RV and Motorhome VIN OCR API

Where to Find the VIN on a RV and Motorhome

Motorhomes carry the chassis VIN on the windshield plate and door-jamb label like other vehicles; the coach builder may add its own serial label, which is not the VIN.

Capture and Extract It Reliably

Make sure the 17-character chassis VIN is captured, not the coach manufacturer’s serial number. 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

• RV rental check-in: Replace manual transcription of 17-character identifiers with a photo.
• Dealer consignment intake: Attach the extracted VIN and its source surface to the record for audit.
• Insurance inspections: 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"
  }
}