Trailer VIN Plate OCR API

Where to Find the VIN on a Trailer

Trailers usually carry a VIN plate or label on the tongue or the front of the frame rail, and many have the VIN stamped into the frame as well.

Capture and Extract It Reliably

Plates are often weathered or painted over; capture the plate square to the camera and avoid flash glare on metal. 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

• Trailer rental and leasing: Replace manual transcription of 17-character identifiers with a photo.
• Yard and dock check-in: Attach the extracted VIN and its source surface to the record for audit.
• Registration paperwork: 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"
  }
}