vehicle identification number

English

vehicle identification number (plural vehicle identification numbers)

A mandatory unique alphanumeric code (usually 17 characters long) assigned to each vehicle produced, stamped into the metal on the dashboard on the left-hand side (viewable through the windshield), and on the engine block and at least one other place somewhere on the body of the vehicle.
- 1961, American Jurisprudence Proof of Facts, Annotated‎, Bancroft-Whitney Company:
  Seller of used car, who had fraudulently represented to buyer that the vehicle identification number (VIN) had been scratched out under windshield because former owner had been trying to prevent repossession of the car, was liable to buyer for punitive damages, based on having acted willfully or with reckless disregard for the consequences of the seller's conduct, even if the seller had not known the car had been "chop shopped" from two different vehicles.

VIN