Help to trace Chassis number?

audere

Hi all,
My Dad recently bought a soft top Beetle in the UK. He's well happy and is burning the midnight oil renovating it. The cars 1976 but was only registered in UK in 1984. Thats not a problem in the UK but is here cos my Dad needs to know where it was originally registered so as to claim vintage insurance. If he can't the Irish govt will see it as a 1984 and Dad'll have to pay a lot more tax. He sent me the chassis number & wants me to check online if it's possible to find the country where it was first registered. Then he'll be able to get original info which will satisfy Irish govt.

So would anybody out there be able to point me in the direction of where to start looking? My suggestion was that since it's a Beetle it was made in Germany, so maybe there's some German govt site that I could use as a starting point?

Any help much appreciated!
audere

MercMad

audere wrote: »

Hi all,
My Dad recently bought a soft top Beetle in the UK. He's well happy and is burning the midnight oil renovating it. The cars 1976 but was only registered in UK in 1984. Thats not a problem in the UK but is here cos my Dad needs to know where it was originally registered so as to claim vintage insurance. If he can't the Irish govt will see it as a 1984 and Dad'll have to pay a lot more tax. He sent me the chassis number & wants me to check online if it's possible to find the country where it was first registered. Then he'll be able to get original info which will satisfy Irish govt.

So would anybody out there be able to point me in the direction of where to start looking? My suggestion was that since it's a Beetle it was made in Germany, so maybe there's some German govt site that I could use as a starting point?

Any help much appreciated!
audere

...........I cant give you much help, but assuming that it was made in Germany is wrong. They were made all over the World, even in Ireland. However since yours is a soft top, it could have been made by Karmann. They made the early ones, not sure about a '76, some of the other experts may chime in here !

Also usually the UK documents will also state the original date of manufacture I think ?

macplaxton

See THIS THREAD

audere

...cheers for the updates. Been talking to my Dad about it. It's slightly different to the link you gave in that the car was originally in the Channel Islands. Even thou the Channel Islands are part of the UK, my Dad was told they have a different registering system.

Karmann Beetle was registered in UK in 1984. Customs want to know where it was registered for the 8 years 1976 to 1984. It says on the V5 "Declared manufactured 1976".

Have you encountered anything like this situation?

Cheers!
audere

PaulK_CCI

All Beetle Convertibles were built by Karmann, so always built in Germany.

If the v5 states, declared manufactured in 1976, VRO should have no issues using this as date of Date of 1st registration.
I have had several cars registered this way, and VRO never queried as to where the car was registered before. It's just common practice as to how this is done in the UK, but also the Dutch registration documents have a similar method, and again, I have never had any issues with that.

The only issue that may arise if the car was manufactured in say 1979, and you have a UK registration document stating it was 1st registered in the UK in 1980... Theoretically it could be possible that a car is in forecourt for about a year before it's registered. But in your case it would be highly unlikely that a car manufactured in 1976, sits in a showroom for 8 years before it's being registered for the 1st time!!

Furthermore, you can obtain a 'Birth Cert' for your Beetle. I took the below info from thesamba.com forum pages:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
To get an official VW Birth Certificate, VW requires a payment of 35 Euro (or the equivalent in US dollars - Exchange rate calculator) by credit card (VISA/Mastercard only), check, or cash along with your full name, VIN (chassis) number.

Personal checks can be made out to "Stiftung AutoMuseum Volkswagen"

You can mail credit card details or a check to:
Stiftung AutoMuseum Volkswagen
Brieffach 1003
Frau Neefe
Dieselstrasse 35
D-38436 Wolfsburg Germany

To fax your request with credit card info, use international phone #:
011 49 5361 52010

To transfer the money to their bank account:
Volksbank Wolfsburg
Bank number: 269 910 66
Account number: 811 840 000
Care of: Stiftung AutoMuseum Volkswagen
Keyword: "Urkunde"

The easiest way may be to pay by credit card online:
On the VW Museum Website, you can click on Urkundengenerator (Certificate Generator) and use your credit card online
Click on English at the top of the site to see the form in English or click here:
http://automuseum.volkswagen.de/index.php?id=12&L=1

If you have any trouble with the German version, see these English translated instructions from a Samba member:
http://cabby-info.com/certificate.htm

You will get an A4 (approx. 8.5"x11") letter that has:
Build date
Delivery date
Delivery Destination
Original colors and upholstery
Optional extras (M-codes)
+++++++++++++++++++++++
The chassis number itself should also be an indication of when it was built: the first two digits in your case should be 15, which mean it's a Beetle Convertible, and the 3rd digit usually denotes Model year, so a "6" in your case means model year 1976 (august 75-july 76).

audere

....thanks a million for all that info mate! Just rang home to my Dad (I'm also in Holland-working in Eindhoven for Philips). Told him I'll get him a birth cert for his new Beetle baby

audere