A policeman stops you on the road and asks for your vehicle documentation. Of course, you cooperate, and the officer confirms that everything is in its place. If you’re a good driver, a nice citizen, you never object unless you’re running late. It’s common knowledge that the police inspects the vehicle’s history in that moment. But did you know that the license plate can’t tell the full story?
Let’s unveil the myth
One would think that a license plate is enough to identify a car, but the truth is that even motorcycles and All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) have another code printed on them. It can also be found on their components and important documents since the last century.
Just as a DNA sequence can help you decode a person’s identity, the Vehicle Identification Number contains every vehicle’s characteristics. Law enforcement agencies use this code to check and identify stolen vehicles, and gatekeepers from many companies and buildings use it on their systems.
VINs are most needed because most states have their own particular color scheme, emblem, and registration number format for license plates. Although you should find the code in the windshield, the driver’s door jamb, or the engine, if there’s something to hide, you may not find it so simply.
Why another code?
License plates are one of the keys to fighting crime organizations, but they’re not enough. When the Police is alerted that a vehicle is wanted, stolen, or of interest to law enforcement an operator should review if it is indeed stolen. The license plate indicates to whom the car belongs, but it doesn’t compile all the car’s history. Instead, the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is an extended and unified code to help security forces scrape information of every vehicle on the road.
In America they implemented it in 1981, just like some other countries. Therefore, once someone detects a license plate, they can also capture associated data from its VIN. Technically, it has six sections. The operator can identify what car it is, in which region of what country it was made, the model, the body type, the restraint system, engine and transmission codes. Its composition helps to make unique the car is, since the line of assembly in the manufacturing plant.
But how can we implement it?
Every company can now access a program like Get VIN License Plate API. It’s a nice technological aid to solve the mystery that gained a lot of popularity in recent years. Although developers are used to this kind of systems, you can easily catch up and start to use it for any means your firm needs to cover.
This API works in all 50 states of the United States, with vehicles such as cars, vans, motorcycles, trucks. Zyla Labs developers designed it, and you can use it by signing on their website. They will assign you an API key to access to the endpoint. Then you can insert the license plate and make the request of the Vehicle Identification Number. If you need more information, you can also integrate this API with another one.
This open source software is fast, efficient and super reliable. The pricing can be found on the Zyla Labs Hub, so you find what better suits the business. Go check it out!