VIN

Automotive V.i.n. Numbers What Do They Mean

admin  Automotive  , , ,

V.I.N. V.I.N.s. You will hear this term tossed around frequently by car sales people, auto insurance people among others in the automotive trade. What does the term “VIN” mean and how it is important to you?

The term V.I.N. is short form of “Vehicle Identification Number”. It’s a unique number that is assigned to your vehicle – be it car, truck, S.U.V., van truck, motorcycle or any other vehicle. Think of the VIN as the Social Insurance Number for your automotive vehicle.

In order to register a vehicle, especially a new vehicle, you will need its V.I.N. In order to insure your vehicle ditto. If your car is stolen it may well be tracked down and identified by this unique listing – it’s V.I.N. If you are in the market for a vehicle and do a vehicle history search – say at Carfax or a similar online service and the lookup will all be done by V.I.N. How else could the system work if each vehicle did not have its own unique identifying number? Through such automated systems you can quickly and accurately determine vehicle history since new – a list of owners , any accident reports , has the car been involved in a major accident , been written off , been in a flood , have liens or charges against it , as well as many additional concerns for auto buyers ,financers , and dealers.

How can you determine the V.I.N. of your vehicle? That is easy if have ready access to your registration and insurance documentation. If not, or if you want to confirm the VIN number assignment you can simply find out your vehicles stamp. Simply look through the windshield on the driver’s side of the auto at the corner of the dash. It should be clearly stamped on a plate attached to the dash. As well that same designation should be clearly listed on your bill of sale. If the 2 numbers do not match – this could be a sign of future trouble if you are ever involved in a collision and have to deal with auto insurance claims and payment to yourself or your auto body shop.

A short course in how to read a VIN to be of use to you – should you be in the car buying mode, need registration information or want to import a car into Canada. Where an auto is manufactured often determines import duties and taxes.

Reading a V.I.N. First things first look at the first number on the left hand side. This first character designates where the vehicle was built – 1 is the US, 2 is Canada, 3 is Mexico, J for Japan, K for Korea for example.

Next the second character in line designates the manufacturer or who built the car. The letter “G: stands for General Motor or G.M. products. Next is the third character – in this example if the number 2 is the third character – this would indicate the Pontiac division of GM. Characters 4 and 5 indicate the car line series, eight represents the body style for example 2 door coupe, 4 door sedan, hatchback. The seventh character indicates the type of safety restraint system that was installed at the factory. Eight character stands for the engine code – each type of engine has its own stamp. Between the eighth and the last sequence of letters is a check digit – a spacer to prevent confusion. The last sequence of digits is the grouping that singly identifies the vehicle and makes it wholly unique.

Why all this effort in creating this system and nomenclature of listing and describing each car individually. How else could the automotive trades work if they could not id each and every vehicle separately , track it , keep detailed records and lastly allow you as a car , truck , SUV , Van or motorcycle driver to research the past history of your new found vehicle.

Used Porsche 911 Buying Tips

admin  Sales  , ,

The following article is some handy hints of what to look for is you are buying a used Porsche 911. The used car market is full of sharks and certainly where high performance cars for sale, you can find that the prices are marked up on vehicles that are not of a high standard. Here are a few tips if you are specifically looking to buy a used Porsche 911 in the UK.

Service History
Unless the car is a really old classic Porsche 911’s from the 1960’s, I would always go for a car with a good service history record and copies of receipts from previous work that had been undertaken on the car. A used Porsche 911 without any service history is a risk and you do not want to be footing the bill for any major problems after the warranty runs out.

Check the Bodywork
Looks are always a big factor with used Porsche 911 vehicles, you want people to admire the car, any imperfections on the car will only stand out like a sore thumb. Older cars will have paintwork that is not perfect, so be prepared, especially the older reds that may have faded. What you want to look out for are stone chips and faded paint. Any high end dealer will fix minor imperfections for you, but make sure you tell them to do this before you pick the car up. Unscrupulous dealers won’t work on a car unless they have to. Any small faded areas on the roof and bonnet are a sure of bird droppings and owner neglect with storage and washing. Any used Porsche 911 should have impeccable bodywork as the build quality is very high.

Check the Tyres
When you get time at the dealers, check the back tyres for unusual wear. If the back tyres have flat spots and very worn, this could be a sign that the car has been thrashed by the previous owner or garage. Although used Porsche 911 vehicles are high performance machines, you don’t want to buy a mistreated vehicle.

Be Suspicious
If you are buying a used Porsche 911 from a garage you would not expect to be selling such a high end car, be suspicious how they acquired it. Find out by asking questions and make sure you do all security checks and HPI checks before you part company with your cash. If you are buying a used Porsche 911 privately, then be even more suspicious, vehicle crime is getting more and more sophisticated. A deal is a deal and its always worth going for a bargain, but that does not mean ignore specialist used Porsche dealers.

Spend Time on the Interior
Checking the engine and mechanical areas of a used Porsche 911 is vital. But don’t over look the interior of the car. Damage to the interior of cars can really affect resale values and are very expensive to repair. So take a long time to inspect the interior of the car, if you are looking at an older used Porsche 911 cabriolet, check for leaky roofs. Never feel rushed to inspect a vehicle and always go at your own pace. Tell the sales person to go and sit down and leave you to it if they are rushing you.

Remember that you are going to be paying a lot of money for your used Porsche 911, so if anything seems just not right, no matter how small. Walk away from the deal and never buy anything without checking out HPI and VIN numbers. If you have the money, get the AA or a mechanic to give the car the once over.