ghost-rider

It's probably a rare question, but does anyone know how to get the VIN recalculated?

rexhvn

Is that even possible?

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Unless you happen to know when your car rolled off the assembly line, that ain't going to happen. Has the VIN been removed from the car? A little more info would help.

crazyrx7

I'm guessing he got a JDM fd. I think the vin is slightly different than the NA models (but I could be wrong).

R.K.

moconnor

iTrader: (14)

Are you talking about generating a new VIN for an imported car? Why don't you call your DMV?

ghost-rider

The car was built for european market, probably Germany since the only label on the car is in German. Vin starts with JMZ instead of JM1. I was importing in into Canada from US. It came to US in 1998 and was registered in FL. Than by 2006 it made its way to NY and was registered there. Now, the problem is the Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV) tried to process the paperwork but when they put the vin in their computer it gives them the "invalid vin" message. They told me that I need to get the vin recalculated, otherwise the car will be deemed inadmissible and will have to go back to US. I don't know what to do if this will happen, as I have no place to store it there untill I sell her, hopefully it doesn't get that far. To register the car in WA and drive it in Canada I need a work permit which is next to impossible to get. They tell me all of this after I put around $6000 into the car, after 4 months. I tried calling Mazda USA but they automatically transfer me to Mazda Canada. No help there. So I'm pretty much stuck.

--- lots of bumps no changes.

Vin was never removed from the car. There is aluminium plate on the right (passenger) side of the fire wall, it has the vin and some specs. Then in the middle of the firewall there is a big, stamped vin. Both vins mach. That's it for the vin. Nothing on the door sills or on the dash board. It looks like it was never there. Thequarter panels were never fixed, everything looks original at least the parts where the vin sticker is supposed to be. The dash board has no holes, no scratches so it doesn't look like the little plate has been removed.

ghost-rider

I bought the car in NY. I tried contacting dmv in Olympia, WA and they told me that they have no record of the car and can't help me. They told me to contact NY. If I contact DMV in NY, they will have to inspect the car before they generate a vin right? I'll give it shot tomorrow too late today as it's already 4pm, around 7pm in NY , may be it will work out. I can't bring the car to NY for inspection and bring it back to WA it's too expensive. I paid $1200 to get the car from NY to WA.

I was thinking of buying a wrecked rx7 with a normal vin something like theft recovery and just put the parts from my 7 onto the other one. The problem with this is that I need about $5000 more to buy a wrecked one and then I 'll have to give the rest of the car to a junk yard or something. I am still hoping to fix the vin on my rx7 and register it.

moconnor

iTrader: (14)

I think you may be screwed. I seriously doubt the car was legally imported into the US. (Registering and getting a title are another matter, and I have heard of many owners who have successfully registered illegal cars - depends on how **** your local DMV is.)

The following web page has some interesting information about importation:

http://www.eastcoastrover.com/imports.html

If it was not legally imported into the US, it's VIN will not be registered and the car is illegal.

ghost-rider

VIN is registered in US. At least I think it is. They have all of the info on the car since 1998 when it came to US. I have the carfax report. The car was came to FL to the inspection Station in Fort Lauderdale, passed inspection. Then was registered and title ws issued. In 2005 it was registered in Indiana, then in NY. US DMV have no problem with the vin. I am trying to import it into Canada, and Canadian RIV (sort of like DMV) are having problems with the vin. From the carfax everything looks legal, however there is no label saying that the vehicle conforms to all US standards like the one in the link you provided. I don't know. The car was repainted at some point in time because it has the regular 2 stage red paint. It's not tri-coat any more. May be they removed the labels when they repainted the car I'm not too sure though.

I don't know what the docket number is or where to find it, but is there a way to check whether it was imported into US legally or not?

The process is slightly different in Canada. Simply put there is a main "transportation" office in Toronto ON when you import a vehicle into canada, the customs send all of the paperwork (copies) to toronto, you send the money and after a while they send you a form which you will need to go to any cerified bodyshop to pass inspections, then you can get insurance and register the car. Any car 15 yrs or older is admisible into Canada. There is also a list of newer vehicles which are admissible and which are not. You can personally go down to the US/Canada order with the car and the officer will fill out all of the paperwork for you. If you are importing the car as a business then you have to fill out all of the paperwork, takes 20 minutes to fill the forms. It's quite interesting. My problem is that I can't get the form to do inspections because RIV are having a problem with the vin. And the vin has to be fixed first, then they'll send me the form to go to inspections. Otherwise they'll deem this car inadmissible to Canada.

moconnor

iTrader: (14)

According to the link I forwarded, you can use the VIN you have (from the CarFax I would guess) and call NHTSA/DOT:

Though, given that you are in Canada, this may all be irrelevant. Ask the transportation office why exactly they are having a problem with the VIN - and what the hell does it mean to have a problem with a VIN? Given that in Cananda you can legally import any 15+ year old vehicle, I simply don't believe that they have a full record of all possible VINs in the world and can tell problem ones from legitimate ones.

crazyrx7

What year is the fd? Is it at least 15 years old? I'm not sure you will be able to bring it over legally to Canada otherwise guys here would be buying R33 and R34 skylines from the states. Just a thought. Make sure you have all your ducks in a row otherwise you will be screwed.

R.K.

ghost-rider

I tried calling RIV again and all they can tell me about what's wrong with the vin and what they are having a problem with is the computer. When they put the vin into the computer it gives them an error message and says "invalid vin" basically they don't know nothing themselves. From what I was able to find I think the problem is the way the actual vin is made in NA there is a check digit and in Europe it is used for a different purpose and the last 3 or 4 digits are grouped differently so they have a different meaning. I found somwhere that there are 3 different systems in the world for the vin set up/reading. Last time I called RIV they told me that the only solution is to get th vin recalculated, when I asked them how they just told me to call Mazda. So I did. Mazda Canada doesn't know nothing and I can't reach Mazda US because they automatically transfer me to Mazda Canada, so I emailed them a few times now and still waiting for a response.

On the title and all the paperwork it says that the car is 1994, I have already found through the help of another member on here that the car was built in June 1992 and first registered in 1994 in Germany. Technically it will be 15yrs old in June, but proving this to RIV is like pissing against the wind if you know what I mean. So far I think I am screwd, but still hoping to fix this. Before I bought it I called RIV and they told me that this car this year is on the list, so it's admissible from US no problem. Then it turned out that no one has any info on the car prior to 1998. Not even mazda USA.

p.s. Is there a way to figure out if the motor is JDM?

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

In '94, about the only difference would have be the lack of an EGR and pre-cat. Other than that, they should be pretty much exactly the same as US spec.

As far as the VIN, what's on the car is the VIN. No two ways around it. I could imaging if the car was damaged somehow and the VIN was not completely readable, then it would need to be 'recalculated' using the partial information. But the VIN is the VIN. Yes it is different from the US spec VIN's however it sounds like their system is not going to take it. It could be the fact that it's not 'exactly' 15 years old and the system is kicking it out.

ghost-rider

I can damage it a little just so it's not readable say I was taking the motor out and damaged the firewall, if that would make DMV or whoever recalculate the vin. I'm going to be repainting the engine bay anyways, if I can keep the car that is.

Anyway, thanks for everyone's input, I really appreciate it. If I can find one, I will try to buy a shell with a title and a normal vin, or a damaged rx7 for cheap, and put everything from this one onto the shell, if not I have no choice but to sell it.

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

If they can't read the current JDM VIN that is 'real', what makes you think they'll be able to read the next one?

crazyrx7

Why don't you just buy a local fd? All of this money your spending on making an illegal car legal is kind of pointless. You will not be able to get that car across the border. You will have an easier time getting a jdm one over this one in the states.

R.K.