Hi,

 

I'm a complete newby to this forum. I have a house in France and some years ago bought a left hand drive A6 in the UK at, what I thought was the right price. I've had it re-registered in France and have the official carte gris (the French equivalent of a V5) On applying for a two year Controle Technique (French MOT) I now find that the VIN number which the French authorities know the car by (is on carte gris) - shown on the base of windscreen, door pillar and boot sticker, is not the same as the VIN number stamped on the bulkhead. I have been told that i must now get the engine bay stamped with the number shown in the three places mentioned above. Has anyone had any similar experiences? Can I check anywhere for the two VIN numbers to check I've not got a 'cut & shut'. This is very annoying since I've been running this car (a 1993 model) for the last 10 years. French legislation has recently been tightened up.....

hey petercwilliams, surely the identification number on the original v5 is the same as on the  equivilant french one, given that that is the only visible identification number visible on the vehicle or am i wrongf

As far as I know you shouldn't have 2 different VIN numbers on the car or something is not right!

Hello Peter,

Interesting! I guess this not a simple case of a misconstrued digit in the two different VIN - that would be too simple. How far out are these numbers? 

Of course, however close or otherwise, they should not be different. I would have thought the port of call would be to establish the build history/specification for both numbers - VAG might help? Having got that it should be an easier task to establish exactly what you have there. If two-into-one then at least you will have a better idea. If the French authorities want you to re/over stamp the bulkhead VIN then I would want this in writing if it were me, otherwise you might be later accused of ringing the car! - second time around for it?