Help with VIN

[stickandrudderman]

Hello forumites,
I wonder if anybody can help me with this:

We are acting on behalf of a gentleman who has imported a 1969 280SL from
South Africa.
The vehicle's chassis number is confirmed on the chassis plate and on the
O/S chassis leg as being 113 044 10 013 590.
However, the VIN number on the South African Registration document and the
UK customs importation document reads as follows:
AAPV0120210357291
This, as I'm sure you're aware, looks nothing like a Mercedes VIN number,
and is of course preventing us from registering the vehicle here in the
UK.
I wonder if any of you could help us unravel this mystery?
Stick

[Andres G]

Stick,

I'm affraid I do not bear good news for you or your customer. A vehicle with an AAPV number in South Africa is one that has either been a complete write off or a stolen and recovered vehicle. In either case at least to be best of my knowledge, for most people in SA the car will be worth little $ as it registers previous damage history and a revised VIN... if I recall correctly, they cannot be fully insured either.

In SA, car are titled under 3 different codes = 1 - New Car / 2 - Used Car / 3 - Rebuilt (in some cases stolen recovered vehicles are also titled as code 3, but most certainly will carry a AAPV VIN).

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Andres G

[stickandrudderman]

Thanks for that useful info.
I understand that it may be bad news in terms of value, but since the owner wants to register it here and not sell it it's not (AIUI) that important.
The real issue is whether we can somehow get some official correlation of the two numbers in order to satisfy the UK authorities that the car we have is in fact the car shown on the documents.
Stick

[Andres G]

You should contact SA police HQ - not sure where honestly, but I'd try the city where the car was registered -  and ask them to issue a certification on the documentation. They are the ones issuing the paperwork and stamping the AAPV on the VIN.

Regards, Andres

[stickandrudderman]

Thanks.
As it happens one of my technicians is from SA and his brother is currently doing just that for us, although I've been forewarned that these things can take rather a long time!

[stickandrudderman]

The first point of contact drew a blank....
I contacted another friend in the region and he put me in touch with a guiy who, for a fee, deals with red tape.
This lead to the phone number of the Police inspector responsible for the issuance of the Police Clearance Document.
I telephoned him and he asked me if I have the Police Clearance Document and I told him I did.
He informed me that the new VIN number on that document MUSt have been stamped on the chassis before that document could have been issued.
When I asked him where that VIN might have been stamped he answered, "In a secret place!"
So guess where we found it:
On the left chassis leg!!
Car now registered in the UK and one happy customer (at last).

[Andres G]

Thanks for the follow up. Nice to know this too... I was unaware of the "secret locations" of new VINs being stamped.

Good to hear you got through this ordeal in about four months.

Regards,
Andres G