The Importance of Checking a VIN Number before We Purchase Your Vehicle From You

At Geelong Cash for Cars we understand there is a variety of reasons why you want us to purchase your car. There could be something mechanically wrong with it, maybe you’ve upgraded or downsized or maybe your vehicle has recently been in an accident and you no longer have a need for it. Whatever the reason – we are happy to take it off your hands.

But there are a few checks that we carry out as part of our purchasing process. One of the most important things we check is the vehicles identification (VIN) number.  And that’s because we want to ensure that we are not purchasing a vehicle that is stolen or under finance. There are no exceptions when it comes to these types of vehicles. For those of you that are at home and wondering what a VIN number means here’s some information to help you understand.

Identify the manufacturing country

The first two numbers of the VIN number can give you information on the manufacturing country.  Vehicles that were manufactured in Canada are marked with the number 2.  Those with number 3 in their first few VIN numbers originate from Mexico.  Japan is also listed as 3 and Australian manufactured cars are listed at Six.

The next five numbers

The next five numbers can indicate the description of the vehicle.  For example; the engine size, transmission type and amount of doors can sometimes be established with a simple VIN number.

Track the vehicle ownership

This is the biggest reason to check out your vehicle VIN number.  The Vin number is a completely unique number. No two vehicles have the same number and this number allows governments and authority figures to track all previous owners to the vehicle.  You should check the VIN number of a new car as well as a used car to ensure that the vehicle is in fact new.

Prevent theft

Ending up with a stolen car can be quite traumatic.  It is so easy to get tricked into buying a car that was stolen at one point. Plenty of vehicle dealerships and especially auto theft industries will chop and change on a vehicle to hide the fact that the car is stolen.  By checking the vehicle VIN number you can prevent car theft because you reduce the opportunity for criminals to make money from used cars.

Important for collectors

Vehicle collectors will also use the VIN number to evaluate the originality of a car.  These vehicle collectors can easily identify whether the vehicle’s engine has been modified and the VIN number can also give valuable information with the age of the vehicle and can tell collectors whether the vehicle is part of a rare model range or not.

History of the vehicle

While the VIN number is used for identifying the right vehicle components such as engine size, transition and more, the number can also be useful for other historical information on the vehicle.  You can trace a previous vehicle owner through the VIN number and make contact with that person and seek out other valuable clues about the history of the vehicle.

At Geelong Cash for Cars we always check the vehicle VIN number to ensure that every vehicle we collect is 100% legal.  If you have questions about your scrap vehicles VIN number give us a call today. We’ve got all the answers.