West Virginia license plate lookup

Turn a West Virginia (WV) plate into a VIN, full vehicle specs and open safety recalls — and see exactly how West Virginia plate serials are formatted.

West Virginia plate formats

Standard-issue passenger series. Regex patterns match the normalized serial — uppercase, with spaces and dashes removed.

0AB 123 (months 1-9) Currently issued
^[A-Z0-9][A-Z]{2}\d{3,4}$

First character encodes month of expiration (digit or O/N/D).

X1A 2345 Currently issued
^[A-Z0-9]\d[A-Z]\d{4}$

Extended month-coded series.

Serials are coded by month of expiration.

What a West Virginia plate lookup returns

The VIN

The vehicle's 17-character VIN — the key to everything else. Validate one anytime with our free VIN validator.

Free VIN validator

Full specifications

Year, make, model, trim, engine, drivetrain, dimensions and factory options via VIN decoding.

VIN Decoding API

Open safety recalls

Every open NHTSA recall campaign for the vehicle, including do-not-drive advisories — free to check.

Free recall check
For developers

Convert West Virginia plates to VINs by API

Dealers, marketplaces and fleets automate WV plate lookups with one HTTP call — the VIN comes back with a quick decode of make, model, year and trim. Repeat lookups of the same plate are cached for 7 days, free.

POST /api/convert
{
  "state": "WV",
  "plate": "0AB 123 (months 1-9)"
}

West Virginia plate lookup FAQ

What format are West Virginia license plates?

Current standard-issue West Virginia passenger plates use the format 0AB 123 (months 1-9) and X1A 2345 (A = letter, digits shown as numbers). Older series remain valid and on the road — the full list, including recent previous series, is on this page.

How do I look up a West Virginia license plate?

Enter the plate and select WV in our free lookup to identify the vehicle, see its open safety recalls, and jump to its full specs and photos. Businesses can automate West Virginia plate lookups through the PlateToVIN API.

Can I get a VIN from a West Virginia license plate?

Yes. A registered West Virginia plate resolves to the vehicle's 17-character VIN, which unlocks the exact year, make, model, trim and factory specifications. That's exactly what our plate-to-VIN service does, for West Virginia and all 50 states.

Is it legal to look up a West Virginia license plate?

Plate lookups are legal for permissible purposes such as verifying a vehicle you're buying, dealership and fleet operations, or insurance workflows. PlateToVIN is not a consumer reporting agency, and results may not be used for FCRA-regulated decisions like employment, credit or insurance eligibility.