Bentley VIN decoder

Bentley's VIN structure is short and strict: one character each for body, engine and restraints, a two-letter type code for cars built for North America and the Gulf, then a fixed zero before a five-digit serial. This Bentley VIN decoder chart follows SCBCW2ZG0VC000001, the example VIN printed in Bentley's 2027 Continental GT filing, so it's a pattern rather than a car on the road.

The engine, plus the emissions standard it's certified to. That's why two letters can stand for one engine: W and U are the same 520 PS V8 hybrid, certified to different standards. Bentley's 2027 filings use seven codes:

Position 4 is the body and position 6 the restraint system, and Bentley assigns both per model line. Code 2 in position 6 means a 4-seat coupe on an SCB VIN but a Bentayga on an SJA VIN, so always read it with the first three characters.

We ran the example VINs from Bentley's 2027 filings through vPIC, the NHTSA database this decoder reads. Each one decoded clean, with error code 0:

Bentley listed this 2020 Continental GT's VIN as the first in one of the VIN ranges in its recall report to NHTSA (recall 21V-550, for a front seat control module that can malfunction). NHTSA's vPIC database returns this for SCBCG2ZG9LC074608:

Bentley Motors Limited holds two codes: SCB for passenger cars and SJA for multipurpose vehicles, which is how NHTSA classes the Bentayga. A vPIC search for manufacturers named Bentley also returns five codes registered to trailer makers, such as Bentley Trailers & Custom Coaches (1B9867); they have nothing to do with the cars. A trailer's VIN belongs on the trailer VIN decoder.

vPIC lists 12 model names under Bentley, from the Eight, Turbo, Arnage, Azure, Brooklands and Mulsanne to the Bentayga, Continental and Flying Spur, plus two entries spelled as Rolls-Royce models. Its 2025 and 2026 lists have the Continental and Flying Spur as cars and the Bentayga as a multipurpose vehicle. A Bentley built before the 1981 model year has a shorter chassis number; see the classic car VIN page.

Read it through the windshield at the driver's side bottom corner, where federal rules require it to be visible from outside (49 CFR 565.13). The certification label in the driver's door opening repeats it next to the month and year the car was built (49 CFR 567.4), and it's on the title and registration. Make sure every copy matches before you buy or sell. The paint code lives on a separate label; where to find the paint code shows where.

The specification. Paint, hide, veneer and options aren't coded, so two Continental GTs with the same first 11 characters can look nothing alike. The VIN doesn't record owners, service or damage either. The decoder shows what Bentley filed with NHTSA and the recalls NHTSA lists for that model and year. If it rejects a Bentley VIN, check position 9 first: Bentley uses X as a check digit too, and I, O and Q never appear. Listing one for sale? How to take pictures of a car to sell covers the shots buyers look for.