So, as most of you know I bought an Audi A4 a few years back. I was getting the inspection done today and I failed the inspection. The Inspector told me that the VIN #'s differed on my car and the registration. "WTF?" I thought as I looked at them. The VIN # on my car read as follows: WAUCB88D1VA205950. The VIN # on the inspection (and my insurance) read as follows: WAUCB88D1VA204365.

I go home and rifle through all the old registrations. I find one dated from when I got my car. It reads WAUCB88D1VA204365, the same incorrect VIN #. Apparently, my VIN has been incorrectly registered since I got the car. And this doesn't look like a simple transposing of numbers, either. This leads me to two conclusions:

1. The DMV screwed up and gave me the wrong registration to a different Audi.
2. The guy who sold me the car gave me a wrong VIN # intentionally. I never checked it to see if it matched the VIN # on the vehicle.

Regardless, if anyone has a Carfax available and you want to be an internet detective, by all means. WAUCB88D1VA204365 has to belong to an Audi SOMEWHERE, and for all I know it could be an Audi sitting in some guy's driveway in Berlin, Germany.

By the way, the title is at my parent's house, and I don't have access to it at the moment. If it's wrong on the title, then that pretty much proves that situation #2 happened.


EDIT: now that I think about it, WAUCB88D1VA204365 (the VIN I currently have registered) is going to have all the information that I have put in about getting my inspections and whatnot. It may also have information about getting inspections somewhere else (where the real WAUCB88D1VA204365 is).

[Edited on November 11, 2007 at 1:05 PM. Reason : ]

11/11/2007 12:57:36 PM

it doesnt matter what kind of car it is.
you never trust anyone.

always run the VINs. always check the VINs.

its your fault, not DMV or the seller.

11/11/2007 1:04:26 PM

Yeah I know, I am really just interested in knowing if another vehicle out there is registered with the same VIN.

Mystery's are irresistible, you know?

11/11/2007 1:06:34 PM

you are a fucking dumbass, GG.

11/11/2007 1:16:05 PM

Quote :

"The guy who sold me the car gave me a wrong VIN # intentionally. I never checked it to see if it matched the VIN # on the vehicle."

want to buy a car from me?

11/11/2007 1:58:58 PM

yikes

11/11/2007 4:28:11 PM

It's going to suck if you find out that your car is stolen and the guy got the title off a wrecked car that was going to the junkyard.

11/11/2007 6:12:23 PM

If you bought the car a few years ago why are you just now realizing this problem?

does the registered VIN just not match the one one dash plate? have you checked on the various stickers around the vehicle? start looking in the door jambs, under the hood, see if there are vins etched into the glass.

11/11/2007 6:20:10 PM

That's gonna be funny if the front half and the back half have different VINs.

Seen it quite a few times.


TWO CARS ENTER. ONE CAR LEAVES.

[Edited on November 11, 2007 at 6:23 PM. Reason : Thunderdome Bodyshop.]

11/11/2007 6:22:00 PM

Quote :

"If you bought the car a few years ago why are you just now realizing this problem?"

I never checked the vin to see if it actually matched the car. It's only the second car I've ever gotten (the first was the 86 MR2) so I guess I trusted it would be right.

Quote :

"does the registered VIN just not match the one one dash plate? have you checked on the various stickers around the vehicle? start looking in the door jambs, under the hood, see if there are vins etched into the glass."

I checked the interior. I could only find one and it matches the dash. They both end in 5950, whereas the registration is 4365.

11/11/2007 7:08:39 PM

i think audi puts the vin in the trunk as well?

11/11/2007 9:02:57 PM

UPDATE:

My ACTUAL car was registered on 07/15/1997 in Providence, Rhode Island. There is NO other CARFAX info after that.

The "other" VIN is also registered to car in Massachusetts currently and we each have inspections going back and forth. This means that the car with the actual 204365 VIN# is in Massachusetts. It was originally purchased in 05/15/1997 in Massachusetts.

Another interesting bit of info:
The guy who owned the car before me lived in Virginia. In 2002 the car was registered with the "wrong" VIN. So apparently he had the car registered with the wrong VIN also. This is just FUBAR.

Here's the path of the bad VIN:

03/29/2002 Title Issued in Massachusetts
09/23/2002 Title Issued in Virginia
03/29/2003 Inspection in Massachusetts
10/03/2003 Title Issued in Virginia
03/01/2004 Registration renewed in New York
04/16/2004 Inspection in Massachusetts
09/07/2004 I purchase my Audi with this incorrect VIN.
11/25/2005 Registration renewed in Massachusetts
12/16/2005 Title updated, vehicle noted as brown (wtf?)
09/05/2006 I renew my registration
12/12/2006 Passes inspection in North Carolina
12/22/2006 Passes inspection in Massachusetts

And this is the best part:
09/01/2007 Registration renewed in NC (I do this)
09/01/2007 Registration renewed in Massachusetts

[Edited on November 11, 2007 at 10:13 PM. Reason : ]

11/11/2007 10:04:44 PM

just go to jiffy jube and get them to inspect it.

11/11/2007 10:09:59 PM

good luck explaining Carfax to the next owner when tyou end up selling it

11/12/2007 12:38:37 AM

Yeah that's what I'm afraid of.

11/12/2007 12:52:20 AM

lol you posted that '97 in my "wtb a4" classifieds thread too

11/12/2007 2:26:09 AM