Mercedes Benz cars (MB) have a different structure of VIN codes for the European and North American markets. The VIN decoder Mercedes can help you with deciphering each of the digit or a letter. The easiest way to distinguish them is to look at the 4th sign of the code. If it is "1" or "2", the car is intended for the European market; If it is a letter (currently "A", "B", "C", "D", "N", "R", "T", "U", "V", "Y"), it was produced for North America. In the latter case, a 100% compliance with the requirements of the standard is ensured.
The Mercedes VIN decoder shows that the codes for the European market do not contain information about the year of release. This can be found on the page of the decoder. This information is available partially for the cars of 1983 - 1999 on different vehicle sites. The use of these sites is almost inevitable for cars produced during this period. In the official catalog for the dealers, such information is often not presented there. If this information is critical for you, it's better to choose the American model.
But please take into account that the date of production is usually given by the Mercedes Benz VIN decoder. And it's not the date of the shipment to the dealer that is available on a data card from authorised dealers. If you want to decode the whole code manually with the help information you collect from various sites, be ready to spend a few days on it. The VIN decoder Mercedes will do the same job is a few seconds and we consider it to be the most efficient method.
Mercedes VIN Numbers
The most common place where you can find a VIN code on any American Mercedes in the dashboard under the windshield near the hood. Depending on the model and the year, there may be other places for the MB VIN numbers such as the chassis' offside B post on the driver's side in a C class models produced after 1993. You can find one more place on the block of the engine over the rear nearside. Each symbol from the code contains some specific information about the car.
The first three characters of the Mercedes Benz VIN number refer to the world manufacturer identifier or WMI in short. With the help of the decoder, you can find out the country where the vehicle was produced, the name of the assembly and the division. Other characters represent the information about the model, the style of the body, the safety equipment. It means you will know the color, the number of seats, the number and the position of the airbags and so on. One of the most important parts of the VIN code is the check number that can show whether the code is valid.
We'd like to pay your attention to the difference between the codes of European and American models of Mercedes. There's no such strict rules and laws that could regulate the implementation of the codes. It means that manufacturers can use the VIN code as they want and exclude some important items from it by replacing them with the letter Z.
If you want to have the VIN that can provide the full data about the car, it's better to choose the American model of Mercedes. Another thing that can spoil the driving is the position of the wheel. There are countries with the left side traffic and Mercedes manufacturer produces the cars with the wheel on the right for them.
Mercedes Sample VIN
- WDDSJ4GB4JN525528 — 2018 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class CLA250 4MATIC (2.0L L4 DOHC 16V), SEDAN 4-DR
- 4JGDF2EEXEA339197 — 2014 Mercedes-Benz GL-Class GL350 BlueTEC (3.0L V6 DOHC 24V TURBO DIESEL), SPORT UTILITY 4-DR
- WDDGF8BB9BR164541 — 2011 Mercedes-Benz C-Class C300 4MATIC Luxury Sedan (3.0L V6 DOHC 24V), SEDAN 4-DR
- WDDNG77X08A152742 — 2008 Mercedes-Benz S-Class S63 AMG (6.2L V8 DOHC 32V), SEDAN 4-DR
- WDBSK75F64F071231 — 2004 Mercedes-Benz SL-Class SL500 (5.0L V8 DOHC 32V), CONVERTIBLE 2-DR
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