Is Cars are Really that Old

Is a car really new or has it been on the dump for months before being sold? We will show you where you can find information on the production date and how the age of your vehicle can be determined.

If the date of manufacture of a combination instrument (speedometer, rev counter, fuel gauge, etc.) in a used car is significantly younger than that of the other components of the vehicle, this component has already been replaced, which could be an indication of a tachometer manipulation. Then you should check the mileage of entries in the service booklet as well as of TÜV tests etc. for plausibility. Significant discrepancies between the production data can generally indicate accidental damage for which more recent spare parts were used for repairs. This is important when buying a used vehicle if the vehicle has been declared accident-free. If several parts have manufacturing dates that are close to one another, the construction period can be narrowed down.

Vehicle identification number or chassis number

The vehicle identification number FIN(formerly chassis number). It is in the vehicle documents and can be read through the windshield of many traverse city used cars. In addition, it is mostly hammered into the sheet metal in the engine compartment (for example on the bulkhead to the passenger compartment or on another load-bearing part of the body). The VIN is also often struck in the area of ​​the seat console. In addition, black stickers are often attached to the B-pillar, which are visible when the front door is opened. Most major manufacturers use letters or numbers to indicate the model year as the tenth digit of the chassis number. The latter is not necessarily identical to the year of manufacture, but starts with one manufacturer in May of the previous year, with another not until August. So it may be that a traverse city used cars was produced at the end of 2017,

Model year

The model year is shown in the vehicle identification number according to a standardized procedure (ISO standard 3779-1983). Starting with 1971, the years are determined in the following order: 123456789ABCDEFGHJKLMNPRSTVWXY. The number 7 in this case means 1977, G means 1986. This game repeats itself every 30 years. Thus, 7 also stands for the model year 2007, K stands for the model year 2019. Based on the overall condition and the series, it must therefore be estimated whether the car was built in 1977 or rather 2007. In most cases this isn’t a problem.

Example: WOLO HL4855079040: Opel Astra, model year 2005

Production brands

Many vehicle components are marked with their date of manufacture – more or less strongly encrypted. That is generally just a few days or weeks before the production date of the whole car. The date can often be found on various components in the engine compartment, in the interior or in the trunk under the floor covering. But the belts or the window panes can also be marked with the date of manufacture. Sometimes the month or calendar week and the year are simply given. Some details consist of an arrow in a circle of monthly numbers with the arrowhead on the month of production, and often the last two digits of the year are also given.

Tires and wheels

On the flanks of vehicle tires there are usually the letters DOT (Department of Transportation) and a four-digit, specially marked combination of numbers. Tip: also check the spare wheel. Its DOT marking should come from a similar period as the other wheels. Light alloy wheels usually have a cast-in production mark with the month and year of manufacture on the inside. Steel wheels often have manufacturing dates stamped on the outer rim edge. Caution: Tires with a three-digit DOT number can be dangerous: This was only used until the end of the 1990s and indicates that the tire is now very old and can no longer be used.

Vehicle age as a defect

If you find that your vehicle was older than 12 months when the purchase contract was concluded, you do not have to accept that. If you have ordered a brand new car, you can also request that it be handed over to you. From a legal point of view, it is a brand-new vehicle if and as long as the model of this vehicle continues to be built unchanged, it does not show any defects due to its idle time and there is no more than 12 months between manufacture and purchase. If the car is older, it is no longer considered a new vehicle and there is a defect that leads to claims against the seller. The same applies to mobile homes (BGH judgment of October 17, 2017), although there the body is often mounted on the vehicle frame with a delay.