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If I were to buy a new car radio/stereo how do I find out if it is compatible with my vehicle? Or are they universal??
There are two things to consider. The mechanical fit and the electrical connection.
The standard mechanical fit is called din but loads of cars use a custom fit. You can sometimes get adapter plates that fit a din
For the the electrics there is a standard known as iso. Again many cars use a custom connection but you can get iso adapters.
A bit of Google should help see what works for your car
In most instances it's a simple case of some sort of adaptor plug between the radio you buy and brand specific wiring in your dash. There can be exceptions though. Theres something baffling going on with some Mercedes models for instance where theres more to it that the plug simply fitting the socket - one happily fits the other - but theres some sort of electronic black magic go on that requires a tiny electronic box of tricks between the two that has to learn how the wiring is behaving and act as a sort of interpreter between the two items - without it the car/van won't send power to the stereo
Its pretty much a trivial cost in most instances to have the stereo fitted by the shop that sells it and unless you plan to make a habit of changing car stereos often pay the extra few quid 🙂 Thats particulary the case these days with extra doo-dahs like steering wheel controls for the stereo, mics for handsfree calls and so on - theres lots of nicnacs and doodahs that are easy if you do it all the time, time-hungry and bothersome if you do it once every 5-10 years
Fairly few cars these days have a standard DIN or Double Din (twice the height of a car stereo - for stereos which a large touch screen or digital display) or there will have but its sort of hidden by a proprietor facia for the factory radio - so you'll often need some sort of adaptor / trim to tidy up the installation of a standard aftermarket stereo
Things have changed. A lot are tied into the cars electrics & control systems and near impossible to remove now.
Impossible to know without knowing what car and year it is.
The single DIN there is "DIN E." There is a DIN D also, which is the ancient radio/cassette units with a knob on either side which use to eat tapes for a laugh. What happened to DINs A/B/C I have no idea. DIN E was pretty standard across the board in my formative driving years some 30 years ago, when you'd buy a stolen tape deck from a guy in the pub for like £20 only to have re-stolen a few months later.
Today though, well, as above.
With the integration of the audio units into cars these days I'd be going to my local reputable audio installer shop (NOT Halfords!) and asking them what the options are. Some manufacturers make the audio system so integrated into the car that removing it renders it unusable so there is a rise in piggyback systems. Some standard audio even has separate headunits and amplifier systems so to upgrade you may be changing hidden components rather than the unit in your dash. It also depends upon why you want to upgrade. Sound? Bluetooth? Android Auto/CarPlay?
What vehicle and what year?