Dealer put a wrong VIN, model year on a contract

[DuCy]

Hello everyone!

I'm an excited new Jaguar XE S owner here.....what a fun little beast!

I have a situation though. I took delivery of the vehicle on Friday. However, last night I picked up that the dealership made a couple of mistakes.

See the car was advertised as a 2015 shop demo with 9500km and as such I managed to negotiate a pretty good deal. Now going through my contract last night, I picked up that the VIN on the contract is one digit short, this I confirmed by comparing it with the actual VIN on the car. I gather this shouldn't be a problem to fix, correct?

What I'm more concerned about though is the fact that when I decoded the actual VIN, it shows up as a 2016 model....good for me right? The very same dealership had two more demo XE S 2016 model on the floor, there was almost R150K price difference on the asking price alone.

They explicitly stated that the deal I got was only made possible by the fact that the car a 2015 model. What are the chances that upon realizing their mistake the dealership would want to cancel the deal?

 

[stricken]

Leave it all as is at least until money has exchanged hands.

 

[DuCy]

Not a bad idea actually. I'll need to inform my insurance to correct VIN the dealer gave them, just to be safe

Leave it all as is at least until money has exchanged hands.

 

[Sensorei]

I bought a golf 5 in 2007 from Barons that was advertised as a 2006 model. When I checked the registration date in the service book it was actually a 2007 model and not even 6 months old. I scored about R40k savings.

These things happen now and then I guess.

 

[SauRoNZA]

VIN being short might not be an error but a case of the documentation not allowing for such a long number vs the actual VIN on the car.

So check what the Natis doc says as well.

Also don't confuse Model Year (of manufacture) with date of registration.

More than likely it is in fact a MY2016 based on the year it was manufactured for, but was registered in 2015 so the value correlates directly with that.

The VIN will refer to the MY as they have no clue when it gets registered.

Inversely you could buy a MY2016 in say 2019.

It would be sold and advertised as a 2019 registered vehicle if it was brand new.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Not a bad idea actually. I'll need to inform my insurance to correct VIN the dealer gave them, just to be safe

But there is nothing incorrect about the number they have.

I bet the physical number just uses more digits than the Natis requirement and that's all the insurance cares about. Jaguar probably have some j
Internal code relevant to it.

 

[DuCy]

VIN being short might not be an error but a case of the documentation not allowing for such a long number vs the actual VIN on the car.

So check what the Natis doc says as well.

Also don't confuse Model Year (of manufacture) with date of registration.

More than likely it is in fact a MY2016 based on the year it was manufactured for, but was registered in 2015 so the value correlates directly with that.

The VIN will refer to the MY as they have no clue when it gets registered.

Inversely you could buy a MY2016 in say 2019.

It would be sold and advertised as a 2019 registered vehicle if it was brand new.

I hear you but how is it possible that a car manufactured in 2016 would have a 2015 registration year

 

[SauRoNZA]

I hear you but how is it possible that a car manufactured in 2016 would have a 2015 registration year

They don't get manufactured IN that year but FOR that year.

Normally delivered August - December.

I rode a MY2007 Buell that was registered in November 2006 and built in August.

You'll quite possibly find the build date somewhere in the numbers too.

MY is only ever really relevant to whether or not there was a change or facelift in models to figured out which exactly it is you are buying.

Value wise only registration matters to people.

As a clever second hand buyer it should never bother you so that you get deals exactly like this. Your car was 150k cheaper and is identical to the others.

 

[DuCy]

But there is nothing incorrect about the number they have.

I bet the physical number just uses more digits than the Natis requirement and that's all the insurance cares about. Jaguar probably have some j
Internal code relevant to it.

Its definitely a typo because the missing digit is in the middle (16 digits instead of the usual 17digits)

 

[SauRoNZA]

Its definitely a typo because the missing digit is in the middle (16 digits instead of the usual 17digits)

Aaah okay that's a bit different.

But even so it's probably still completely unique which is all that anyone really cares about.

 

[DuCy]

Ok understood, thanks!

They don't get manufactured IN that year but FOR that year.

Normally delivered August - December.

I rode a MY2007 Buell that was registered in November 2006 and built in August.

You'll quite possibly find the build date somewhere in the numbers too.

MY is only ever really relevant to whether or not there was a change or facelift in models to figured out which exactly it is you are buying.

Value wise only registration matters to people.

As a clever second hand buyer it should never bother you so that you get deals exactly like this. Your car was 150k cheaper and is identical to the others.

 

[stroller]

The date on the tyres should give you a clue when the car was manufactured.
Not absolute but an indication because assembly plants work on a "just in time" principle.

 

[Sensorei]

The date on the tyres should give you a clue when the car was manufactured.
Not absolute but an indication because assembly plants work on a "just in time" principle.

The VIN number tells you when it was manufactured.

 

[Pho3nix]

Aaah okay that's a bit different.

But even so it's probably still completely unique which is all that anyone really cares about.

Doesn't vin need to match bank papers?
Actual reason why you are encouraged to do a do a inspection and confirm details are as the dealership provided to the bank etc?

 

[DuCy]

The VIN number tells you when it was manufactured.

Yep VIN says 2016 which makes sense sonsidering the disc on the vehicle is expirering on March 2017. Meaning the vehecle was first registered around March 2016. Why the dealership sold it as 2015 model puzzles me....not that I'm complaining.

 

[FiestaST]

Congrats on the Jaaaaag... properly cool car man...

 

[SauRoNZA]

Doesn't vin need to match bank papers?
Actual reason why you are encouraged to do a do a inspection and confirm details are as the dealership provided to the bank etc?

Yes the NATIS documents.

The contract itself doesn't matter too much short of identifying the vehicle.

Also the insurance doesn't specifically need every detail. As long as you own it and something you have matches the records they have it shouldn't be a problem. But obviously update them if you can and know something was wrong.

Very few do inspections...generally only the cut the middleman types. My last three vehicles have never been inspected, but then none of them were "over the phone" and copies of all papers were submitted to them.

 

[DuCy]

Thanks FiestaST!

My car looks exactly as in your post but with 20" propeller wheels and a sunroof. To say its an awesome upgrade from my 428i is an understatement.

Congrats on the Jaaaaag... properly cool car man...

 

[stroller]

The VIN number tells you when it was manufactured.

Did a bit of googling and it appears that the tenth digit of the VIN contains the year of manufacture. We did a few checks and it appears to work when the VIN has a letter of the alphabet and compared it to the schedule on the you tube insert.
Some cars have a numeral as the tenth digit and this confuses.

Does each manufacturer have its own code?

 

[Colin62]

The year code seems a little variable to me. I tried two VINs, both cars manufactured in 2004 (both were facelift, released in 2004, and show as manufactured in 2004 on the Merc VIN website) but according to the codes listed, they are 2002 models. My Mazda seems correct though.