RV & trailer VIN decoder
A recreational vehicle has one of two kinds of VIN. A towable — travel trailer, fifth wheel, pop-up — carries its own, issued by the company that built it. A motorhome carries the chassis maker's VIN, and the coach builder adds a second label. Paste either and see what NHTSA holds, including the gross weight rating that matters most.
17 characters. Towables: the plate on the roadside (left) front of the trailer or the A-frame tongue. Motorhomes: the driver's door jamb or dash, exactly as on a truck.
Where the number is
Travel trailer or fifth wheel
A federal certification label on the roadside front of the body, and the VIN plate riveted to the A-frame tongue or, on a fifth wheel, near the pin box.
Motorhome
The chassis maker's VIN on the driver's door jamb or the dash plate, as on any truck. The coach builder's final-stage label — usually inside a cabinet door or beside the driver's seat — repeats it and adds the finished weight ratings.
Which one is on the title
The chassis VIN. So a Winnebago on a Ford chassis decodes as a Ford incomplete vehicle: that is correct, not a mistake. The coach itself is identified by the builder's own serial on its label.
What a VIN decode cannot tell you
Source: free federal toolsEverything the decoder shows is what the manufacturer built and filed with the federal government. What happened afterwards — title brands, odometer readings at each transfer, insurance total-loss and salvage records — lives in state DMV records, which reach the public through the federal NMVTIS system. WhichTrim does not sell those reports and takes no commission from anyone who does.
RV recalls come from two directions: the chassis maker files against the chassis VIN, the coach builder files against the finished vehicle. NHTSA's lookup takes the VIN on the title.
Recalls for this exact VIN
Decode it above and the WhichTrim recall report lists every recall filed against its build, sets aside the ones that name a different engine or drive, and narrows the rest to its build month off the door-jamb label.
Decode a VINBefore you buy it
The Car Check reads the model year’s whole federal record for you: the verdict, what breaks and at what mileage, whether the maker pays, and the year to buy instead.
The Car Check, $9.99After you own it
Add the car to a free Garage and WhichTrim emails you the day a new recall, bulletin or coverage extension is filed against it.
Your GarageA decode is one moment. A recall can land next month.
Campaigns are filed every week against model years already on the road. Recall Watch re-checks your RV against the federal record every night and emails you the morning something changes — with the severity, any park-outside or do-not-drive flag, and both links that can settle it for your VIN. On the 1st of each month it sends a statement for the month just ended.
Lot
50 vehicles, watched nightly.
Dealer
500 vehicles, watched nightly.
Fleet
5,000 vehicles, watched nightly.
The free tier is the whole product, not a trial — no card, no clock, and every feature the paid plans have — alerts, the dated log, the monthly statement, the per-vehicle disclosure document and webhook delivery. Paid plans exist only because some people have more than ten vehicles.
How a VIN is put together
Source: ISO 3779 / NHTSA| Position | Section | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | World manufacturer identifier | Who built it and where. 1, 4 and 5 are the United States, 2 Canada, 3 Mexico, J Japan, K South Korea, W Germany, S the United Kingdom. |
| 4–8 | Vehicle descriptor | Model, body style, restraint system, engine — the section that makes a VIN say which car this is rather than which unit. |
| 9 | Check digit | A checksum of the other sixteen characters. A VIN that fails it has been mistyped or invented. |
| 10 | Model year | A letter or digit, not the year itself: N is 2022, P 2023, R 2024, S 2025, T 2026. I, O, Q, U and Z are never used. |
| 11 | Assembly plant | The manufacturer's code for the factory that built this vehicle. |
| 12–17 | Serial number | The unit's own sequence number on that line. |
Decoding something else?
Common questions
Source: NHTSA vPIC, 49 CFR Part 565Why does my motorhome decode as a Ford, a Freightliner or a Mercedes-Benz?
Because that is whose VIN it is. A motorhome is built on an incomplete vehicle — a chassis the chassis maker certifies and assigns the VIN to — and the coach builder completes it and adds a final-stage label. The VIN on the title is the chassis maker's, so the decode names the chassis. The coach builder is on the label inside the vehicle.
What does a travel trailer VIN decode to?
The trailer maker, model year, trailer type (ball hitch, fifth wheel, gooseneck), the body type, the length, the number of axles and the gross vehicle weight rating. The GVWR is the figure to match against the tow vehicle's rating.
Where is the VIN on a trailer?
On the federal certification label on the roadside (driver's side) front of the body, and on a plate riveted to the A-frame tongue. Fifth wheels usually carry it near the pin box.
Who files RV recalls?
Both parties. The chassis maker files recalls against the chassis (engine, brakes, steering); the coach builder files against the finished vehicle (slide-outs, propane, electrical, awnings). NHTSA's lookup by the VIN on the title returns both.
Is my VIN stored?
No. The decode runs in your browser against NHTSA's public database. WhichTrim never receives it.