Mercedes-Benz VIN Decoder Australia

What each character on a Mercedes-Benz VIN means, and what it doesn't tell you.

Mercedes-Benz cars in our data
208,350
Mercedes-Benz cars in our data
Characters that identify the model
6 characters
identify the model
Last updated
Sep 2026
last updated

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How to read a Mercedes-Benz VIN

Take a 2016 C-Class sedan. Its VIN starts WDD205, and those six characters are the useful part. The rest is unique to one car, so it's painted out here.

C-Class (W205) · VIN plate

WDD205 PAINTED OUT 1234567891011121314151617 1 2 3 4 5 6
  1. Characters 1 to 3: Maker and country
  2. Characters 4 to 6: Chassis number: model and generation
  3. Characters 7 and 8: Body style and variant
  4. Character 9: Not a check digit on a Mercedes-Benz
  5. Character 10: Not the model year on a Mercedes-Benz
  6. Characters 11 to 17: Plant and serial number

Characters 1 to 6

Maker, country and chassis number. The chassis number is the generation: 205 is the W205 C-Class. Around 2019 the first three changed (WDD to W1K, WDC to W1N), so one generation can have two patterns.

Characters 9 and 10

On a US car, a check digit and the model year. On a Mercedes-Benz, neither: of the 6,471 we checked, 9 passed as a check digit on only 8.9%, and 10 came within a year of the build year on only 3.4%.

Characters 11 to 17

Plant and serial number. Unique to one car, so never shown.

A Mercedes-Benz build plate (illustration)

The year is on the build plate, not in the VIN

US decoders read the 10th character as the model year. In September 2026 we checked 6,471 Mercedes-Benz cars against their build dates. Even allowing a year either way, it matched only 3.4% of the time, less often than guessing would. The build date is on the build plate, and in every Carify VIN check.

C-Class VIN patterns

Each C-Class generation has its own three-digit chassis number in characters 4 to 6.

Pattern Generation Built Cars in our data
W203 2001 to 2006 5,365
W204 2007 to 2014 17,224
W205 2014 to 2019 20,300
W205 2019 to 2022 3,954
W206 2022 on 2,013

Plus 10 less common patterns. Built: the middle 90% of build years, from 1,932 decoded cars. Updated Sep 2026.

C-Class (W205) · where to find the VIN
Line drawing of a C-Class sedan (W205), numbered where the VIN is
  1. The VIN plate on the door pillar behind the front right-hand door, seen with the door open
    1  Door pillar, driver's sideOpen the front right-hand door to see the plate.
  2. The VIN stamped into the floor under a carpet flap in front of the right-hand front seat
    2  Floor, under a carpet flapIn front of the driver's seat. Slide the seat right back first.

Locations from Mercedes-Benz's owner's manual for the C-Class (W205).

Other popular Mercedes-Benz cars

The Mercedes-Benz models we see most after the C-Class, and the patterns that identify them.

  • GLC-Class

    and 3 more

    • X253 2015 to 2023
    • X254 2023 on

    From 341 decoded cars

  • GLE / M-Class

    and 2 more

    • W164 2005 to 2011
    • W166 2012 to 2018
    • C292 2015 to 2019
    • V167 2020 on

    WDC164 is also used on the GL-Class.

    WDC166 is also used on the GL-Class and GLS-Class.

    W1N167 is also used on the GLS-Class.

    From 490 decoded cars

  • A-Class

    and 8 more

    • W176 2013 to 2017
    • W177 2018 to 2024

    From 687 decoded cars

  • GLA-Class

    and 1 more

    • X156 2014 to 2019
    • H247 2020 on

    W1N247 is also used on the GLB-Class.

    From 219 decoded cars

Other makes

About these numbers: generations and build years come from 6,471 Mercedes-Benz cars decoded from factory records, one per VIN. Build years show the middle 90% of each pattern, and patterns with fewer than 30 decoded cars are left out. Updated September 2026.