Scan a VIN with YardScan

Add a donor vehicle to your yard by VIN — scan the barcode with your phone or type it — or add it by make and model, then start pulling parts.

What YardScan does

YardScan is your donor-vehicle catalog. Every salvage car you add lives in My Yard, the list of vehicles you are parting out. Each vehicle keeps its parts, photos and estimated value together. Open a vehicle to add its parts. YardScan identifies each one (its OE part number and the vehicles it fits), so you can price it and send it to your Inventory.

You add a vehicle by typing or scanning its VIN, and GridX Connect fills in the make, model and year. YardScan is a core module. It is on every plan, including Free, with nothing extra to switch on.

> [!NOTE] > You'll find YardScan in the sidebar. It opens on My Yard. The first time, the page says Your yard is empty and shows one button, Add your first vehicle. Once you have vehicles, they show as a photo grid and the button reads Add a vehicle (just Add on a phone).

Before you start

  • The vehicle's 17-character VIN. Look on the windscreen, the driver door jamb, or the registration document. No VIN? You can add the vehicle by make and model instead. See *No VIN?* below.
  • Nothing to buy. YardScan is included on every plan. Each plan comes with a number of free vehicle decodes, and the Add a vehicle window shows how many you have left before you decode. More on this in What each plan includes.

Add a vehicle by VIN

1. Open YardScan from the sidebar and press Add a vehicle. On an empty yard the button is Add your first vehicle. 2. The Add a vehicle window opens on the VIN box. Type or paste the 17 characters. - On a phone or tablet, a Scan button shows beside the box. Press it and point the camera at the barcode on the door jamb or windscreen. A successful scan fills in the VIN and decodes it straight away, so there is nothing else to press. On some phones (an iPhone, for example) the first scan takes a few seconds while the scanner loads. If you do not see Scan, type the VIN. 3. Press Decode VIN. The button stays greyed out until the box holds exactly 17 characters. Pressing Enter does the same. 4. GridX Connect looks up the vehicle and shows it on a card: year, make, model, and details like engine, fuel and drive. The vehicle is saved to My Yard at this point. The card shows Saving vehicle… for a moment, and the decode is counted. 5. Press Add parts to open the vehicle and start adding its parts. That is covered in Part out a whole vehicle. Or press Done to close the window. The vehicle stays in My Yard either way.

> [!WARNING] > Check the VIN before you decode. Change on the card only clears the window so you can enter a different VIN. It does not remove the vehicle that was just saved, and the decode has already been counted. If the wrong vehicle came back, delete it from My Yard afterwards. See *Manage your vehicles* below.

No VIN? Add the vehicle by hand

If you don't have the VIN, press Pick year, make and model instead under the VIN box. Pick the Make and Model (add the Year to narrow it), then press Use this vehicle. To go back to the VIN box, press Enter a VIN instead.

If a VIN won't decode, the error message comes with an Enter manually link that opens the same picker.

The makes and models come from GridX Connect's verified vehicle list. Adding a vehicle this way never uses a vehicle decode.

What the vehicle card tells you

| On the card | What it means | |---|---| | Decoded from VIN / Manual entry | How the vehicle was added. | | Engine, Cyl, Fuel, Drive, Body, Trim | Details read from the VIN, shown as small chips. | | eBay fitment-ready | The vehicle is in eBay's vehicle catalog. | | Lists by title | The vehicle isn't in eBay's catalog. Parts still list fine, matched by their title rather than a catalog entry. |

These labels show on the card in the Add a vehicle window. Afterwards, a vehicle that is in eBay's catalog shows a green Fitment-ready badge on its own page and a small green mark on its My Yard tile.

Vehicle decodes and your plan

Each time you decode a new VIN, it counts against your plan's free vehicle decodes. Before you decode, the bottom of the Add a vehicle window shows where you stand, for example "3 free vehicles left this month."

  • Paid plans get a number of free vehicle decodes each month. When they are used, the line changes to "Free vehicles used up this month." and each further vehicle uses credits from your plan. The window says how many: "Keep going — each vehicle uses N credits from your plan."
  • Free and eBay Sponsored get a one-time allowance, so the line reads "free vehicles left total". When it is used up, the window shows "N of N free vehicles used" and asks you to upgrade. You can still add vehicles by make and model.
  • If your monthly plan is fully used and your spending limit leaves no room, the window says "You've used your whole monthly plan — raise your spending cap or upgrade to decode more." See Raise or change your spending limit.
  • Decoding a VIN you have already decoded is free. The app confirms it: "Already in your catalog" and "Re-decoding this vehicle is free."
  • Adding a vehicle by make and model never uses a decode.

On a phone the window shows only the first line of these messages. The explanation after it shows on a tablet or computer.

After each decode a short message confirms what happened: "Free decode" with your count so far, or "Past your free vehicles" with "This decode uses plan credits."

On a computer screen, My Yard also shows the count in the row under the search box, for example "3 free decodes left this month".

Manage your vehicles

  • Find a vehicle. Use the search box (Search make, model or VIN) or the Status filter: All, Intake, Parting out, Done. The two small buttons beside Add a vehicle switch between Grid view and List view.
  • Read the figures. The counts ("4 vehicles · 71 parts") and Est. vehicle value cover the vehicles currently shown, so they change when you search or filter. A vehicle with no estimate yet is counted as "not priced".
  • Set a status. A new vehicle starts as Intake. To change it, open the vehicle and press Edit vehicle. The choices are Intake, Parting out, Done and Archived. An archived vehicle is hidden from My Yard, and My Yard has no view for archived vehicles, so only archive a vehicle you are finished with.
  • Delete a vehicle. Press the bin on its tile or row (Delete vehicle) and confirm Delete. On a phone the tiles have no bin: open the vehicle, press the pencil (Edit vehicle), then Delete vehicle, and confirm Delete. The vehicle and its saved parts are removed. Parts you already pushed keep their Inventory listings.

If something goes wrong

  • The VIN won't decode. The reason shows under the VIN box:
  • "VIN needs 17 characters — check the door sticker." Count the characters.
  • "That VIN looks invalid." Re-read the VIN and watch for look-alikes, such as a 0 read as O or a 1 read as I.
  • "Couldn't decode this VIN — enter the vehicle manually." The lookup found no vehicle. This also shows if your connection dropped, so try once more. If it still fails, press Enter manually beside the message.

Full checklist: Fix a VIN that will not decode. - The camera won't scan. Poor light or a worn barcode can defeat it. "The camera is blocked. Allow access, or type the VIN." means the browser was refused the camera. "Couldn't load the scanner." means the scanner could not download, for example on a weak signal: try again later. Press Type the VIN instead to close the scanner and type the VIN. - The card says "Vehicle not saved". Press Retry on the card. - The vehicle is already in your yard. Adding a VIN you already have opens the existing vehicle ("Already in your yard"). Nothing is duplicated. - Still stuck. If a VIN you've double-checked won't decode, the vehicle may sit outside what the decoder covers. Add it by make and model instead, or contact support.

> [!TIP] > Adding one vehicle is just the start. To add its parts, identify them, price them and send them to Inventory, see Part out a whole vehicle.