Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Monday, November 2, 2015
How To Quickly Decode Your V.I.N. (Vehicle Identification Number)
What 17 Numbers and Letters Can Tell You About Your Car
The VIN can tell you everything from where the car was made to what size engine it has.
A Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is the string of 17 numbers and letters that an automobile manufacturer assigns to an individual vehicle. The VIN can reveal a number of things about a car, including its airbag type, country of origin, engine size, model year and trim level. Typically, the VIN is stamped into a plate that's mounted on the dashboard near the windshield or on the driver-side door jamb. It's also stamped on the engine's firewall.
The article "Making Sense of Your VIN" explains what each element of the VIN represents, but if you want to get a free, quick, personalized VIN readout, try the VinDecoder.net Web site. It is a search tool that can translate your VIN in a matter of seconds. You may have to deal with a few ads that surround the data, but the information is accurate and worth a look. We entered a few VINs from former Edmunds long-term test cars and found some interesting information.
First up was the 2013 Scion FR-S. There was one item that stood out. The VIN decoder shows the manufacturer is Subaru, not Scion. This is not an error. The Scion FR-S and its twin, the Subaru BRZ, are the product of a joint venture between Subaru and Toyota. Both cars are manufactured at Subaru's plant in Japan.
The 2011 Chevrolet Volt had a hidden bit of trivia in the fuel type. It erroneously says that the Volt can run on E85 ethanol in addition to gasoline. It can't and it won't any time soon.
General Motors originally intended to launch the Volt with a flex-fuel variant, but the emissions package was not ready for the first model year, according to the automaker. The E85 compatibility was apparently incorporated into the VIN data before GM decided a flex-fuel version wouldn't be ready in time for 2011. Since then, no flex-fuel version of the Volt has surfaced. It appears the plans have been scrapped.
We were curious as to what the VIN looked like on an electric vehicle so we decoded the VIN on the 2013 Tesla Model S. The information is pretty thin and goes to show that your results may vary, based on what the carmaker supplies. We might have stumped the decoder tool: It wasn't able to identify Tesla Motors as the manufacturer. It also doesn't show anything about it being an electric car.
The 2012 Fiat 500 is a reminder of just how globalized carmakers have become. Fiat is an Italian company that now owns Detroit-based Chrysler and manufactures the 500 at Chrysler's plant in Toluca, Mexico.
Notice that the 10th element in the VIN is "C." The letter represents the 2012 model year, but it could also mean 1982. Because the model year is represented by one character (letter or number) in the VIN and the VIN can only contain 17 characters, the code for model years has to be recycled every 30 years. So while one letter can represent more than one year, it should be pretty obvious whether the car is a 1982 or a 2012 — or 2042, for that matter.
Source: edmonds.com
The VIN can tell you everything from where the car was made to what size engine it has.
A Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is the string of 17 numbers and letters that an automobile manufacturer assigns to an individual vehicle. The VIN can reveal a number of things about a car, including its airbag type, country of origin, engine size, model year and trim level. Typically, the VIN is stamped into a plate that's mounted on the dashboard near the windshield or on the driver-side door jamb. It's also stamped on the engine's firewall.
The article "Making Sense of Your VIN" explains what each element of the VIN represents, but if you want to get a free, quick, personalized VIN readout, try the VinDecoder.net Web site. It is a search tool that can translate your VIN in a matter of seconds. You may have to deal with a few ads that surround the data, but the information is accurate and worth a look. We entered a few VINs from former Edmunds long-term test cars and found some interesting information.
First up was the 2013 Scion FR-S. There was one item that stood out. The VIN decoder shows the manufacturer is Subaru, not Scion. This is not an error. The Scion FR-S and its twin, the Subaru BRZ, are the product of a joint venture between Subaru and Toyota. Both cars are manufactured at Subaru's plant in Japan.
The 2011 Chevrolet Volt had a hidden bit of trivia in the fuel type. It erroneously says that the Volt can run on E85 ethanol in addition to gasoline. It can't and it won't any time soon.
General Motors originally intended to launch the Volt with a flex-fuel variant, but the emissions package was not ready for the first model year, according to the automaker. The E85 compatibility was apparently incorporated into the VIN data before GM decided a flex-fuel version wouldn't be ready in time for 2011. Since then, no flex-fuel version of the Volt has surfaced. It appears the plans have been scrapped.
We were curious as to what the VIN looked like on an electric vehicle so we decoded the VIN on the 2013 Tesla Model S. The information is pretty thin and goes to show that your results may vary, based on what the carmaker supplies. We might have stumped the decoder tool: It wasn't able to identify Tesla Motors as the manufacturer. It also doesn't show anything about it being an electric car.
The 2012 Fiat 500 is a reminder of just how globalized carmakers have become. Fiat is an Italian company that now owns Detroit-based Chrysler and manufactures the 500 at Chrysler's plant in Toluca, Mexico.
Notice that the 10th element in the VIN is "C." The letter represents the 2012 model year, but it could also mean 1982. Because the model year is represented by one character (letter or number) in the VIN and the VIN can only contain 17 characters, the code for model years has to be recycled every 30 years. So while one letter can represent more than one year, it should be pretty obvious whether the car is a 1982 or a 2012 — or 2042, for that matter.
Source: edmonds.com
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Friday, August 7, 2015
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Saturday, May 2, 2015
The Old Mr Walker
We had two Salespeople with the same last names and at times it could get confusing whenever customers came in looking for one of them.
We had a B.Walker that was in his mid fifties and he had a lot of gray hair with a little brown thrown in. And our other Mr. Walker was J. Walker and he was in his seventies and he had a lot of black hair with a little gray.
So when the customers came in returning to see Mr. Walker we would ask them the standard question. Do you want the old Mr. Walker or do you want the younger Mr. Walker?
If they said they wanted the older Mr. Walker we would go and get J. Walker and they would the say no, he had more gray hair. This would make J. Walker grin every time because he knew that he was quite a bit older than B. Walker.
Even the times when they asked for the young Mr. Walker and we went and go B. Walker because he was younger we knew that they really wanted J. Walker who was really older.
We had a B.Walker that was in his mid fifties and he had a lot of gray hair with a little brown thrown in. And our other Mr. Walker was J. Walker and he was in his seventies and he had a lot of black hair with a little gray.
So when the customers came in returning to see Mr. Walker we would ask them the standard question. Do you want the old Mr. Walker or do you want the younger Mr. Walker?
If they said they wanted the older Mr. Walker we would go and get J. Walker and they would the say no, he had more gray hair. This would make J. Walker grin every time because he knew that he was quite a bit older than B. Walker.
Even the times when they asked for the young Mr. Walker and we went and go B. Walker because he was younger we knew that they really wanted J. Walker who was really older.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Pot Luck Lunches At The Dealership
The ladies in the office liked to cook the latest recipe and try it out on the people that worked at the dealership. We would always brag on whatever they made, because hey, the more you would brag the more they would make.
You would think they would know what we were up to but they never seemed to catch on. Thank goodness.
Around the Holiday's they always wanted to have a potluck meal where everyone brought a dish. All of the guy's would have their spouses or girlfriends make their favorite dishes and the ladies wanted to see whose would be eaten up first.
Sometimes I would be afraid to eat something if I didn't know who made it because they would sometimes add ingredients that made it extremely hot or add ingredients that didn't belong in it.
One day was at Christmas Eve we had a potluck and someone had made brownies. They looked great and they smelled great but something told me not to eat them. It wasn't long before the plate was clean and the ladies asked who made those wonderful brownies. No one claimed them which confirmed more my decision not to eat any.
We left early for Christmas on Christmas Eve and the Dealership was closed on Christmas Day. We came back to work the day after Christmas and the office staff of ladies were all out sick, as well as a few of the service staff. It was said that they had gotten a bug.
When I went over to the Used Car Department after the Sales Meeting all of the salespeople were hovering around together laughing. They said the ladies had a bug didn't they. Yes, someone said.
Maybe they should not have eaten so many Brownies!
They had an added ingredient, exlax!!
You would think they would know what we were up to but they never seemed to catch on. Thank goodness.
Around the Holiday's they always wanted to have a potluck meal where everyone brought a dish. All of the guy's would have their spouses or girlfriends make their favorite dishes and the ladies wanted to see whose would be eaten up first.
Sometimes I would be afraid to eat something if I didn't know who made it because they would sometimes add ingredients that made it extremely hot or add ingredients that didn't belong in it.
One day was at Christmas Eve we had a potluck and someone had made brownies. They looked great and they smelled great but something told me not to eat them. It wasn't long before the plate was clean and the ladies asked who made those wonderful brownies. No one claimed them which confirmed more my decision not to eat any.
We left early for Christmas on Christmas Eve and the Dealership was closed on Christmas Day. We came back to work the day after Christmas and the office staff of ladies were all out sick, as well as a few of the service staff. It was said that they had gotten a bug.
When I went over to the Used Car Department after the Sales Meeting all of the salespeople were hovering around together laughing. They said the ladies had a bug didn't they. Yes, someone said.
Maybe they should not have eaten so many Brownies!
They had an added ingredient, exlax!!
Monday, March 2, 2015
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Friday, January 2, 2015
The Wasp Nest
In the Spring the wasp and bees like to build their nest in things that didn't move. And sometimes they would build a nest in thing that did move but were just sitting for a while.
They loved to build their nest in the car mirrors and they loved to build them in the wheel wells of the Saab.
Every few weeks we would have a lot party and this would entail moving every car on the entire lot to a new location. To the customer it looked like we had more new inventory and it kept the batteries up from sitting still. It also kept the tires from getting flat spots on them.
We hated the Saabs, because every time you went to show them you had jump them off with a jumper box and you had to run from the bees.
One day a few young men pulled onto the lot and they got out to look at the Saabs. Some of the Salespeople that didn't have customers were watching them to see if they were serious customers or just tire kickers.
I liked to greet everyone who came on the lot but I already had a customer and we were getting ready to go on a test drive.
Just before we pulled off of the lot, the guys had found a car that didn't have the doors locked and they were looking the car all over when all of a sudden we heard a scream and then bees,bees,bees and a door slaming and causing the bees to get even more upset.
I got out of the car where my customer was and excused myself so I could go and get some bee sting spray to take their sting away, before getting back with my customer.
When we got back the guys were waiting outside my office wanting to thank me for the bee spray and to let me know that they would be back to see me to buy three Saabs.
After I finished with my customer and delivered him his new car, I went to find the salespeople who were watching the guys with the bees and told them that because they were very rude they lost out on a three car deal.
The next day the guys came back with their parents and I got the three cars that they were interested in and brought them around to the front minus the bees and we test drove them. When we got back to the dealership we wrote them up and got the customer into finance. Then the mother said she wanted to buy a new Lincoln. We settled on a vehicle, test drove it a they went home in four new vehicles.
They loved to build their nest in the car mirrors and they loved to build them in the wheel wells of the Saab.
Every few weeks we would have a lot party and this would entail moving every car on the entire lot to a new location. To the customer it looked like we had more new inventory and it kept the batteries up from sitting still. It also kept the tires from getting flat spots on them.
We hated the Saabs, because every time you went to show them you had jump them off with a jumper box and you had to run from the bees.
One day a few young men pulled onto the lot and they got out to look at the Saabs. Some of the Salespeople that didn't have customers were watching them to see if they were serious customers or just tire kickers.
I liked to greet everyone who came on the lot but I already had a customer and we were getting ready to go on a test drive.
Just before we pulled off of the lot, the guys had found a car that didn't have the doors locked and they were looking the car all over when all of a sudden we heard a scream and then bees,bees,bees and a door slaming and causing the bees to get even more upset.
I got out of the car where my customer was and excused myself so I could go and get some bee sting spray to take their sting away, before getting back with my customer.
When we got back the guys were waiting outside my office wanting to thank me for the bee spray and to let me know that they would be back to see me to buy three Saabs.
After I finished with my customer and delivered him his new car, I went to find the salespeople who were watching the guys with the bees and told them that because they were very rude they lost out on a three car deal.
The next day the guys came back with their parents and I got the three cars that they were interested in and brought them around to the front minus the bees and we test drove them. When we got back to the dealership we wrote them up and got the customer into finance. Then the mother said she wanted to buy a new Lincoln. We settled on a vehicle, test drove it a they went home in four new vehicles.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
