All free APIs
Free APIOpen DataNo keyOfficial

NHTSA vPIC Vehicle API

Decode any VIN and look up vehicle makes, models, manufacturers and equipment plants from the official US DOT catalog, free and keyless.

The NHTSA Product Information Catalog and Vehicle Listing (vPIC) API is the US Department of Transportation's free, registration-free service for decoding Vehicle Identification Numbers and querying reference data: makes, models, manufacturers, vehicle types, World Manufacturer Identifiers and equipment plant codes. It is the authoritative source for VIN decoding in the US and is widely used in fleet, logistics, insurance and automotive applications. Available 24/7, free to use, no registration.

Free tier

Free, public US government resource. No paid tiers, no key, no registration.

Rate limits

Not published; an automated traffic-rate control protects the service. Batch VIN decoding (decodevinvaluesbatch) is provided to reduce request volume.

Auth

No key

Base URL

https://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/api

What you'd build with it

  • VIN decoding inside a fleet or logistics automation
  • Validate and enrich vehicle records (make/model/year/body)
  • Build a vehicle reference lookup skill (makes, models, manufacturers)
  • Batch-decode VINs from a spreadsheet for transit/insurance workflows

Key endpoints

  • GET/vehicles/decodevinvalues/{vin}Decode a VIN into flat key/value vehicle attributes; add ?format=json.
  • POST/vehicles/decodevinvaluesbatch/Decode many VINs in one call (form-encoded DATA field).
  • GET/vehicles/getallmakesList all vehicle makes in the catalog.
  • GET/vehicles/getmodelsformake/{make}List models for a given make.
  • GET/vehicles/getmanufacturerdetails/{manufacturer}Manufacturer details by name or ID.
Members

Members get the runnable recipe

Sign in free to copy the example request, see a sample response, and read the gotchas.

Tags

transitvehiclesvingovautomotivekeyless