Where to find the VIN on a Dodge Challenger LC or LA

Location 1: the plate on the instrument panel, seen through the windscreen

Dodge’s 2010 Challenger manual says: “The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is on the left front corner of the instrument panel and is visible from outside of the vehicle through the windshield.” Its 2009 manual for the high-performance SRT8 model says the same, and the later manuals we read keep the meaning. Up to 2016 the drawing is a close-up of a plate under the glass (81f30c2f in the 2009–2012 manuals, 010805185 from 2013) that does not show the side. The 2023 drawing, A0901000074US, shows the whole coupe head-on; its callout leaves the bottom of the windscreen on the car’s left, which on a left-hand-drive UAE car is the driver’s side.

The only Gulf manuals we found are for 2015. Chrysler International’s Arabic and English Challenger manual, from the now-archived Mopar Middle East website, splits the same statement into two sentences and uses drawing 010805185; its high-performance edition matches. Its assistance page describes a plate “visible through the windshield in the upper corner of the instrument panel on the driver’s side”.

On US-market cars the plate’s position is also a legal requirement: under title 49 of the US Code of Federal Regulations, Part 565 (49 CFR Part 565), the VIN must be legible through the glass to a person standing outside next to the left windscreen pillar.

Location 2: the right front strut tower (manuals for 2011–2016)

Starting with the 2011 manual we read, Dodge adds: “The vehicle identification number (VIN) is also located on the right front strut tower inside the engine compartment.” It recurs in the 2011–2014 manuals, the 2015 high-performance and Middle East manuals and both 2016 manuals, each with drawing 010840680: an engine bay, an arrow and a row of characters on a body panel. The Middle East manual calls it “Stamped Vehicle Identification Number Location (VIN)”. Right is the passenger’s side of a left-hand-drive car; compare the characters with the dashboard plate.

The 2009 manual for the SRT8 and the 2010 manual (second and fourth editions) name the dashboard plate and the certification label but not the strut tower, and neither does the 2023 manual. We found no manual for 2008 or for 2017 to 2022. No official source we found says whether a 2008–2010 Challenger, or one built after 2016, has the stamping. On those cars an unmarked tower does not by itself mean tampering; give Trading Enterprises, Dodge’s UAE dealer, the VIN and ask where Dodge stamped that car.

Location 3: the certification label at the driver’s door (US-market cars)

Dodge’s 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 Challenger manuals say the Vehicle Certification Label is “affixed to the rear of the driver’s door”. The 2013 manual names “the drivers side ‘B’ Pillar or the rear of the driver’s door”, and the 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2023 manuals keep it, spelt “B-Pillar” (2023: “B-pillar”). Open the driver’s door and check both places. Among the label’s contents the manuals list the date of manufacture (month and year) and the VIN, read by machine from a bar code.

It is a US certification item: 49 CFR 567.4 makes the maker show the build month and year and the VIN on it, and fix it so that taking it off destroys or defaces it.

No official source we found describes the certification label on a Gulf-market Dodge Challenger LC or LA. The 2015 Middle East manual mentions a “Vehicle Certification Label” only in cross-references and has no section describing one; the label it does place at the door, the tyre and loading placard, goes on the “driver’s side B-Pillar or the rear edge of the driver’s side door”. Dodge’s UAE website, run by Trading Enterprises, speaks only in general of a “driver-side doorframe label”. Before treating a missing or unfamiliar label on a Gulf car as a fault, ask Trading Enterprises what Dodge fitted to that VIN.

Reading a Challenger VIN: 2B3LJ, 2B3CJ, 2C3CDY and 2C3CDZ

Characters 1 to 3 identify the manufacturer: the register kept by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) files both 2B3 and 2C3 under “FCA CANADA INC.” as passenger cars. Apart from a few mistyped, misfiled or blank entries, Challengers of 2008–2011 in NHTSA’s complaint records start 2B3 and those of 2012–2023 start 2C3. Character 10 gives the model year; NHTSA’s decoder reads an H in character 11 as Brampton, Canada, on every pattern below.

The leading 2 is a region code. NHTSA calls the first character “generally” geographic, and in a 2024 interpretation letter answering Ford Motor Company it accepted that Ford may use an identifier assigned to it in the US on vehicles it makes abroad, when Ford certifies them for import and sale in the US. The letter concerned Ford; on a Challenger too, the 2 alone cannot prove where the car was made or sold.

These are decoder readings, not a Dodge rule, and the year code cycles every 30 years. The Challenger’s code moved from 2C3CDY on 2012–2014 cars to 2C3CDZ from 2015, the year Chrysler’s documents switch from the LC code to LA. The first six characters tell the Challenger, Charger and Chrysler 300 apart; for a 2008–2010 Charger or Chrysler 300, character 2 is the difference. For trim and engine, run the complete VIN through NHTSA’s free decoder.

No official source we found explains how Challengers built for the Gulf are coded, so the characters may look exactly like a US car’s. To learn which market a Challenger was built for, give Trading Enterprises the VIN and set its answer beside the import and first-registration documents.

Where to find the VIN on a Dodge Charger LD

Plate, strut tower, label and registration card: one Challenger VIN

On a Dodge Challenger LC or LA the dashboard plate, the strut-tower characters on the years whose manuals name them, a US-market car’s door label and the registration card should all show the same 17 characters. The label also gives the month and year the car was made: set that beside the model-year letter in character 10, and ask about a label dated far from that year.

Walk away from a crooked or scratched plate, a strut-tower panel ground where the characters should be on a year whose manual names them, or a VIN that decodes as a four-door car.

When a Challenger VIN is unreadable, tampered with or does not match

Dodge’s US Challenger manuals for 2010–2016 and 2023 warn under the VIN drawings: “It is illegal to remove or alter the VIN.” The 2009 manual leaves out “or alter”. No official UAE source we found tells a buyer what to do about a Challenger VIN that is unreadable, tampered with or different from the registration card. Keep your money until the police or traffic department of the emirate that registered the car has said how it should be examined, and never order a new plate or label.

In Dubai, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) can issue a Technical Vehicle Status Report for a registered used car, with its ownership history, if the owner consents; the RTA says accidents are not included. The seller of a Dubai-registered Challenger can request one for you to compare with the car.

How to check a US car’s history in the UAE