Motorcycle VIN Location and OCR API

Where to Find the VIN on a Motorcycle

On most motorcycles the VIN is stamped on the steering head (the frame neck behind the handlebars) and often repeated on a label on the frame. Engine numbers are separate and are not VINs.

Capture and Extract It Reliably

Turn the handlebars to expose the stamping, light it from the side, and fill the frame with the characters. Then send the photo to the VIN OCR API, which returns the VIN and the surface it was read from. Test with the free VIN scanner.

Where This Fits

• Dealer trade-in intake: Replace manual transcription of 17-character identifiers with a photo.
• Insurance and title records: Attach the extracted VIN and its source surface to the record for audit.
• Motorcycle rental check-out: Send low-confidence reads to a review queue instead of saving them.

Python Example

Send the image as Base64 JSON and read the VIN fields.

Prerequisite: Python 3.9+, `pip install requests`, and a STRUCTOCR_API_KEY

import base64
import os
import requests

with open("vin.jpg", "rb") as image_file:
    image = base64.b64encode(image_file.read()).decode("ascii")

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.structocr.com/v1/vin",
    headers={"x-api-key": os.environ["STRUCTOCR_API_KEY"]},
    json={"img": image},
    timeout=30,
)
response.raise_for_status()
data = response.json()["data"]
print("vin:", data.get("vin"))
print("confidence:", data.get("confidence"))
print("carrier_type:", data.get("carrier_type"))

Sample VIN Response

Illustrative response using the Wikipedia sample VIN. The API returns the VIN as read; decoding happens in a separate step.

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "vin": "1M8GDM9AXKP042788",
    "confidence": "High",
    "carrier_type": "metal_plate"
  }
}