Decode Your VIN
Enter your vehicle's VIN code to discover all technical specifications. The VIN consists of 17 alphanumeric characters.
Renault Clio VIN Decoder
Decode any Renault Clio VIN free in seconds. Type the 17-character vehicle identification number into the decoder above and get the generation, model year, engine family, and plant of origin, plus any open recall campaigns on file.
One thing to know up front: the Clio has never been sold new in the United States. Renault pulled out of the US market entirely in 1987, five years before the Clio existed as a model, so you will not find one in NHTSA’s vPIC database the way you would a Honda Civic. Everyone decoding a Clio VIN today is looking at a car registered somewhere in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, or another market outside North America. This page is built around that reality: real, checksum-checked Clio VINs pulled from European dealer listings, classic-car sale records, and salvage auctions, decoded against NHTSA’s own vPIC tool and cross-checked against Renault’s generation history, with the gaps in US government data called out honestly rather than papered over.
About the Renault Clio
The Clio launched in 1990 as Renault’s replacement for the Renault 5 and became one of Europe’s best-selling superminis. It has gone through six generations:
| Generation | Years | Internal code | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st (Clio I) | 1990-1998 | X57 | Launched at Flins, France; European Car of the Year 1991 |
| 2nd (Clio II) | 1998-2005 (mainstream); Clio Campus budget variant sold through 2012 | X65 | Facelifted 2001; Renaultsport 172/182 hot hatches |
| 3rd (Clio III) | 2005-2012 | X85 | Co-developed on Nissan’s B platform; added Bursa, Turkey to production |
| 4th (Clio IV) | 2012-2019 | X98 | Bursa, Turkey became the lead plant from 2012 |
| 5th (Clio V) | 2019-2025 | BJA | CMF-B platform, shared with Nissan Juke and Captur; E-Tech hybrid added |
| 6th (Clio VI) | Revealed September 2025, deliveries from late 2025/2026 | X60 | Debuted at the Munich (IAA Mobility) show; built for Europe and the UK only |
A word of caution on the “mainstream vs. budget variant” line above: Renault kept building a de-contented, facelifted Clio II badged Clio Campus (plus the Clio Symbol/Thalia saloon) for budget and export markets well after the third generation launched in 2005, with Slovenian and Colombian output running into the early-to-mid 2010s. If an early-2010s VIN decodes like a Clio II, that is very likely why.
Renault Clio WMI codes (positions 1-3)
The first three characters are the World Manufacturer Identifier (WMI), assigned by SAE International on behalf of ISO. Every genuine Clio VIN we pulled from dealer and auction listings across all five completed generations, spanning 1991 through 2024, started with the same three characters:
| WMI | Country | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| VF1 | France | Renault Group’s primary WMI for passenger cars, used across every Clio generation we could verify |
We deliberately left out other Renault-linked WMIs, such as VG6, VG8, or the Korean KNM code used by Renault Korea Motors, because none of the real Clio VINs we located actually carried them. Those codes are legitimately Renault’s, covering other models and plants, but claiming they apply to the Clio without a decoded VIN to back it up would be a guess. If your Clio VIN starts with something other than VF1, decode it with the tool above before assuming it is wrong.
When we ran several of these real VINs through NHTSA’s vPIC decoder directly, it correctly recognized “RENAULT GROUP” as the manufacturer behind the VF1 WMI, but returned blank fields for make, model, plant city, and body class, with an explicit “No detailed data available currently” error. That is expected: NHTSA’s database is built from data US manufacturers are required to submit, and Renault has had no such obligation since leaving in 1987. WMI recognition is the extent of what vPIC offers here; everything past that requires European sources.
How to read a Renault Clio VIN: position by position
Every Clio built from 1990 onward uses the 17-character ISO 3779 format, the same overall structure used worldwide.
Positions 1-3: World Manufacturer Identifier
See the WMI table above. VF1 means the vehicle was registered to Renault Group’s French manufacturer entity, but it does not guarantee French assembly; Clios have rolled off lines in Spain, Slovenia, Turkey, Colombia, and Argentina under the same WMI.
Positions 4-8: Vehicle Descriptor Section (VDS)
This block is supposed to encode body style, restraint system, and engine family, and third-party European decoder sites claim that characters like “BJA” or “RJA” identify the Clio V specifically. We can partially confirm this: every Clio V VIN we located, built 2019-2024, carried “RJA” at positions 4-6, consistent enough across dealer and auction listings to trust as a real pattern. We could not independently verify a full character-by-character map of this block for every generation, since Renault does not publish one and NHTSA has no data on file for a non-US manufacturer. Treat positions 4-8 as generation- and body-specific, and use the decoder above rather than hand-reading this block from a fixed table.
Position 9: Check digit
On US-market VINs, position 9 is a mandatory check digit calculated from the other 16 characters using SAE J853’s modulo-11 formula, and it is how a decoder catches a mistyped character. European-market VINs built under ISO 3779 are not required to use that same formula. We confirmed this directly: several genuine Clio VINs, pulled straight from legitimate listings, failed NHTSA’s vPIC check-digit validation with an explicit “does not calculate properly” error. That is normal for a European Clio and is not, by itself, evidence of a cloned or altered VIN.
Position 10: Model year
This is where we want to be upfront about a real limitation rather than hand you a clean table and pretend it always works. The standard ISO/SAE 30-year cycle, the same one used for US-market vehicles, reads as follows:
| Char | Year | Char | Year | Char | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L | 1990 | 4 | 2004 | K | 2019 |
| M | 1991 | 5 | 2005 | L | 2020 |
| N | 1992 | 6 | 2006 | M | 2021 |
| P | 1993 | 7 | 2007 | N | 2022 |
| R | 1994 | 8 | 2008 | P | 2023 |
| S | 1995 | 9 | 2009 | R | 2024 |
| T | 1996 | A | 2010 | S | 2025 |
| V | 1997 | B | 2011 | T | 2026 |
| W | 1998 | C | 2012 | V | 2027 |
| X | 1999 | D | 2013 | W | 2028 |
| Y | 2000 | E | 2014 | X | 2029 |
| 1 | 2001 | F | 2015 | Y | 2030 |
| 2 | 2002 | G | 2016 | 1 | 2031 |
| 3 | 2003 | H | 2017 | 2 | 2032 |
| J | 2018 | 3 | 2033 |
I, O, and Q are never used anywhere in this cycle, in any year, because they can be misread as 1 and 0.
When we decoded a spread of real Clio VINs, from a 1991 Mk1 through a 2024 Mk5, position 10 did not reliably track the car’s actual model year the way this table predicts. Several genuine Clio V VINs built across 2019 through 2022 all shared the same position-10 character, and NHTSA’s own vPIC tool, applying this exact table, decoded a verified 2024-built Clio as “2007.” That is not a flaw in the table, which is the correct global standard; it shows Renault’s European VIN assignment does not always dedicate position 10 purely to model year the way US manufacturers must. European type-approval leans on the registration document for model year instead. Use this table as a starting reference, but confirm against the registration document rather than trusting position 10 alone.
Position 11: Assembly plant
Position 11 is meant to identify the specific factory. We could not confirm a reliable letter-to-plant mapping for the Clio from public sources; NHTSA has no plant data on file for these VINs, and Renault does not publish an assembly-plant character key. What we can confirm from Renault Group’s own plant records is which factories have actually built the Clio and when: Flins, France (every generation since 1990); Valladolid, Spain, and Novo Mesto, Slovenia (1st and 2nd generation, with Slovenia resuming later); and Bursa, Turkey, which joined for the 3rd generation in 2005 and became the lead production site from the 4th generation onward. For a precise plant read, use the decoder above rather than a fixed table.
Positions 12-17: Serial number
The final six characters are the sequential production number assigned to your specific car, making every Clio VIN globally unique even between two cars of the same generation, year, and plant.
Where to find the VIN on a Renault Clio
- Lower corner of the windscreen, visible from outside the car (Clio II onward)
- VIN plate or sticker on the driver’s side B-pillar or door frame
- Stamped into the engine bay, typically near the bulkhead or suspension turret (all generations, including Clio I)
- Boot floor, under the carpet on the right-hand side (Clio III and IV)
- The vehicle’s registration document (carte grise in France, V5C in the UK, or the local equivalent)
For an early first-generation Clio, before the windscreen-label convention became standard, the door-jamb sticker and engine-bay stamp are the most reliable places to check.
Recalls and safety information
The Clio is a French-registered, EU/UK type-approved vehicle, so it does not appear in NHTSA’s US recall database. Safety campaigns are tracked nationally instead. In France, RappelConso, run by the DGCCRF consumer-protection directorate, publishes recall notices searchable by brand and model. In the UK, the DVSA maintains the equivalent lookup. Type-approval testing for a French-built Clio runs through UTAC, the technical service designated to certify vehicles under the EU’s common type-approval framework, with each member state mirroring safety recalls through its own national authority.
One real example: in April 2023, Renault recalled certain Clio, Captur, Megane, and Arkana models fitted with the 1.6-litre E-Tech hybrid powertrain built between late April 2020 and mid-April 2023, addressing a washer component (“onduflex”) separating the engine and transmission that could trigger a dashboard warning. That is a hybrid-specific, Clio V-era campaign, not one that applies to an older petrol or diesel Clio, which is why checking your own VIN and build date matters more than assuming any one recall applies.
To check your own car:
- Decode the VIN with the tool above to confirm the exact generation, engine, and approximate build window
- Search RappelConso (France) or the DVSA recall checker (UK), or your own country’s national equivalent, using the VIN or registration number
- Contact a Renault-authorised service centre for any open campaign repair, which is free regardless of the car’s age or ownership history
Frequently asked questions
Why isn’t the Renault Clio sold in the United States?
Renault withdrew from the US market entirely in 1987 after its partnership with American Motors Corporation ended and AMC was absorbed by Chrysler. The Clio launched in 1990, three years later, so it has never been officially sold or type-certified for the American market at any point in its six generations.
How do I decode a Renault Clio VIN?
Type the 17-character VIN from the windscreen, door pillar, or registration document into the decoder at the top of this page. It returns generation, approximate build year, engine family, and any recall campaigns on file, no sign-up required.
What does a Clio VIN starting with VF1 mean?
VF1 is Renault Group’s World Manufacturer Identifier for passenger cars registered in France. Every genuine Clio VIN we checked across five completed generations carried this WMI, regardless of which country the specific car was actually assembled in.
Can I trust the 10th character to tell me my Clio’s model year?
Treat it as a starting point, not a guarantee. Our own testing against real Clio VINs, and NHTSA’s vPIC tool applying the standard table, both produced model years that did not match the car’s actual build year on several genuine examples. Confirm against the registration document instead.
Is there an import or classic-car angle for a Clio VIN in the US?
Yes. Under the EPA and DOT’s 25-year import exemption, a Clio old enough to qualify can be legally imported and registered in the US as a used vehicle, a common route for first- and second-generation Clios and Renaultsport hot-hatch variants especially. See our classic car VIN decoder guide for how decoding changes on older imports.
Can a Renault Clio VIN be cloned or faked?
The 17 characters printed on a windscreen sticker or door-pillar label can be reproduced on a counterfeit plate. The engine-bay stamp is physically tied to the original car and much harder to alter. If the windscreen and door-pillar VINs match each other but not the engine-bay stamp, treat the car as suspect. Our guide on how to check if a car is stolen by VIN walks through the verification steps.
Decode any Renault Clio VIN free
Type your 17-character Clio VIN into the decoder at the top of this page for an instant breakdown. To go deeper into VIN structure or the Renault brand:
- Renault VIN decoder hub for the brand-wide guide, including the Renault Alliance and Encore built in the US in the 1980s
- How to read a VIN number for the general ISO 3779 standard
- What every character in a VIN means for a full position-by-position reference
- VIN decoder vs. vehicle history report for what a decode covers versus what it doesn’t
- Classic car VIN decoder for pre-1990s and import-eligible Clios
- How to check if a car is stolen by VIN for cloning and theft verification
