A Vehicle Identification Number, commonly abbreviated to VIN (but sometimes incorrectly referred to as VIN number), is a unique serial number used by the automotive industry to identify individual motor vehicles. Prior to 1981, there was no accepted standard for these numbers, so different manufacturers used different formats.
Since 1981, VINs consist of 17 characters which do not include the letters I (i), O (o), or Q (q) (to avoid confusion with numerals 1 and 0).
There are vehicle history services in several countries that can help potential car owners use VINs to find lemons and branded vehicles. See the used car article for a list of countries where this service is available.
Source: Wikipedia
