Need Assistance with Car Fax Report

[California]

Hi Everyone,
been draming of a Cobra for the longest time now. I'm in the final process of buying a Superformance Cobra, from someone. I would like to run a CarFax report on the vehicle, to make sure there are no leins, claims or accidents associated with it. The car has very little mileage and seems to be perfect in everyway. But I'll only know when I see her in person!
Well, I've tried to run a report on her with the VIN# SPO1_ _ _,(only 7 digits), nothing comes up. CarFax says "CARFAX Check Results

The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) you entered, SPO1_ _ _, is invalid. Please check the number for accuracy and try again below.


The letters "I", "O" and "Q" never appear in a VIN.
The VIN must be exactly 17 characters in length.
The CARFAX database contains information for cars manufactured from 1981 through the present."

Was wondering is this normal, or are there additional numbers on the VIN# which were not indicated to me.
Also is there any other pertinent registration information that I should know about.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your help.
Nick

[mrmustang]

Nick,

Only vehicles with the 17 digit VIN will work with car fax. If your looking at a used anything that does not have this 17 digit VIN, then your going to have to back track through the DMV offices directly, or go through sometype of automotive detective agency in order to find out the history of the car.


Bill S.

[Taters]

Where is the car located.

[Ron61]

Nick,

I see that you are in California so forget the DMV. All they will or can tell you is how the car is registered and to whom. They won't get into any prior accident reports even if they know about them. I think Super Performance keeps a record of all of their cars and the owners but I doubt they would know if anything has happened to the car such as a wreck & etc. Roscoe would be a good person to ask about this as he is quite adept in this field. Another option, if you are friends with one of the local police, ask them to run a check on the vehicle to see if they show any reports or claims on it. Also find out what insurance company the owner is with and talk to them.

Ron

[NeedAntiVenom]

Nick,

Many states issue a 17 digit VIN number and plate as a part of registering a specially constructed. That is the number you should get from the owner. If he does not have this number the car may have been registered through a title service as a 1965 model. In some states this can mean big trouble as they may not honor the title. It is unlikely that CarFax will yield anything for one of these cars. The police can probably verify, with a 17 digit VIN, that it is not stolen.

Best of Luck,
Jim

[Bill Wells]

superformance had a much longer serial on earlier cars ,then prox serial 578 thru 590 they were a 5 digit code : SPxxx. from prox 591 they changed the prefix to SPOxxxx, using a 7 digit code. your serial appears to be from the later sequencing, hence your chassis number is the last 4 digits. now, to further complicate things, some states allow the spf or spo serial to be used, and some apply their own 'assigned' vin, as a xyz state assembled vehicle. to further complicate it, some folks have used a ' title washing' company and have a serial that is either convoluted (made up) or from a scrapped ford (or other) car, ie , a serial that would be for a 1965 mustang, or whatever. those also were not 17 digits, as that was not the law back in the olden days, ie , a calif built 65 mustang could read 5R08Kxxxxxx. so, the answer to your question, doubt anything exists on carfax. some states, like calif, won't give out prior or current owners names either. to make matters worse, for states that have assigned their own unique vin, like michigan in most cases, they affix a new serial / vin to the car so a car would have both original spo or whatever AND the state vin, like my spf in michigan. and some dmv's in mich did not know they should not recognize the spf number so they used that, yet my dmv office said no way. mich state does not recognize my spf vin number anymore, only their own. confused, you bet...bill, spf 156, mich assembled vehicle vin that reads something entirely different with two vins side by side in the engine bay. good luck

[California]

Damn, its seems I've got some serious leg work to do! I'll call him and see if there is any other #'s to the VIN. The car is in Illinois, and I do not know the laws there, anyone here know if 7 digit VIN#'s exist there and is legal? This way I can transfer the title to California. Thanks
Nick

[Len Hurlburt]

Nick,

My Cobra is registered in Illinois with a four digit vin. That's what was on the original Alabama title and Illinois accepted it without a question. Len

[California]

Thanks Len, for the information. Looks like I'll be picking her up next week. hope everything works out!