Thread: VIN mystery

..see if you can work out what's going on here...

A few weeks ago we bought a 96 Defender from a bloke in Adelaide - nice guy. Had had it for a year after buying it from a guy in NSW and then repainting it for his business. Business was now defunct, so he was selling it. All good.

He informed us that while the car itself had done 300,000kms, the engine had been replaced by one from a Defender which the previous owner had written off, which had only done 100,000kms. True to his word, the engine number was different to the original VIN, and he had records to prove that. All still good. And the car came with a couple of buckets of parts, apparently from the wrecked Defender.

However, on talking to VicRoads here as we sort out rego details, we are informed that this car (ie. with this VIN) had been written off in 1999, then re-registered. Strange... That seems to indicate that it was this car that was written off (assumingly damaging the engine too), and then had the engine replaced by a younger one when repaired.

Yet on talking to the previous owner (who we have no reason to doubt - he's very genuine and a Landy nut) he is sure that the person he bought it off indicated it was a different car that was wrecked, and he's seen no indication on this Fender of any crash...


We're stumped. Is it possible that this car was written off, then fixed, and then later had an engine transplant with another Defender that had been written off as well? Seems a bit coincidental.

Or has someone done a shifty and moved the compliance plate from the wrecked vehicle to this one? But why?

Or could it be a simple clerical error?

Confusing...

Originally Posted by dm_td5

Lets see...

Drowned the engine... river crossing, floods etc

Seized the engine...

Stuffed the engine, gearbox, transfercase etc

All a write-off is, is the owner or insurance company not prepared to pay out on repairing it and stating it is written off for the purpose of deregistering it. At that mileage it wouldn't take too much mechanical failure, doesn't matter what the body looks like.

I would imagine that "hydraulic'ing" and engine may be enough to make it a write off. (Allowing water to enter the air intake so that it fills the cylinder with incompressible water, resulting damage to con rods, crankshaft and block.)

In NSW and I guess elsewhere there is a part of the RTA called the Written Off Vehicle Register which records information on vehicles such as Statutory Write-Offs.

This is an attempt by the Government and Insurance Companies (collectively) to prevent re-birthing of stolen cars.

A car can be declared a Statutory Write Off if:
Salt water damage - means when a vehicle is immersed in salt water above the doorsill level or for a motorcycle, is fully immersed in salt water for any period and cancellation of the VIN is required.
Fresh water damage - means when a vehicle is immersed in fresh water for more than 2 days up to the dashboard/steering wheel, or for a motorcycle, is fully immersed in fresh water for the same period and cancellation of the VIN is required.

A NSW Registered Vehicle declared a statutory write off will have
"Marking of compliance plates for statutory write-offs
To assist buyers of vehicles which have had their VINs cancelled (in particular interstate buyers), the compliance plate is to be marked by a 25mm (1 inch) chisel mark across its face without damaging the text.
The marking of the compliance plate for statutory write offs will be undertaken by insurance assessors, authorised employees of dealers and automotive dismantlers"

See the WOVR for more info: http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/myrta/wovr.html

Diana