in real time or through batch processing.

Decision

It is important to understand what information is and isn't available from a trailer VIN to set up correct expectations for your business case. While a great deal of information can be tied to some brands of trailers, it's practiced to know that in your best-case scenario you'll likely exist able to rely on simply the post-obit fields: year, make, type, subtype, trailer zipper blazon, length range, and axle count.

It is also of import to understand what kind of coverage would be needed by a potential information source to be considered comprehensive enough for your requirements. A quick check of manufacturer coverage and types of trailers should yield numbers in the range of 800+ manufacturers and as many as 50 unlike trailer types/subtypes. Given the level of upfitting (post-factory), the VIN volition non be able to identify every spec of the trailer as it has been upfitted but will be helpful for identifying some of the key data related to the specification as information technology left the manufactory.

If your business or agency is looking for a commercial VIN decoding solution, we promise this article is of use to you lot equally yous shop for a commercial source to meet your unique needs. Of course, we would be happy to help!

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Source: https://vin.dataonesoftware.com/vin_basics_blog/trailer-vin-decoding-solutions-for-your-business

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