VIN and/or chassis numbers

Agree, a lot of people say it's private, salesman kick you out of their buildings if they see you writing them down...

What is wrong with it? It's not like we're writing down down the keylocknumber to duplicate the key or something.

Also very interested in any reactions

 

Yes, I am often confronted with those reaction. I don't understand why, they certainly have something to hide .

 

hey DR Bob ya hit on a good point. with a cars vin you can get the key codes and make a set of keys and steal the car with out damaging it.i am not an evil person but this stuff is common knowledge. depends on ones connections i assume. some idiot tried to steal one of my cars once , after they destroyed the steering column, i guess they then popped the hood release to see the freaking distributer was out of the engine as was the battery.good thing i had another column in the attic. personally i am very uncomfortable giving vin numbers out to anyone for any reason.

 

I find this an interesting comment, only because 99.9% of the car's advertised on eBay have VIN numbers listed (it's a mandatory field input when listing a car). In addition, most dealers (which comprise ~85% of cars sold on eBay) readily list where they are located in the description of their ad. If what you say is true, couldn't somebody be having a field day stealing cars! Just curious to understand the issue?!

Thanks.

 

but the VIN on all the newer cars of all makes are visible through the front window of the car.... it's not like you have to "give it out" I mean it's on the car for the pleasure of the viewing public at shows in parking spots, etc.

Seems kind of non-logical to "guard" it... if someone steals it as a result of it being public then it's ironinc.... since insurance would cover it and the reason there are VIN #s in the first place is mostly the insurance lobby so they could more easily spot fraud.

Just my $0.02.

-dq

 

ghost, great point, in the context of specifically going into a fcar dealer and getting run out for writing down vin #s is what i should have specified. as stated above the vin is visible ( which is required by law as far as i know) and if anyone really wants the car, no matter what it is , they are most likely going to get it. ebay ect are good examples,but you would have to live near the dealer to go do anything evil. i was speaking more on a personal level of randomly giving vin numbers. chasis/body numbers are good for owners groups and such. sorry i guess i am just paranoid!

 

Is this actually true? Can somebody back this up? Because I fins it hard to believe. Because the VIN has to be visible. I think if this is true, we should have heard about it more often.

But apart from that, are there any other reasons not to share the VIN of your car? I haven't heard a lot from other owners or dealerships. I'm not saying those are bad people because they don't, I'm just curious why.

 

Don`t care about `cause the VIN is on top of the steering wheel and EVERYBODY can read it looking thru the windscreen.

Here is mine:
ZFFAA17B000091239
Ferrari Testarossa 1991

protected in & by:
- garage
- smith & wesson
- a bad, bad dog
- alarm system w/highvoltage

Wolfarossa
FORZA FERRARI

 

Sn # 108108

 

SN 14771,

Rijk

 

has anyone been thrown out of a dealer here for writing or taking a pic of a vin? When i go to the uk this summer i hope to get some and i'm just wondering if some dealers can get REALLY annoyed by this.

Cheers

 

I don't think you will have problems in the UK, but always be careful or ask for permission. I've heard plenty of "bad stories" regarding taking pics of VIN or writing down information. But UK shouldn't be a problem. France or Italy is far more difficult ....

 

UK won't be a very big provlem since most businesses post them on their site themselves.

 

You have 2 solutions: either you ask and take the risk to be refused or you do it in secret. This can be done relatively easily (depends on the showroom) with a small numeric voice recorder. It can be kept either in the pocket of a shirt or in your hand and you approach your mouth when you have to speak.

Ciao
Greg

 

I think we're getting a little side tracked here. I thought the issue in the original post was: why people don't post the VIN / Serial # of their car. Why would you want to start jotting down VIN / Serial #'s on the sly of cars you see in dealers?? If you want to know the history of a car you are interested in when you are at a dealer, as detailed by the VIN, you should be able to ask them without hesitation to run a CarFax. Any reputable dealer will run this immediately and gratis -- this has always been the case with me. Perhaps I'm missing something?!

 

In the UK you have crazy people called trainspotters. They stand on misty train stations in the middle of nowhere writing down the numbers of the trainsthat pass. They have a view of every train that has driven somewhere.

You have that too with Ferrari-people. All these people together have way more info that carfax can ever provide. And it is just a hobby, everybody is a little crazy, isn't it?