A VIN is composed of 17 characters (digits and capital letters) that act as a unique identifier for the vehicle. The model year can also be found in the car's Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). The VIN serves as the car's fingerprint, as no two vehicles in operation have the same VIN. This is usually the case when selling the car privately as well – you shouldn’t be finding previous year build cars advertised as current years models, just because they were complied in the current year. However, for the most part the year of the car will refer to the year it was manufactured, so our example 2018 Camry would be a car built at some point during 2018. The year of the car can be a somewhat ambiguous term, for example, a “2018 Camry” could technically be built in 2018, or complied in 2018 or be a MY18 car. There are certain vehicles that do not have to comply with the ADRs and be fitted with a compliance plate but these are exceptions and you should get the advice of an appropriate authority before buying such a car. The same applies for locally manufactured vehicles. Because fitting the car with a compliance plate before the use of the RAV could be done within one year, even if the car arrived in the final months of the previous year, or was built in the previous year, the date on the compliance plate could be different than the build date. When an internationally manufactured car had reached our shores it previously had to be fitted with a compliance plate before it is able to be driven on the road. The RAV is a public online database of vehicles that have met the requirements of the RVSA and been approved for provision to the Australian market. As of the 1st of July 2021 however the need to actually fit road vehicles with identification plates containing compliance information has become redundant because the Register of Approved Vehicles (RAV) was introduced.
Ford as built data by vin registration#
The compliance plate used to be a quick indication to registration authorities that compliance with the ADRs has been demonstrated for the vehicle in question. This states that the car has met the requirements of the Australian Design Rules (ADRs). Every model driving on Australian roads must be rigorously inspected and crash tested to be worthy of a compliance plate.