Every factory color has a code. Get it and you can buy paint that matches your car exactly — the same starting point a body shop uses. Get it wrong and you've bought the right shade of the wrong color.
The code is almost always on a sticker or plate you've walked past a hundred times. Here's where to look.
Start with the driver's door jamb
Open the driver's door and look at the pillar the door latches into, and at the edge of the door itself. Most manufacturers put a build sticker there listing VIN, tyre pressures, and somewhere among it a paint or color code.
If it's not there, check in this order: the glovebox, the boot floor or spare-wheel well, under the bonnet on the strut tower or slam panel, and finally the owner's manual.
Where each brand hides it
| Brand | Usual location | Looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Ford | Driver's door jamb sticker | Two characters, e.g. J7, UG, YZ |
| GM / Chevrolet / Buick / Cadillac | Glovebox or driver's door jamb — "BC/CC" line | WA8555, WA8624 (or just the last four) |
| BMW | Driver's door jamb, or strut tower under bonnet | Three characters, e.g. 475, 300, A96 |
| Toyota / Lexus / Scion | Driver's door jamb, marked "C/TR" | Three characters after C/, e.g. 1G3, 040 |
| Honda / Acura | Driver's door jamb | Letter-number mix, e.g. NH-731P |
| Mercedes | Under bonnet on the slam panel, or door jamb | Three digits, often prefixed 9, e.g. 040, 197 |
| Audi / VW | Boot floor near the spare, or service book | Four characters, e.g. LY9B, LZ7G |
| Nissan / Infiniti | Driver's door jamb or under bonnet | Three characters, e.g. KH3, QAB |
| Subaru | Driver's side strut tower under bonnet | Three characters, e.g. K1X, 02C |
| Hyundai / Kia | Driver's door jamb | Two or three characters, e.g. SAW, ABP |
| Porsche | Boot, under the bonnet lid, or service book | Often with a name, e.g. LM7Z Guards Red |
| Tesla | Driver's door jamb sticker | Four characters, e.g. PPSW, PMNG |
What if the sticker's gone?
On older or resprayed cars the sticker is often faded, painted over or missing. Three options, in order of reliability:
- Your registration document or service book — some manufacturers record it there.
- A main dealer — give them the VIN and they can usually look up the factory color in seconds.
- Search by vehicle instead of code — our color finder works from year, make and model, then shows the colors that were offered so you can match by name and swatch.
Worth knowing: if the car has been resprayed, the original code is the color it left the factory as, not necessarily the color it is now.
One code, several shades
Some codes have variants — the same color mixed slightly differently across plants or model years. That's normal and it's why professionals spray a test card and blend into surrounding panels rather than filling a chip in isolation. For a stone chip it rarely matters. For a whole panel it does.
Got the code?
Enter it here and we'll mix your exact factory color to order — 2oz touch-up bottles with a brush in the cap, aerosols for panels, or ready-to-spray gallons. Same formula, every size.
