IDENTIFYING A MOBILE HOME
Karen Matera
How to find your mobile home’s VIN number
Where to find your mobile home’s VIN
Your mobile home VIN number is often found:
On the data plate inside your home.
Stamped on your mobile home’s steel frame.
On the outside of the front end-wall.
Outside the main entry door near the lower right corner.
On the front-most cross-member of the steel frame.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires every mobile home to have a data plate, which is installed while the home is built in the factory. The plate can often be found on the master bedroom’s closet wall, under the kitchen sink on the cabinet doors, or near the home’s HVAC system closet, electrical panel, or backdoor. Some mobile homeowners find that the data plate has been removed or painted over, so you may need to do some exploring.
Your VIN may also be located on the exterior of the home. Mobile homes with more than one section usually have a slightly different VIN for each section.
If your mobile home already has a skirt around it, locating the steel chassis may be difficult. You’re looking for letters and numbers that are at least three-eighths of an inch tall. Look for the steel beam running parallel with the front of the home that the original triangular tongue beam attached to when transporting. This is one of the easier places to locate the VIN. For other areas of the mobile home, you may have to remove some of the skirting to locate it.
Finding your VIN when your mobile home was manufactured before 1976
If your mobile home was manufactured before 1976, the VIN may appear in one of the following places:
Near the electric panel.
On the tongue or hitch.
On the enclosure for the hot water tank.
Inside the cabinet under the kitchen sink.
On the wall of a bedroom closet.
What’s on a data plate?
In addition to your mobile home VIN, that data plate has other handy information:
The manufacturer’s name and address.
A serial number with model designation.
The date of manufacture.
A statement required by HUD: “This manufactured home is designed to comply with Federal manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards in force at the time of manufacture.”
A list of certification labels affixed to each transportable section of the home.
A list of all factory-installed equipment.
A map and reference with wind zone, snow load, and roof load of the manufactured home.
You should protect your data plate if you ever remodel or repair your mobile home. Put plastic over it and take and store photos of the plate to make sure the data remains accessible.
What is a HUD tag?
While searching for your data plate and VIN, you may run across another important tag on your mobile home. This is a HUD tag (also called a certification label), and it’s a two-inch by four-inch metal plate on the back exterior of your mobile home. On it, you’ll find a three-letter that identifies the in-plant primary inspection agency that inspected your mobile home. HUD tags also have six-digit serial numbers that the label supplier furnishes.
All manufactured homes made after June 1976 must have a HUD tag.
HUD plates can be very helpful in identifying the home through a cross reference process.
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