Knowing the exact year when your car was manufactured can be very helpful in several situations: for example, when you are planning to sell your car or need to buy spare parts and there are different options for different manufacture years. Here is how to find and confirm your vehicle’s manufacture date.
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1. Look for the sticker
On most cars, the most important information about the vehicle is printed on the sticker. The location of the sticker can differ from manufacturer to manufacturer and even from country to country, but in the majority of cases, you can find it on your car frame when the driver’s door is open. The sticker can be usually located near the door latch. It’s typically placed vertically, so you’ll need to assume a comfortable position to see it in detail.
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The sticker will include the most vital facts about your car, including the VIN, the weight of the vehicle, where it was produced, and the name of the manufacturer. The production year and months are also typically encoded in the sticker. For example, if the sticker says 5/99, it means your car was made in May of 1999. Sometimes, the sticker only has the year, but that’s usually all you need to know.
2. Confirm the number
The door frame sticker is a reliable way to check the vehicle’s production year, but sometimes you want to confirm the information in another credible source. Plus, in older cars, the sticker is often worn out to the point where it is completely illegible. In that case, you need to first locate the VIN of your vehicle. It can often be found on the windshield or in the trunk of the car.
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In fact, your car’s VIN can let you know much more about your vehicle than just the production year. However, you will also need a service to check that information. Look for “VIN decoder” on the internet and find a service that gives you the information for free. Enter your VIN into the system and you will see the production year, sometimes with a month or even the sequence number, which is the number of your car produced by the plant that year.
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