Correct VIN?

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?

On Sunday, September 17, 2017 at 8:29:56 AM UTC-10, micky wrote:
> 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?

What you have is the wrong VIN or the seller is not being truthful. As we all know, it's highly unlikely that the seller would misrepresent the facts about a car he's trying to get rid of. That just never happens.

On 2017-09-17 2:29 PM, micky wrote:
> 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?
>
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.

In rec.autos.tech, on Sun, 17 Sep 2017 19:14:48 +0000, Stormin' Norman
> wrote:

>On Sun, 17 Sep 2017 14:29:52 -0400, micky >
>wrote:
>
>>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?
>
>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.

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.

On 09/17/2017 12:32 PM, micky wrote:
> In rec.autos.tech, on Sun, 17 Sep 2017 19:14:48 +0000, Stormin' Norman
> > wrote:
>
>>On Sun, 17 Sep 2017 14:29:52 -0400, micky >
>>wrote:
>>
>>>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?
>>
>>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.
>
> 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.

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.

--
Cheers, Bev
"If you watch TV news, you know less about the world than
if you just drank gin straight from the bottle."
- Garrison Keillor

In rec.autos.tech, on Sun, 17 Sep 2017 15:19:59 -0400, FrozenNorth
> wrote:

>On 2017-09-17 2:29 PM, micky wrote:
>> 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?
>>
>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.

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.

In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 17 Sep 2017 19:45:36 +0000, Stormin' Norman
> wrote:

>On Sun, 17 Sep 2017 12:39:23 -0700, The Real Bev
> wrote:
>
>>On 09/17/2017 12:32 PM, micky wrote:
>>> In rec.autos.tech, on Sun, 17 Sep 2017 19:14:48 +0000, Stormin' Norman
>>> > wrote:
>>>
>>>>On Sun, 17 Sep 2017 14:29:52 -0400, micky >
>>>>wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>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?
>>>>
>>>>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.
>>>
>>> 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.
>>
>>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.

Yeah, thanks. They're not there.

>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.

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

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

>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?

I understand the VIN is also tied to other large components of the
vehicle. As an example; the rear axle of a rental truck used in the
OKC bombing flew a long distance and landed in the street. The numbers
on the rear axle was directly to the VIN, make model and such.

Check your state laws. Can a "totaled" car, paid out by insurance, get
a legal title?

You could sell your current used car for a higher price. Houston lost
~500,000 cars flooded. Be careful out there. You could pay for never
ending electrical problems.

On Sun, 17 Sep 2017 15:32:10 -0400, micky >
wrote:

>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.

There is an App for that. Called Photos. I came right on your Ando
rid OS. I moved to Open Camera. So many more features.

On Sun, 17 Sep 2017 15:57:14 -0400, micky >
wrote:

>In rec.autos.tech, on Sun, 17 Sep 2017 15:19:59 -0400, FrozenNorth
> wrote:
>
>>On 2017-09-17 2:29 PM, micky wrote:
>>> 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?
>>>
>>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.
>
>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.

You would have to make pretty "smart" mistakes. One digit off leaves a
1 in 11 chance the check digit would match 2 digits off reduces the
odds considerably.

see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicl...it_calculation
to see how to check the check digit - -
>
>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.