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VIN Decoder

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Decode VINs in bulk: year, make, model, trim, engine, transmission, drive, body and plant for every 17-character VIN, plus NHTSA recalls, owner complaints, NCAP crash ratings and EPA fuel economy. No login or API key needed.

🚗 VIN Decoder

Paste a list of VINs and get one clean row per vehicle: year, make, model, trim, body, engine, fuel, transmission, drive, plant and safety equipment, plus every NHTSA recall campaign, owner complaint totals, NCAP 5-Star crash ratings and EPA fuel economy. Thousands of VINs per run, no login or API key, $1.25 per 1,000 decoded VINs with platform usage included.

✨ Why use VIN Decoder?

  • 📋 Bulk by design: paste 3 VINs or 30,000 in one run; lookups shared by VINs of the same model are done once, so fleet lists stay fast.
  • 🧩 Everything in one row: specs from the NHTSA vPIC decoder, recalls, complaints, crash ratings and MPG, joined for you.
  • 🎯 Matched to the right variant: crash ratings and fuel economy are picked by doors, cab, drive, cylinders, displacement and transmission, and the row says whether the EPA match was exact or the closest one.
  • ✅ Check digit and year checks: every VIN gets a check-digit verdict, the country of its maker code and, when the year code is ambiguous, the alternative model year.
  • 🛟 Robust: retries on slow public services, partial blocks instead of failed rows, and a clear note in errors when a lookup did not answer.
  • 💵 Simple price: one event per decoded VIN; entries that are not VINs are skipped and cost nothing.

🎯 Use cases

  • 🏪 Used-car listings: auto-fill year, make, model, trim, body, engine and drive when a seller types a VIN, and show open recall campaigns and known complaint areas.
  • 🚚 Fleet management: run the fleet's VINs on a schedule and get every recall campaign with its remedy and date for each vehicle.
  • 🛡️ Insurance and warranty: cylinders, displacement, horsepower, GVWR class, safety equipment and NCAP stars for underwriting and quoting.
  • 🔧 Parts and service: engine model, transmission and drive type to pick the right parts or service plan.
  • 📊 Market research: decode registration or auction lists to count makes, models, plants, fuel types and electrification levels.
  • 🌱 Emissions and cost reporting: EPA combined MPG, CO2 per mile and annual fuel cost for each vehicle in a portfolio.

🚀 How to use

  1. Open the actor and paste your VINs under VINs, one per line (lower case, spaces and dashes are fine).
  2. Optional: add a model year after a VIN (1HGCM82633A004352 2003) when you know it.
  3. Under Data to include, keep recalls, complaints, crash ratings and fuel economy on, or turn some off for a faster run.
  4. Click Start. Rows appear as each batch of 50 VINs is done.
  5. Export the results as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML, or read them through the API. The Recalls view lists one row per recall campaign.

📥 Input

FieldTypeWhat it does
vinsarray of stringsVINs to decode, one per line. A model year may follow the VIN. vin (a single string) is accepted too.
includeRecallsbooleanNHTSA recall campaigns (default on).
includeComplaintsbooleanNHTSA owner complaint totals (default on).
includeSafetyRatingsbooleanNCAP 5-Star crash ratings (default on).
includeFuelEconomybooleanEPA fuel economy (default on).
includeRawFieldsbooleanEvery non-empty NHTSA decode field under nhtsa_raw (default off).
proxyConfigurationobjectScrape.ly datacenter proxy by default.
{
  "vins": ["1HGCM82633A004352", "5YJ3E1EA2KF317000", "1FTFW1ET9DFC10312"],
  "includeRecalls": true,
  "includeComplaints": true,
  "includeSafetyRatings": true,
  "includeFuelEconomy": true
}

📤 Output

One row per VIN. Main fields:

FieldDescription
vin, check_digit_validThe VIN and whether position 9 matches the computed check digit
year, year_altModel year, and the other possible year when the code is ambiguous
make, model, trim, seriesIdentification
body_class, vehicle_type, manufacturerBody and maker
country, region, wmiCountry and continent of the maker code
specsDoors, seats, engine (cylinders, litres, cc, HP, kW, model, configuration), fuel, electrification and battery, transmission, drive, cab and bed, wheelbase, weights, airbags, safety_features (ABS, ESC, AEB, lane and blind-spot systems...), plant city, state and country
recall_count, recallsEvery recall campaign: number, date, component, summary, consequence, remedy, park-it and over-the-air flags
complaintsComplaint count, crashes, fires, injuries, deaths, top 10 components, first and last filing date
safety_ratingNCAP overall, frontal, side, side pole and rollover stars, rollover risk, ESC/FCW/LDW, investigation count, crash-test picture
fuel_economyEPA city/highway/combined MPG, annual fuel cost, CO2 g/mile, EPA scores, fuel, drive, class, transmission; EV range, kWh/100 mi and charge time for electric cars; match = exact or closest
sources, errors, nhtsa_noteWhich lookups answered, which did not, and NHTSA's own decode notes

Example row (2003 Honda Accord coupe; the recalls list and the complaint components are shortened here):

{
  "vin": "1HGCM82633A004352",
  "valid_format": true,
  "check_digit_valid": true,
  "year": 2003,
  "year_alt": null,
  "make": "HONDA",
  "model": "Accord",
  "trim": "EX-V6",
  "body_class": "Coupe",
  "vehicle_type": "PASSENGER CAR",
  "manufacturer": "AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR CO., INC.",
  "country": "United States",
  "region": "North America",
  "wmi": "1HG",
  "specs": {
    "body_class": "Coupe",
    "doors": 2,
    "engine_cylinders": 6,
    "engine_displacement_l": 2.999,
    "engine_hp": 240,
    "engine_fuel": "Gasoline",
    "engine_configuration": "V-Shaped",
    "engine_model": "J30A4",
    "transmission_style": "Automatic",
    "transmission_speeds": 5,
    "gvwr_class": "Class 1C: 4,001 - 5,000 lb (1,814 - 2,268 kg)",
    "plant_city": "MARYSVILLE",
    "plant_state": "OHIO",
    "plant_country": "UNITED STATES (USA)"
  },
  "recall_count": 24,
  "recalls": [
    {
      "campaign_number": "19V182000",
      "report_received_date": "2019-03-06",
      "component": "AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:DRIVER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE",
      "remedy": "Honda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver's air bag inflator with an alternate inflator, free of charge. ...",
      "park_it": false,
      "over_the_air_update": false
    }
  ],
  "complaints": {
    "count": 2013,
    "crashes": 158,
    "fires": 19,
    "injuries": 157,
    "deaths": 1,
    "top_components": [{"component": "POWER TRAIN", "mentions": 926}, {"component": "AIR BAGS", "mentions": 324}],
    "first_filed": "2002-07-15",
    "last_filed": "2026-06-27",
    "model_matched": "Accord"
  },
  "safety_rating": {
    "vehicle_id": 4739,
    "description": "2003 Honda Accord 2-DR. w/SAB",
    "front_driver": 5,
    "front_passenger": 5,
    "rollover": 4,
    "investigation_count": 5
  },
  "fuel_economy": {
    "epa_vehicle_id": 18657,
    "variant_text": "Auto 5-spd, 6 cyl, 3.0 L",
    "mpg_city": 19,
    "mpg_highway": 27,
    "mpg_combined": 22,
    "annual_fuel_cost_usd": 2750,
    "co2_g_per_mile": 403.95,
    "fuel_type": "Regular Gasoline",
    "vehicle_class": "Midsize Cars",
    "match": "exact"
  },
  "sources": ["nhtsa_vpic", "nhtsa_recalls", "nhtsa_complaints", "nhtsa_ncap", "epa_fuel_economy"],
  "errors": [],
  "nhtsa_note": null
}

The run also writes a SUMMARY record with the number of VINs decoded, the entries that were skipped as not a VIN (with the reason) and any lookups that did not answer.

💰 Pricing

  • $0.00125 per decoded VIN, which is $1.25 per 1,000 VINs, on every plan.
  • Platform usage (compute and proxy) is included: the per-VIN price is all you pay.
  • Recalls, complaints, crash ratings and fuel economy are included in that price.
  • Entries that are not a VIN, duplicates and VINs NHTSA could not be reached for are not charged.

Example: a fleet list of 10,000 VINs costs $12.50.

❓ FAQ

Is it legal? Yes. The actor reads public US government vehicle data (NHTSA and EPA) that is published for anyone to use. Check your own use of the results against the laws that apply to you.

Do I need a login, an API key or a proxy? No. Nothing to sign up for; the Scrape.ly datacenter proxy is set by default.

How many VINs can I decode in one run? As many as you like. VINs are decoded in batches of 50 and saved as they finish. In our tests 1,000 VINs took about 80 seconds and 10,000 VINs of 65 different models under 4 minutes.

Does it work for European or Asian VINs? Partly. NHTSA's database covers vehicles sold in the United States, including most imported models. For a VIN of a model that was never sold there you usually get make, manufacturer, country and model year (and NHTSA's note), while recalls, complaints, crash ratings and fuel economy stay empty.

Why are recalls matched on the model and not the exact VIN? NHTSA publishes recall campaigns by model year, make and model. A campaign can cover only part of a model's production, so check the campaign number with the manufacturer or NHTSA for a specific car.

What if a field is empty? The source has no value for that vehicle (older vehicles carry fewer decoded fields, NCAP rates only some models). If a lookup did not answer, the row says so in errors.

Can I schedule it or call it from code? Yes. Schedule runs in the console, or start them through the Scrape.ly API and read the dataset as JSON or CSV.

⚠️ Limits

  • Recalls, complaints and crash ratings are matched on model year, make and model (and the closest body, cab and drive variant), not on the VIN's production range.
  • Vehicle history (title, liens, accidents, odometer, owners) is not included.
  • NCAP overall ratings exist from model year 2011; older vehicles keep their frontal, side and rollover ratings where NHTSA has them.
  • EPA fuel economy covers model year 1984 and later. When several EPA variants fit equally well, the first closest one is returned with match = closest.
  • VINs from before 1981 (not 17 characters) are not supported.

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