Importing? Beware of the VOSA 2VIN rule

[Hughmer]

Regular contributors may recall my difficulties with registering my personally imported 4,600kg Hymer

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=7320&posts=23

 

After getting my MP involved I did receive an apology of sorts from the manager of Wimbledon DVLA and the Minister.

 

But there is another matter that came to light when I got the truck MOT'd at Addlestone. The tester put the Hymer VIN on the MOT and quoted a VOSA rule which says that when a vehicle displays 2 VINs the second must be used.

 

Of course my Fahrzeugbrief (German V5) carried the Mercedes VIN and I queried the position with the DVLA "Helpdesk" (...............forgive me if I roll around on the floor for a few moments in peels of hysterical laughter............... eh hem that's better.........) They said that if I turned up at Wimbledon for 1st registration and the numbers didn't tally, I wouldn't be able to register the vehicle.

 

So I went to the trouble of going to another garage in Slough which had a different interpretation of the VOSA rule (i.e. they'd never heard of it). They MOT'd the truck again and gave me a certificate with the Mercedes VIN on it.

 

I took the second MOT and Fahrzeugbrief to Wimbledon and after the altercation regarding PLG/PHGV , - see previous thread, - I was duly registered.

 

I had by then contacted my MP and he has now got a definitive answer from the Department for Transport regarding the second VIN rule. It is:

 

If your imported vehicle has a stick on VIN like my Hymer, - it MUST be used by the issuing MOT station. If you arrive at your local DVLA office for registration, - and you will almost certainly have to turn up these days, - the fact that the base vehicle VIN, which will be on your foreign papers, doesn't match the VIN recorded on your MOT certificate DOES NOT MATTER because the DVLA inspector will be able to check that the stick-on VIN tallies.

 

According to the Minister, - it is the owner's responsibility to ensure that the recorded VIN remains attached to the vehicle.

 

Wise old sods like us will of course be aware that weather and other factors may well cause deterioration of stick-on VINs attached as they often are to the exterior of trucks. I have made this point to the minister as well as my concern that if the vehicle were to be burnt out, the only VIN likely to be recognisable would be the stamped in VIN on the Merc chassis.

 

The minister may have taken this on board because in his letter he did say that if the Hymer stick-on VIN had been removed prior to testing ( ! ) then the Mercedes VIN would have been used.

 

There is a clue here as to what would be importers should do before taking their truck anywhere near an MOT station.

 

I have asked the minister whether the fact that my vehicle is registered with a wrongly issued (and therefore presumably illegal) MOT means I am breaking the law. He hasn't seen fit to respond to that one. When he does I'll let you know. Don't hold your breath.

 

 

 

 

[hymer634]

Why do you have 2 VINs ?

 

The Hymer VIN should the same as the chassis VIN.

 

Are you using the Hymer serial number, which is just used to identify it for production and spares ?

 

 

Alan

[Hughmer]

Precisely the point I made to the 1st MOT tester and VOSA and the DVLA and the Minister at the Department for Transport.

 

I've had it pointed out to me that the number beginning WHY (short for Wagen Hymer) on the Hymer ID plate is classified as a VIN, - or more particularly a second VIN in the context of VOSA's rules.