Correct VIN?

[micky]

Looking to buy a car, check the VIN on carfax, and the repair history there conflicts with the seller's story about where the car has been.

So maybe I copied the VIN wrong, probably just one digit, but the make and model of the car that carfax reports is the same as the one I'm looking at. Does that mean I have the right VIN?

OTOH aren't the last 6 or so digits just a sequential number from the assembly line that makes, at least for a period of time, just one make and model, and maybe 2 or 3 submodels?? So that would mean that I still might have used the wrong VIN, right? If I got the last digit, or even the next to the last, I might have the car that came off the line next, right?

[VinnyB]

On Sun, 17 Sep 2017 14:29:52 -0400, micky wrote in

Yes, I believe so.

[Stormin' Norman]

A suggestion; in the future, use your phone to take a picture of the ID plate on the car. I have been doing this with all my equipment, so that when I need to find a manual online, I don't have to rely on my nearly indecipherable handwriting.

[FrozenNorth]

A VIN has a check digit, which will help verify the VIN, same as your SSN and your credit cards, not sure if carfax checks it properly though.

[micky]

I did take pictures of it, at the seller's suggestion, but when I got home, I couldn't find the pictures. Glad you reminded me. I'll look again. The flash went off so a picture must have been taken, but I always have trouble find the pictures from Android Camera.

[The Real Bev]

Do you have a 'gallery' app? The one that came with the Motorola works really well. The default album is 'camera' and you can make others to move photos into.

[philo]

Damn good idea

My wife also suggested I take pix of the numbers in the parking ramp

[Stormin' Norman]

You can also log into Google Photos from your computer, your images should be automatically backed up to the Google account associated with the phone.

[philo]

Your story sounds fishy to me, it you took a picture why did you bother to write it down?

All you have to do is look in your photo gallery.

My 91 year old mother has no problem doing that, it's not even close to being difficult.

[Stormin' Norman]

Not sure what this means, would you elaborate?

[Stormin' Norman]

91? She is a spring chicken and should be able to do such things..... ;-)

[philo]

My mom had a computer and a cell phone before I ever did.

Maybe not a typical 91 year old.

[philo]

If I go to an indoor parking lot, the floors and the rows are numbered, so I take a picture.

Pretty much everything...even the pedestrian door I exit from.

Street signs outside.

Since I've been doing this, never again have I gotten lost looking for my car and the pictures can just be deleted when I'm done

[micky]

I've thought about check digits. If I made mistakes on two numbers, it could defeat the check digit. But I doubt I made two mistakes.

Carfax pretty much has to check it becuase I'm sure it has to look at all 17 numbers, and if it's not there, that's what it would say.

Back to my camera, the pictures are in Gallery, though how one is supposed to know that, I don't know. I took a new picture to make sure where they were going and I found the new one but nothing for weeks before. And once I got a message that Gallery is not available. Plus I've got several photos from just before those weeks where only 1/4 or more of the screen is photo and the rest is blanks. I think maybe there's a problem with the SD card. Phone is broken in other ways too.

I'll know if I had the VIN right by tomorrow. I could go look right now, but somehow I can never read it off the dash, even with a flashlight.

[clare]

Except the check digit would not match and you would (ormshould) get an "invalid VIN" message. The 9th digit in the serial number will cgange with the combination of digits in the production sequence number. This means you need at least 2 numbers wrong - one of them being the 9th digit, to possibly have the wrong VIN and have it valid.

I think the seller is "snowing" you.

[Stormin' Norman]

Ahhhh, good idea. Kind of like taking a picture of where you park in the public airport lot.

[clare]

Remember who you are talking to/about. It's Mikey. Not trying to be hardon the poor lad - but - - - - -

[micky]

Agreed, except one wouldn't have to be the 9th digit. Add one and subtract one, or interchange 2 numbers, and it would check out.

Maybe. Though the car that comes up has had lots of maintenance from the same repair shop, including new timing belt and water pump. So that would be good. But he wants me to believe it was his daughter's car and she lives 30 miles south of where the car was maintained. If it had only been one event, sure, but there are 10 or 20. I saw the auction papers in the glove box and noted the price but forgot to note the date. It was probably last week.

Anyhow, it's good to understand this vin stuff for this time and future times too.

[micky]

Yeah, thanks. They're not there.

That's scarey. I have to check it out some day.

[hubops]

Be sure to check the ownership history - a car that has been flipped a few times in recent years is a huge red flag. Here in Ontario Canada - law says that, for private sale, the seller must provide the "used car info" .. but there are tricks that the curb-siders use to con the unwary buyer ..

... not to mention what the low-life dealers do ! ps : expect a flood of Flood-Cars in months & years to come ! pps : not all insurance write-offs are all bad - if you are aware of the reasons and get them for the proper price. John T.