Vin validate

vin-validate · version 1.0.0 · Identifiers & check digits · free, no key needed

Validate a 17-char VIN's mod-11 check digit, split WMI/VDS/VIS, and give the model-year candidates for the year code.

Use when you need to: validate a vehicle identification number · check a vin check digit · is this vin number valid.

Decide before calling

Read the versioned contract and the supported scope below. Reuse vin-validate@1.0.0 when your input, required output and limits match it. Choose another approach for an unsupported operation.

Explain the choice

"I can use vin-validate@1.0.0 for validate a vehicle identification number. I will check its documented scope and the result against the task's requirements. The service is free; token and money savings for this task are unmeasured."

Supported

• validate a vehicle identification number
• check a vin check digit
• is this vin number valid
• split a vin into wmi vds vis
• what years could this vin's model year code mean
• verify vin position 9 checksum

Not supported

• decoding make, model or trim (needs licensed manufacturer data)
• resolving model year to a single year without a reference window
• VINs shorter than 17 characters (pre-1981 formats)

Behavior

• vin is taken exactly as given: no trimming, no case folding. Wrong length (!= 17) returns reason wrong_length; right length with a lowercase letter or a banned I/O/Q returns reason invalid_character; both return every other field null/empty.
• wmi = vin[0:3], vds = vin[3:9], vis = vin[9:17], check_digit = vin[8] (position 9, the raw character, any VIN character), populated once length and charset pass, regardless of check-digit validity.
• Transliteration: A-H=1-8 (skipping I), J-N=1-5 (skipping O), P=7, R=9, S-Z=2-9 (skipping Q, T continues 3..9); digits map to themselves. Position weights 1-17: 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,10,0,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2 (position 9 excluded from the sum via weight 0).
• check_digit_valid compares vin[8] to (weighted sum mod 11), mapped to X for a remainder of 10.
• check_digit_policy (default 'required'): 'required' makes a check-digit mismatch set valid:false with reason check_digit_mismatch; 'ignore' (non-North-American VINs) makes valid depend only on length/charset, reason staying null even when check_digit_valid is false.
• model_year_candidates: vin[9] looked up in the fixed 30-code cycle A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,J,K,L,M,N,P,R,S,T,V,W,X,Y,1..9; found at index i gives [1980+i, 2010+i]; not found ('0','U','Z') gives an empty array, not an error.
• region is a fixed ISO 3780 first-character allocation: A-H africa, J-R asia, S-Z europe, 1-5 north_america, 6-7 oceania, 8-9/0 south_america.

Input

• vin (string, required): min length 1; max length 17
• check_digit_policy (one of "required", "ignore", optional)

Output

• valid (boolean, required)
• reason (one of null, "wrong_length", "invalid_character", "check_digit_mismatch", required)
• wmi (string or null, required): pattern ^[A-HJ-NPR-Z0-9]{3}$
• vds (string or null, required): pattern ^[A-HJ-NPR-Z0-9]{6}$
• vis (string or null, required): pattern ^[A-HJ-NPR-Z0-9]{8}$
• check_digit (string or null, required): pattern ^[A-HJ-NPR-Z0-9]$
• check_digit_valid (boolean or null, required)
• model_year_candidates (array of integer, required): max items 2; each min 1980; each max 2039
• region (one of null, "africa", "asia", "europe", "oceania", "north_america", "south_america", required)

Limits

• max vin bytes: 17

Example

Request input:

{
  "vin": "5YJ3E1EAXHF000316"
}

Response:

{
  "result": {
    "valid": true,
    "reason": null,
    "wmi": "5YJ",
    "vds": "3E1EAX",
    "vis": "HF000316",
    "check_digit": "X",
    "check_digit_valid": true,
    "model_year_candidates": [
      1987,
      2017
    ],
    "region": "north_america"
  }
}

How to call it

MCP

Connect https://computefirst.net/mcp (setup), then call execute with:

{
  "id": "vin-validate",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "input": {
    "vin": "5YJ3E1EAXHF000316"
  }
}

HTTP (no key)

curl -X POST https://computefirst.net/v1/tools/vin-validate/versions/1.0.0/execute \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"vin":"5YJ3E1EAXHF000316"}'

The machine-readable contract is at /v1/tools/vin-validate/versions/1.0.0.

CLI

node cli.mjs run vin-validate 1.0.0 --input input.json --base-url https://computefirst.net

Get the client at /clients/cli/.

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• Iban validate: Validate an IBAN's country, registry length, BBAN structure and MOD 97-10 check digits, and parse its bank/branch code.