Number's Up For VIN Plate

Worldwide demand for new cars is so high that we are running out of vehicle identification numbers (VINs). Each motor's 17-character code is unique - but they are being used up so quickly that soon there will be none left.

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By Max Glaskin

14th July 2004

Theoretically, there's an astronomical number of choices, but they have been chopped into blocks for different countries, years, manufacturers, factories and models. This has drastically reduced the totals each nation can use.

Now the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the world body responsible for allocating the numbers, wants to change the 21-year-old system - but it's not as simple as just adding an extra digit. Car companies fear making the code longer could upset the computerised records they use to track production and to issue recalls.

"It would be worse than the millennium bug scare, and could cost millions to alter our software," said one firm's spokesman, who didn't want to be named. The industry's best brains are looking into the shortage, which has caught car makers by surprise. "There should be more than enough to last our lifetimes and longer," said the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. One idea is to reuse old VINs, but the AA has warned the uniqueness of each VIN protects buyers. "It's the car's fingerprint," said a spokesman. Another alternative is for big car making countries to use the VINs of smaller producers, but the potential for confusion is huge.