Way to find out year of manufacture

Barr

Some cars may be sitting in storage yards or forecourts for a while before they are registered.

I was wondering is there a way of getting the year of manufacture not registration.

Thanks

DanGerMus

i think the VIN (vehicle identification number) number should indicate this, also the service manual will have it on the first page.

colm_mcm

how does this affect the car now?

Berty

colm_mcm wrote: »

how does this affect the car now?

It possibly will because Hertz have recently put OLD Ford stock into 2009 use. These models were <July 2007 stock but now are registered as 2008 and crazily as 2009 stock although a new shape Focus came on Mid 2008.

It would not affect everybody as most would not know there was a difference but you will have dealers playing the game by simply not informing you.

Although the car is a 2009 I would still argue for a bigger discount consider the shape of the car is outdated.

This then goes on to affect to OMSP of the vehicle considering this vehicle will not have the same spec as the newer shape.

dainius

take off any small plastic cover of the engine bay or fuse box cover and look under it. There should be few numbers i.e. 97,98,99,...06, etc and look what number is the arrow pointing at and you will know the year.There also should be numbers 1,2,3...12, that would indicate the month the parts been made.

P.C.

The year of manufacture is on the Certicicate of Regerstartion (look next to B2).

It effects the value of the car.

If a car has a 08 reg, but was manufactered in 07, it is in effect a 07 model, and I for one would only be willing to pay the value of a 07 model for it.
This is why I would never buy a new car in the first few months of the year.

colm_mcm

P.C. wrote: »

If a car has a 08 reg, but was manufactered in 07, it is in effect a 07 model, and I for one would only be willing to pay the value of a 07 model for it.
This is why I would never buy a new car in the first few months of the year.

With respect, That's an absolute load of rubbish, unless there are spec upgrades or facelift models in the meantime it doesn't make any difference when it was built. even if there was, it still wouldn't account for a years value.

example: the Focus's mentioned earlier (pre-facelift 07MY with 09 reg) vs a new shape 08 Focus, the 09 is still worth more even though it's the old shape.

Barr

P.C. wrote: »

The year of manufacture is on the Certicicate of Regerstartion (look next to B2).

It effects the value of the car.

If a car has a 08 reg, but was manufactered in 07, it is in effect a 07 model, and I for one would only be willing to pay the value of a 07 model for it.
This is why I would never buy a new car in the first few months of the year.

Although it says the year of manufacture on the logbook I think this isn't accurate - it always reflects the year of registration.

Also the vin number I’m looking at doesn't indicate year of manufacture

Berty

colm_mcm wrote: »

With respect, That's an absolute load of rubbish, unless there are spec upgrades or facelift models in the meantime it doesn't make any difference when it was built. even if there was, it still wouldn't account for a years value.

example: the Focus's mentioned earlier (pre-facelift 07MY with 09 reg) vs a new shape 08 Focus, the 09 is still worth more even though it's the old shape.

Not as far as VW are concerned.

http://www.volkswagen.ie/templates/volkswagen05/pdf/VW_Stock%20List_Price%20List_Internet.pdf

Now, you may argue that is because they have exceptional overstock but it is also, more to the point, because they are the previous model and more people will be interested in the newer shape than the older shape.

Hence, they are worth less.

colm_mcm

but that's a different scenario altogether Berty, the VW situation is where they are overlapping old and new generations and in order to clear out the old stuff, they are discounting it. are you suggesting that an 08 VW is worth than an 09 one?

mickdw

If model has not changed, the year of manufacture would have little effect on value. You would have great bargaining power though if prepared to buy on of these as they want rid so bad.

R.O.R

P.C. wrote: »

The year of manufacture is on the Certicicate of Regerstartion (look next to B2).

It effects the value of the car.

If a car has a 08 reg, but was manufactered in 07, it is in effect a 07 model, and I for one would only be willing to pay the value of a 07 model for it.
This is why I would never buy a new car in the first few months of the year.

VW have just announced their 2010 specs. Anything ordered from factory will be MY10 - are you saying no one should buy those until next year?

Senna

Might not be on the newer cars, but the year of manufacture used to always be on the seat belt tags. Every car i have bought i have always check that first and its always been there, but of the 10-12 cars i've owned, they were all jap and all pre 1997:D

Barr

Might not be on the newer cars, but the year of manufacture used to always be on the seat belt tags. Every car i have bought i have always check that first and its always been there, but of the 10-12 cars i've owned, they were all jap and all pre 1997

Unfortunetly it seems that only the Jap cars do this - haven't seen it on others

P.C.

colm_mcm wrote: »

With respect, That's an absolute load of rubbish, unless there are spec upgrades or facelift models in the meantime it doesn't make any difference when it was built. even if there was, it still wouldn't account for a years value.

example: the Focus's mentioned earlier (pre-facelift 07MY with 09 reg) vs a new shape 08 Focus, the 09 is still worth more even though it's the old shape.

That is your opinion, and I resepect it. However, I would offer you less for a 08 built in 07 than I would for a 08 built in 08 - the one is a year older than the other. That is the way that I see it. And that is why I will never but a new car in the first few months of the year.

In your example above, I see it the other way round. I see the new shape 08 Focus to be worth more than the 07 Focus with a 09 reg, and would have no problem telling a seller this.

Barr wrote: »

Although it says the year of manufacture on the logbook I think this isn't accurate - it always reflects the year of registration.

Also the vin number I’m looking at doesn't indicate year of manufacture

There is the year of first reistration and there is the year of manufacture - they can be different, as people will order cars in November, but wait until January to register them.

R.O.R wrote: »

VW have just announced their 2010 specs. Anything ordered from factory will be MY10 - are you saying no one should buy those until next year?

Do you need/want a new car now?
If so, buy it now.
Or do you want to wait for the new model?

The problem with waiting for the new model is that the car manufactueres are always working on a new model, so you could be waiting forever.

Buy a car when you want to, and buy the car that you want.

I was just saying that I will not buy a new car in the first few months of the year. Thats just me. I am not telling anyone that they can't. It is up to them to make their own decisions.

colm_mcm

P.C. wrote: »

That is your opinion, and I resepect it. However, I would offer you less for a 08 built in 07 than I would for a 08 built in 08 - the one is a year older than the other. That is the way that I see it. And that is why I will never but a new car in the first few months of the year.

Even if the cars were otherwise identical?

P.C. wrote: »

In your example above, I see it the other way round. I see the new shape 08 Focus to be worth more than the 07 Focus with a 09 reg, and would have no problem telling a seller this.

But that's you. everybody else bases the year of the car on when it was registered.
It goes without saying that if a model is obselete and superceded by a new version that it will be worth less than the newer version with the same year. but your reasoning doesn't reflect that of anyone I've EVER encountered since I started selling cars.
On the other hand, if I had a 2008 Focus, I'd be delighted if you gave me more than the price of a 2009 Focus.

P.C.

colm_mcm wrote: »

Even if the cars were otherwise identical?

Yes.

colm_mcm wrote: »

But that's you. everybody else bases the year of the car on when it was registered.
It goes without saying that if a model is obselete and superceded by a new version that it will be worth less than the newer version with the same year. but your reasoning doesn't reflect that of anyone I've EVER encountered since I started selling cars.
On the other hand, if I had a 2008 Focus, I'd be delighted if you gave me more than the price of a 2009 Focus.

The way I see it, the year of the car is when it was manufactured, so I would be willing to pay more for a 08 car than a 07 car. Just because the 07 one has a 09 reg does not mean that it has not been sitting out in a field for two years, exposed to the elements.

I always check the year of manufacture when buying a second hand car. If the seller does not know the year of manufacture, or does not want to tell me, then I will ask to see the Certificate of Registration.

Just because my reasoning doesn't reflect that of everyone you have delt with, that does not make me wrong.

colm_mcm

so you 'll pay more for an 08 than an 09. fair play to you. that doesn't make you wrong. please let me know when you're changing your car.

P.C.

colm_mcm wrote: »

so you 'll pay more for an 08 than an 09. fair play to you. that doesn't make you wrong. please let me know when you're changing your car.

Read my post:

I will pay more for a 08 than a 07.
If the 07 has a 09 reg, I will only pay what it is worth and it is only worth the same as an 07 reg car.


I don't buy a car for the reg. I leave that to other people - that way I can buy second hand cars cheaper.

smash

at the bottom of the seatbelt there's a tag, this usually has the month and date of production stamped on it... or is that just Jap cars, can't remember...

G Luxel

ive seen a lot of 09 D, C etc registered Avensis hatchbacks with T2, T3 badging indicating that they are UK models and they are also the old model as there is no hatch in the new version. Ive also seen last week 2 car transporterloads of old model Avensis, unregistered and still with their sheets of protective plastic on the bodywork.

I do know of a Ford Orion mk 2, registered in January 1992 which is really a 1990 old model so it must have been sitting around in storage for a year and a half, the last ones were built in August 1990.

PaulKK

P.C. wrote: »

Read my post:

I will pay more for a 08 than a 07.
If the 07 has a 09 reg, I will only pay what it is worth and it is only worth the same as an 07 reg car.


I don't buy a car for the reg. I leave that to other people - that way I can buy second hand cars cheaper.

I agree with you on this. The car manufactured in 07 has been sitting in storage for 2 years, who knows what problems it could have such as corrosion on parts being stationary for prolonged periods, or even paint fade.

I wont agree that its worth exactly the same as an 07 registered in 07, but it wouldn't be worth much more than a low miler 07 to me.

Just because the old models are registered as new after 2 years does not mean they can retain their full value, its old stock and an old model and therefore imo not worth as much as a low mileage 08 new shape as discussed.

Simon201

Years ago you could get a good guide of manufacture from kind of engraved stuff on the windows. Like numbers and dots to signify the year (ok maybe only applies to the glass) Isn't there something like this still on the windows?

stratos

It's on the seat belts, see the stitched tag.

seataltea

If you take a vehicle with a 17 digit VIN and count into the 10 digit (counting from left to right), the 10th digit is the model year of that vehicle. In other words the year it was built. E.G ... WVWZZZ3CZ9P001009, this car was built in 2009.
This is how you do it for vehicles with 17th digit VIN numbers.

Barr

Im looking at a vin number VSSZZZ6KZYR129661 , Could you decipher the cars year from this ?

robbie99

According to http://www.analogx.com/contents/vinview.htm

That VIN decodes to...

Description Position Raw Data Decoded Data
Region: 1 V Europe
Country: 1-2 VS Spain
Manufacturer: 2-3 SS Seat
Model Specific: 4-8 ZZZ6K Unknown
Check Digit: 9 Z Invalid
Year: 10 Y 2000
Assembly Plant: 11 R R
Serial Number: 12-17 129661 129661


Note that the check digit is Invalid so you may have the VIN wrong. Also, the year does not necessarily refer to the calendar year in which the car was built, it could be the model or type year allocated by the manufacturer.