AVI stands for ‘Actual Vehicle Information’, i.e. information about a vehicle during its lifecycle. Its predecessor, VHInfo, is also still used. AVI and VHInfo are synonyms for one functional service, that supports different message formats, i.e., the AVI format and the VHInfo format. The VHInfo service will no longer be supported as of July 1, 2025.
The legal basis for the exchange, is the EUCARIS Treaty.
The treaty gives provisions for the exchange of vehicle information. Article 4 sub a states that, if an application to register a vehicle is made in one Member State, and if that vehicle was previously registered in another Member State, the information provided by the applicant, shall be checked against the information from the central vehicle register of the Member State where the vehicle was registered. For this purpose, the EUCARIS AVI service was conceived, which allows information exchange between vehicle registration authorities in the context of applications for registration. A vehicle can either be identified via the licence plate of registration (i.e. the licence plate on the vehicle and/or the licence plate mentioned on the vehicle registration document), or via the number of the vehicle registration document, or via VIN. In the last case, next to searching the vehicle in a specific Member State, it is also possible to search the vehicle in all connected Member State, by performing a so-called Multi Country Inquiry (MCI).
For functional and technical information about the AVI and VHInfo service, visit our knowledge base:
AVI start page.
VHInfo start page.
For information about the meaning use of vehicle signals, visit our dedicated information page on vehicle signals.
For detailed information provision per Member State, visit the data overview page.