A U.S.-market Aston Martin VIN starts with SCF, the WMI for Aston Martin Lagonda Limited in Gaydon, England. In our October 14, 2026 vPIC runs, DB9 patterns starting SCFAD and SCFAB decoded to Gaydon with the 5.9-liter AM04 or AM11 V12, Vantage patterns starting SCFBB and SCFBF came back as Gaydon 4.3-liter AM05 V8 hatchbacks, a V8 Vantage pattern SCFEFBAC decoded to a 4.7-liter AM07, and a Rapide pattern SCFHDDAJ listed a Gaydon 5.9-liter AM16 four-door. Position 10 is the year and position 11 is the plant (G for Gaydon). These are low-volume UK sports cars, so title brands, track use and incomplete recall work show up more often than on a mass-market coupe.
We built those samples from real complaint prefixes and ran them through NHTSA's free vPIC decoder. If the 17 positions still feel opaque, start with how to decode a VIN. For another low-volume European sports-car decode pattern, our Porsche VIN decoder is a useful neighbor.
Positions 1-3 and the common U.S. models
Every clean Aston decode we ran used WMI SCF. A 2007 DB9 Volante pattern SCFAD02A came back as a Gaydon convertible with the AM04 5.9-liter V12 and an automatic, while coupe patterns SCFAB01A and SCFAD01A listed the same plant and engine with manual or automatic boxes. Later DB9 samples SCFFDABM (2014 Volante) and SCFFDAEM (2015 coupe) still pointed to Gaydon with the AM11 5.9-liter V12 under series VH1. Vantage is the V8 car. Our 2006-2008 patterns SCFBB03B and SCFBF03B decoded to Gaydon hatchbacks with the AM05 4.3-liter eight, and a 2010 V8 Vantage pattern SCFEFBAC came back as series VH2 with the larger AM07 4.7-liter and an automated manual. Rapide is the four-door. A 2012 pattern SCFHDDAJ decoded to Gaydon as a VH4 sedan with the AM16 5.9-liter V12 automatic.
Look, if a seller waves a brochure photo and the VIN plant code is not G, pause. Gaydon is the plant we saw on every U.S.-spec sample in this batch.
Year and plant codes
Position 9 is the check digit defined in 49 CFR 565.15, and a cloned VIN copied from a real car still passes it. Year codes in our samples included 6 for 2006, 7 for 2007, 8 for 2008, 9 for 2009, A for 2010, C for 2012, E for 2014 and F for 2015. Plant code G meant Gaydon, Warwickshire. Match the dash plate to the door sticker by hand before you talk deposit money.
Recalls to clear by VIN
Accelerator pedal campaigns are the ones we see most on older Astons. 13V-228 and 14V-010 cover DB9, Vantage and Rapide cars whose pedal arm can crack. 14V-753 covers heated seat mats that can overheat on 2006-2014 cars. 15V-846 covers door latches that may not stay locked. On early DB9 and DBS cars, 17V-795 covers a battery supply cable that can short. Later DB11 and Vantage cars pick up air bag campaigns 18V-065, 19V-806 and 20V-604. Run the VIN with our NHTSA recall check by VIN walkthrough, and do not assume an independent shop can still order every Gaydon-era part.
Title and miles on a low-volume Aston
A recall screen will not show a flood title, an odometer rollback or a prior track life. We've seen seller PDFs with no VIN on the page treated like a history report, and that is a trap on a car this expensive and this rare. CARFAX says its reports draw on title, odometer, ownership and accident records. As of mid October 2026, a CARFAX report through us runs about $5.50 as a guest or about $4.50 as a member, and a CARFAX plus AutoCheck bundle is about $6.75, versus roughly $39.99 to $44.99 at retail. Confirm at checkout. We are a licensed CARFAX and AutoCheck reseller, not affiliated with CARFAX, AutoCheck, or Experian.
What a decode will not show
vPIC will not tell you if the car flooded, if the miles jumped, or if a prior owner tracked it hard. Honestly, on an Aston the paperwork trail matters as much as the plant code. Match plates, clear recalls, then pull a real report before you wire a deposit.
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!
Log in to leave a comment.