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According to what I have read about the vehicle identification number encoding (model year)

One consistent element of the VIS is the 10th digit, which is required worldwide to encode the model year of the vehicle. Besides the three letters that are not allowed in the VIN itself (I, O and Q), the letters U and Z and the digit 0 are not used for the model year code. The year code is the model year for the vehicle.

However in the documents about a Fiat Qubo vehicle I read this VIN: ZFA225000-0-0138627

It appears to me that it contradicts the rule, as its 10th digit is a either 0(zero) or O(letter oh), of which both should not appear here, (i.e. I read the VIN visually and hence the uncertainty about the 0/O situation, which either way should be "wrong", right?)

Not only wikipedia, but also this source https://researchmaniacs.com/VIN/VIN-Decoder.html mentions 0/O being not correct in that location.

Background: The VIN is from an Italian car, from an Italian manufacturer, offered to me in Italy, from an Italian person.

Hence I imagine:

  1. Wikipedia and the other source being inaccurate (i.e. 0 may appear in the 10th position of the VIN), or
  2. Fiat made a mistake
  3. The documents are maybe counterfeit?
humanityANDpeace
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1 Answers1

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The Wikipedia link you gave says clearly that

  • There are (at least four) different standards for the VIN.
  • The EU and North America use different standards.
  • The European standard does not have explicit "model year" and "plant code" fields. Characters 10-17 simply provide "clear identification of a particular vehicle".

FWIW my Fiat (bought new from a reputable UK dealer) also has a zero in position 10 of the VIN.

Since in the UK (at least) the VIN is included on national databases (e.g. vehicle registration and annual safety checks) it is highly unlikely that "Fiat made a mistake" either globally, or on one individual car (or two individual cars, if you claim my VIN is also wrong!)

alephzero
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