Free window sticker lookup by VIN

Paste the 17-character VIN into the box above. The free window sticker lookup does three things, in this order:

1. Checks the VIN. It must be 17 characters, use no I, O or Q, and pass the check digit in position 9. That catches many typos before you chase the wrong car.
2. Decodes it with NHTSA's free vPIC database: year, make, model, trim, body, engine, drive type and assembly plant.
3. Finds the original sticker. If the manufacturer posts window stickers online, you get a button that opens the original on the manufacturer's own site, in a new tab. CarShots never fetches, stores, hosts or sells stickers.

When there's no original online, you still get a free spec sheet built from public NHTSA and EPA data. No signup either way.

Who posts originals today: Stellantis for most recent Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler models; GM for recent Chevrolet, GMC, Buick and Cadillac model years only; and Ford for brand-new Fords and Lincolns. Toyota, Honda, BMW and the other makes don't post stickers publicly, so their pages explain how to get the original another way.

It's the price label on every new car, officially called the Monroney label after Senator Mike Monroney, who sponsored the Automobile Information Disclosure Act of 1958. Under that law, the manufacturer attaches the label to the windshield or a side window before the car reaches the dealer. Federal rules spell out what goes on it:

• The car: make, model and VIN, plus the final assembly point.
• The price: the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP), the suggested price of each factory option, the destination charge and the total.
• Delivery: the dealer it was shipped to, the delivery city, and the delivery method if it was driven or towed there.
• Safety: NHTSA's 5-star crash ratings, or a statement that the car wasn't rated. Congress added this in 2005.
• Fuel economy: the EPA Fuel Economy and Environment label, required under a separate law, with MPG, fuel costs and emissions ratings.
• Parts content: U.S. and Canadian parts content, the final assembly plant, and where the engine and transmission came from. Required since 1994.

The label stays on until the car is delivered to its first buyer. Anyone who willfully removes or alters it before then can be fined up to $1,000 per car, jailed for up to a year, or both.

Layouts differ by brand, but every new-car sticker carries the same blocks. Read them in this order:

Here's where every major make stands. Each name links to a page with that brand's details, and every make gets the free spec sheet.

Window sticker. The price label required on new cars. It's the only one of the three with the original MSRP, every factory option with its price, and the EPA and NHTSA ratings, laid out the way the first buyer saw them.

Build sheet. The factory's record of how one car was built. It covers much of the same equipment; Ford's support page says a build sheet's information is similar to the sticker's. Some brands point owners to paid copies: Ford names Marti Auto.

VIN decode. What the 17 characters themselves encode. Federal rules require the VIN to identify the make, line, series, body type, engine type and restraint systems (plus the GVWR and brake system on trucks), with the model year in position 10 and the plant in position 11. It can't tell you options, colors or price. NHTSA's free VIN decoder shows what a VIN encodes. Our free VIN decoder explains it character by character.

If the manufacturer doesn't post stickers, or doesn't have yours, work through these in order:

• Windshield: on cars, SUVs, vans and pickups rated 10,000 lb GVWR or less, federal rules require the VIN to be readable through the windshield from outside, next to the driver's side pillar.
• Driver's door opening: the certification label on the door edge or the pillar beside the driver's seat shows the VIN, the month and year the vehicle was built, and its weight ratings.
• Paperwork: the title, registration and insurance card.

A VIN is always 17 characters and never uses I, O or Q. Most cars from before 1981 have shorter VINs, which this tool can't look up.

On a used car, the original sticker is a selling tool, not a price tag. Pull it before you price the car: it confirms the trim and packages, which a VIN decode can't, and it gives you the factory names to use in your listing. Print it for the deal jacket, or show it to the buyer at the car.

Two things to keep straight:

• Used cars also need the FTC Buyers Guide. If you sell more than five used vehicles in 12 months, the Used Car Rule requires a Buyers Guide on every used vehicle you offer, in plain view with both sides visible. A window sticker doesn't replace it. Make one free with the Buyers Guide generator.
• Your lot sticker is separate. The original shows what the car cost new; your asking price and mileage go on a sticker of your own. The free window sticker maker prints one with a QR code to the car's listing.

The photos should match the sticker. With CarShots you shoot the car on any phone, and each photo comes back on a clean backdrop in about 20 seconds, so every car on your site looks like it was shot in the same studio.