The V.I.N. (Vehicle Identification Number) is important for many reasons. Proof of ownership, insurance and registration are just a few, but it may also help when it comes to getting the right parts.
On nearly all motorcycles the V.I.N. is located on the steering head. The steering head is the large round part in the front that houses where the handlebars and fork assembly come together. On ATVs it can be a variety of places. It will be stamped into the frame somewhere. Most often its on a frame rail anywhere from someplace close to a footpeg, or on the same rail leading up to the steering head, or an a cross brace on the front of the ATV.
On occasion specific information is needed to determine which part needs to be ordered by the dealer. Most hard parts are common to a specific year or model but sometimes a V.I.N. is needed to get the proper parts, and sometimes to even get them at all. Parts susceptible to this caveat includes electrical parts, painted parts, frames and/or parts reserved for special vehicles such as police vehicles or high performance models.
Many times when you are asked for the V.I.N., it’s to identify the exact model you are buying parts for. Most factories use the tenth digit of the V.I.N. to identify the model year. It’s not uncommon for people to get confused about the year because if the production date of the vehicle is later in the year, it could be a new model designated for the following year. Once you get the V.I.N., a simple phone call to your local dealer can often clear up any confusion about the vehicle you have and/or the parts that you need. 99 times out of 100 the V.I.N. is never needed to order parts, but it never hurts to be completely sure because most dealers charge a re-stock fee to return parts that are improperly ordered by the customer.
One situation where the V.I.N. can play a crucial part in getting the right part is if the factory used several different suppliers for the same part in the same year. This happens frequently with electrical parts or with new brands of vehicles. In this situation the year model may not offer enough information and they may have to look farther down the V.I.N. to the actual serial number of the vehicle.
The V.I.N. convention for most popular powersports factories lists information in a coded sequence. Digits 1-3 for the country, manufacturer and vehicle type. Digits 4-8 are vehicle descriptors that are used in different manners from one factory to the next. Digit 9 is a check digit that serves to verify the rest of the codes. Digit 10 is the year code. Digit 11 is the factory code representing the factory it in which it was made. The remaining digits are sequential type serial numbers.
There is much more to decoding a V.I.N. The methods vary from factory to factory and can become quite complicated. In any case, the V.I.N. may be hard to read and look like garbldy-gook but it is indeed important and should be documented in a way that is always handy to you.
