You’ll find your Mercury’s VIN on the driver’s side doorjamb, under the windshield on the driver’s side, on your vehicle registration, and on your car title.

Written by Jason Tushinski

Reviewed by Kathleen Flear

Updated on Jan 29, 2024

Table of Contents

How to check your Mercury’s VIN
How to decode a Mercury VIN
How to find affordable Mercury car insurance

Decoding your

Mercury’s

VIN is actually quite simple—the number is usually located on a sticker on the driver’s side doorjamb, below the windshield on the driver’s side, on your car’s registration, and on your certificate of title. Each number represents something different, including the country of origin, vehicle information, manufacturer, and plant where the vehicle was assembled.

Your Mercury’s vehicle identification number (VIN) shouldn’t be too much of a mystery—you’ve handed it over before when renewing your license, registering your car, or selling your car. But if you’re curious about the meaning of that 17-digit string, you’ve come to the right place.

The

car insurance

broker and comparison shopping app

Jerry

has put together this handy guide to help you learn all there is to know about your Mercury VIN. This article will help you find your VIN, explain how it's created, and learn how to decode it—plus tell you how to save on

Mercury insurance costs

How to check your Mercury’s VIN

This 17-digit sequence is used to identify your particular Mercury vehicle. You’ll find your Mercury VIN in the following spots:

Your insurance card

The registration card you received from the DMV

Below the windshield on the driver’s side of your car

On a sticker pasted to the doorjamb of your car

If you can’t find the VIN in the aforementioned places, check on your vehicle’s firewall, under your hood, or on your steering column.

How to decode a Mercury VIN

The DMV uses your VIN (and those of other drivers) to process a massive amount of car-related services—so what do those 17 digits actually mean?

VINs have been around in the U.S. since the 1950s, but they were only standardized in 1981, thanks to a push from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). A VIN’s 17 digits have specific meanings that are now standard across makes, models, and even continents.

VINs are made up of numbers 0 to 9, and all letters except I, O, and Q. Why? Because those letters can resemble 1, 0, and 9 and they were left out to avoid confusion.

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First position: country of origin

All VINs begin with the world manufacturing identifier (WMI), or the first three digits of the VIN. For Mercury, the first digit will be a 4, noting its country of origin—it was manufactured in the U.S.

Positions 2-3: manufacturer information and vehicle type

Digits 2 and 3 offer more information about the manufacturer. The second digit will be M for Mercury, and the third digit will be a 2, which denotes the vehicle type (a passenger car).

Positions 4-8: vehicle-specific information

These next five digits tell you information about the specific Mercury you’re driving, such as the body type, transmission, engine, safety equipment, and other aspects of the vehicle.

Position 9: the VIN check digit

The ninth digit in your VIN is the check digit, which is used to authenticate your car’s VIN. The check digit is based on the other numbers in the VIN.

Position 10: model year

This is where it gets a bit tricky—the 10th digit tells you the car’s model year. Digits are re-used for model years. Along with I, O, and Q, you'll never find U, Z, and 0 here.

The VIN model year codes break down as follows for the past 20 years:

Code	Year
1	2001
2	2002
3	2003
4	2004
5	2005
6	2006
7	2007
8	2008
9	2009
A	2010
B	1981 OR 2011
C	1982 OR 2012
D	1983 OR 2013
E	1984 OR 2014
F	1985 OR 2015
G	1986 OR 2016
H	1987 OR 2017
J	1988 OR 2018
K	1989 OR 2019
L	1990 OR 2020
M	1991 OR 2021

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Position 11: assembly plant

Each carmaker uses a special set of codes for its 11th digit—this identifies the factory where the Mercury was assembled. Mercury’s aren’t made anymore (

Ford

shuttered the brand in 2010), but they were produced in plants in

Missouri

California

, and

Georgia

Positions 12-17: vehicle serial number

Your VIN’s final six digits make up your vehicle’s particular serial number. This number is also usually your car’s production sequence number.

How to find affordable Mercury car insurance

You’ll want to protect your Mercury—whether it's a Cougar or a Grand Marquis—with a robust

car insurance

policy by using

Jerry

Sign-up takes just under a minute and then Jerry gets to work comparing the best quotes from more than 50 insurance companies to ensure you get the best policy at the lowest price.

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