This is a good question. Because of a theft problem, there is at least one public location for the VIN number and multiple non-public locations which only the police and possibly the DMV will know the location. If you can’t find it, check your title, it should be there.
The VIN number is supposed to be on the driver’s side of the tongue if the vehicle is a trailer. This will be a tag riveted to the wall of the frame. If it is a drivable RV, then the location will be on a sticker on the driver’s door where the latch is.
To learn more about the location of the VIN number of your RV, just continue to read our article. It gives you the location of this number for a variety of RV brands. Take a few minutes to see if this information solves your location issue.
Yes, they do. This is a mandatory regulation that requires all camper and RV makers to place on their products. These VIN numbers are not just for self-drive RVs but for all recreational vehicles and trailers/campers.
Just like you, RVs, all makes and models, etc., have an identification number. This makes it easier to identify if the RV was stolen. The public location is one that everyone should know about but not everyone does.
But it will not be the only location for this number. To protect your investment, this number is placed in hidden spots so thieves cannot erase it.
This is not hard to do. If you have a self-drive RV, then open your driver’s side door and look at the inside portion of the door. This is the hidden part that no one sees unless the door is open.
There should be a sticker on that part of the door providing you with the VIN number. With towables, the VIN number is on the driver’s side of the frame on the wall of the tongue.
When you look for it, you should see a tag with the number stamped on it.
If the sticker has been worn or torn off, you may have trouble finding a backup VIN number. This can happen as the door is opened and closed a lot and over time, the sticker can wear out.
With the tag, this can get worn down, muddied, or corroded so that you can’t read the number. There is not much you can do about the sticker but with the tag, you can rub sandpaper lightly over the spot and raise the numbers up.
If that fails, and if you have no sticker, go to your title or other important documents as the number will be recorded there.
There are a couple of locations for the VIN number on a pop-up trailer. The usual spot is on the driver’s side of the frame on the tongue. This may be hard to see after years of use.
However, if you can crawl under your pop-up, behind the axle there should be another tag riveted to the cross member of the main frame. This one should be easier to read as it is protected from the elements a lot better than the main tag.
Make sure to bring a flashlight with you when searching for the hidden tag.
The usual spot for this tag is on the left side of your 5th wheel (driver’s side or roadside) on the side wall. Once you get to that location, you need to go down as it is located on the lower portion of that side wall.
Some manufacturers place a secondary number inside a cabinet or on the entry way’s screen door. You may have to search a few cabinets to find the number but that is a good thing. If it takes a while for you to find it, it will take as long for the thief to locate it and remove it.
While some makers of RVs place the number on a tag that is then riveted to the tongue frame, Starcraft seems to have etched theirs directly onto the metal. This makes it a little more difficult to remove.
Removal may leave marks indicating that it has been removed helping police identify that the trailer has been stolen. For Starcraft, the exact location would be the hitch. There may be backup locations as well just in case this one has been removed.
These backup locations can be just about anywhere inside or outside this trailer.
We should have said that different models may have different locations even if made by the same company. For Coleman, one location is under the battery tray at the front of the trailer.
Other Coleman models can have the number stamped onto the A-Frame near the hitch or under the propane tanks. The latter seems to be a popular place for Coleman to use as was the former location.
Also, if the 10th number is a numeral then it was made after 2000. If it is a letter, then it was made prior to 2001. That 10th digit helps date the trailer when you are not sure when it was made.
For trailers, look on the tongue on the driver’s side of the trailer. The number should be stamped on a tag that is riveted to that portion of the frame. This brand of RV may have a lot of other hidden or non-public tags just in case something happens to the one on the tongue.
They are called non-public as most people do not know where they are located. They have been called secret or confidential tags but the correct term is non-public. If you know these locations, it is best to not talk about them in public forums or other public places.
When you are dealing with vintage trailers you have to remember that they were built before the modern system of identification numbers was invented. That means you are not looking for a 17 digit number but the actual serial number of the trailer.
That number could only be 5 digits long. Plus, they may not have been coded. The usual location is the tongue frame, entry screen door, or inside the cabinets. What you need to watch out for is that you do not confuse the patent number with the serial number.
They are not the same, if you see a patent number, keep looking. The serial number will be close by.
The first step would be to do a little sanding or grinding on the tongue area. The number may have worn down over time and a little hard work will raise those numbers and letters up, letting you read them.
This is the common option you have unless your trailer happens to be older. Then some of the companies did not put VIN numbers on their trailer frames. They may have placed an old piece of paper in a cabinet with the information on it.
If you still can’t find the number, check the legal documents to see if it was recorded there or talk to your local police or DMV office for help with a non-public location.
VIN numbers were first used in 1954 in the United States. between that year and 1981, there was no standard location for placement of this number. Manufacturers were free to place it just about anywhere on the trailer or RV and they did just that.
It is mandatory that every RV, trailer and camper, etc., have a VIN number and since 1981, the standard location has been the tongue area of the frame. Your model should have one along with a secondary location which can be a screen door, inside a cabinet, informational plaque, or even the wheel well.
If you can’t find it on the tongue, then you have some seeking to do to find it.
Having a non-public location for VIN numbers is a safety measure. These extra locations help identify your trailer if it is ever stolen. They also help when you can’t read the main number on the tongue.
To stay legal, you need the VIN number for registration, insurance, and also in getting a title when the title is lost or destroyed.