VIN number Advice

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news24

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10 months ago, I bought a second hand Alfa 156 from a Delearship. The car did not have a spare key, I asked my father to cross check the VIN number on the car with that on the licence disc because I need to get it right as they spare key will be ordered from Italy.

VIN No on car: ZARWXXXXXXXXXXX
Vin No on disc: ZARXXXXXXXXXXX

The question is what do I do now? Do I take the car to the Police and verify if its stolen? I can't risk losing this car, I've spend quite a few bucks on car already. I was told by the dealer that the car needed police clearance certificate, but they took their time to help me, so I ended up paying some corrupt official to declare my car roadworthy so that I can register it in my name, now I'm on the receiving end, what do I do?
 
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news24 said:
so I ended up paying some corrupt official to declare my car roadworthy so that I can register it in my name, now I'm on the receiving end, what do I do?
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Karma is a bitch...

Hopefully for your sake it's an admin error.

If you get stopped and things are checked you will be arrested.
 
news24 said:
VIN No on car: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Vin No on disc: xxxxxxxxxxxxx

I ended up paying some corrupt official to declare my car roadworthy so that I can register it in my name
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First of all I would edit / delete your post here! You have admitted on forum that you bribed someone to issue a RWC, and you have posted the VIN numbers of which one must be linked to your name & address with the licensing authorities ...

:erm: Not a smart move this
 
Not clever at all...

If the car has been stolen and resold, you're pretty much screwed, the cops will take it away from you.
 
Oh deary deary me....Police Clearance may be a problem at the time, but trying to get out of it via a corrupt official is begging to be bitten on the bum.

Sorry bud...consider yourself well and truly screwed on this one!! :(
 
atomcrusher said:
First of all I would edit / delete your post here! You have admitted on forum that you bribed someone to issue a RWC, and you have posted the VIN numbers of which one must be linked to your name & address with the licensing authorities ...

:erm: Not a smart move this
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It never ceases to amaze me what people happily admit in public forums :eek: and think that it is a safe environment to do so. Not clever! :(
 
Unfortunately this is the way to get things done in the 'new' SA.

I am still unsure if it can be seen as bribery to pay someone to get some admin done faster, but still entirely legal, than it would have otherwise taken via the normal channels.

I do understand though that it is not supposed to work this way, and they might be delaying the process for this very reason in order to make more money out of it.

Several international government institutions also offer a 'priority processing' option which fasttracks your application if you can afford it.
 
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It would appear that your best bet/safest option is to either contact the dealership about this directly adn get it sorted out immediately, or perhaps risk losing your car at a road block, which could be inconvenient regardless of the time and what you have in your car.

Or contact the police and lose the car anyways, it could just be an error, in which case its definately in your favour to get this sorted out asap, I think you can phone the police witha vin number just to check if the car is stolen too.

Might be worth doing that.
 
blah blah blah i can see the cops trolling MBB to nab these criminals! they cant even sort out an accident scene.

anyway, you were wrong to bribe someone, period. Whether or not you will pay for that is not up to any of us, and will play out as it will play out.

But you need to take the first step and find out what is wrong with that car's VIN number. It sounds very dodgy to me and the fact that the dealer didnt help you sounds even more suspicious.

I'm guessing you didnt finance it? It either was stolen, and not properly cleared and registered when they sold it to you, or it IS STILL stolen with a shiny new VIN number.
 
news24 said:
That's a relief. Do you work for SAPS? Now I have to sort out this mess. I don't want to loose my car.
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No, out of interest sake I called them and via social engineering got someone to check that VIN. They usually don't do this as you have to take the car to them for clearance.

My suggestion would be to start with the dealership.
 
Unless it was an openly dodgy deal in the first place, you can actually take the dealership to the cleaners over this one.

The fact that they knew that it needed PC in the first place interests me...are you sure that it's not a Code 3??
 
Fazda said:
Unless it was an openly dodgy deal in the first place, you can actually take the dealership to the cleaners over this one.

The fact that they knew that it needed PC in the first place interests me...are you sure that it's not a Code 3??
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I think is a code 3 vehicle, my dad took it to SAPS earlier today, and from what they told its a definite rebuild, though it doesn't say so on the papers. The car has two VIN numbers, one from a write off car and the other one is original. They said that the will need to delete one VIN number, though it going to be a process. I hope that this mess can get sorted asap so that I can put car on the market, any takers?
 
news24 said:
I think is a code 3 vehicle, my dad took it to SAPS earlier today, and from what they told its a definite rebuild, though it doesn't say so on the papers. The car has two VIN numbers, one from a write off car and the other one is original. They said that the will need to delete one VIN number, though it going to be a process. I hope that this mess can get sorted asap so that I can put car on the market, any takers?
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OK, that sounds more like it.

I hope you realise that the Dealer is actually legally bound to tell you that this is a Code 3 car and he wouldn't have a leg to stand on if you asked for your money back.

That being said, the very fact that he informed you that it needed PC is enough for him to try and get away with it.

BUYER BEWARE!!! If ever a seller actually warns you of having to get PC, sit back and tighten your purse strings before you go and shell out money on a car...it's just not worth it, no matter how nice the car looks.

Code 3's can be beautifully rebuilt, and are sometimes stronger than the original car, but the only time I have ever bought a Code 3 was to rally it where the chances of it being written off again were fairly high, and all I really wanted was the cheapest available version of that particular car at the time, so that I could strip it and change suspension, rip out the interior and fit a roll cage....as well as seam weld it, which took care of any possible weakness in the rebuild anyway.

When I was selling second hand cars in Cape Town, i sold a 6 month old Jetta with 8 000 km on the clock that had been beautifully rebuilt. Even then the guy who bought it, had full disclosure from me, a free AA test, and he got it at 20 000 below book trade in value...I also made him sign a letter saying that he knew that the car had been rebuilt.

If you are happy with the car and the rebuild is a good one, you can probably drive it for years without any hassle - other wise sell it and make it VERY clear to the buyer why you are selling.

Good luck.
 
Is your car insured? Last I checked insurance on a Code 3 car is seriously expensive and 2nd hand value of the car is nothing, even if it looks as good as new.

But what Fazda said is true, you can have a code 3 car that looks brand spanking new, just keep in mind that the car was previously written off and not everyone does a good job at repairing a car, especially when it's a write-off (hence the increase in insurance premium and why people generally don't pay much for them, or even buy them at all).
 
Hi everybody!

Not the best way to introduce myself to community, but unfortunately that's how it is.

Recently I bought a Hyundai Tucson from private owner, but made a big mistake but not checking properly VIN number on it. THe guy gave me all papers and I after purchase I went to municipality to put it on my name. No problems appeared there and the car is on my name, but I still need to do roadworthy test to obtain new licence disc.

The car needed some repairs, so it was standing in panel shop and workshop for a while, before I took for roadworthy. At the test station I discovered that VIN on car doesn't match one on papers. The difference is only last four digits of it. Guys at roadworthy station gave the printouts for both of the VINs and really feels like that somebody made a mistake in papers, because both VINs have same date for first registration. "Car" VIN shows last roadworthy status date same as date for first registration.

Can anyone please advice me on what to do and what steps to take in order to correct mistake in papers.

Thanks!
 
ypk said:
Hi everybody!

Not the best way to introduce myself to community, but unfortunately that's how it is.

Recently I bought a Hyundai Tucson from private owner, but made a big mistake but not checking properly VIN number on it. THe guy gave me all papers and I after purchase I went to municipality to put it on my name. No problems appeared there and the car is on my name, but I still need to do roadworthy test to obtain new licence disc.

The car needed some repairs, so it was standing in panel shop and workshop for a while, before I took for roadworthy. At the test station I discovered that VIN on car doesn't match one on papers. The difference is only last four digits of it. Guys at roadworthy station gave the printouts for both of the VINs and really feels like that somebody made a mistake in papers, because both VINs have same date for first registration. "Car" VIN shows last roadworthy status date same as date for first registration.

Can anyone please advice me on what to do and what steps to take in order to correct mistake in papers.

Thanks!
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Bugger!
You should be able to sort it out by simply taking it for Police Clearance - they will do all the paperwork, and then you take it in and do the licence.
 
Fazda said:
Bugger!
You should be able to sort it out by simply taking it for Police Clearance - they will do all the paperwork, and then you take it in and do the licence.
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Thank you for your reply.
I was scared to do that, because of previous messages in this topic.. I was scared that police can take it away.

My only silent question is how that was possible for previous owners to do roadworthy, licensing and even insurance(previous owner said that it was insured)?
 
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