I have a 1982 xjs cabriolet.There is a vin number on top of firewall and a slightly different vin on the door jam .My dilemna is it is a US registered car and transferring to Canada .How do I justify having 2 different vin numbers to customs.The ownership title shows the vin on the door jam.Brian

 

The one on the cowl/firewall is (what I call) the "born with" VIN. The car was "born" with that VIN, which met Jaguar's internal needs.

The other VIN....on the door jamb (and probably windshield pillar as well).... is the "USA" VIN. Cars for the USA market (and probably Canada, too, at some point) were required to have a VIN formatted to meet USA requirements/convention. In those cases Jaguar assigned a second VIN to comply.

Any licensing agency should be familiar with this. The same scenario applies to many manufacturers, not just Jaguar

Cheers
DD

 

Brian,

(I've moved this thread from Jaguar Forums Advice / Feedback & Suggestion Center)

Doug has given you a straightforward and clear explanation for this double numbering.

Is there anything happened so far in the purchase procedure leads you to think you'll have difficulties entering Canada with the vehicle?

Graham

 

No I just needed to understand this situation before I approached customs as they will be comparing the vin on the car with the ownership title.The car is currently in Canada and have to take it to customs for them to verify the vin .My father had a very bad experience many years ago which resulted in him having to retuRn the car to the US. Brian

 

Have you tried contacting Jaguar of North america? It's a long shot, but some sort of declaration or documentation from an official source may help.
Failing that, I would steer them towards the door jamb, windshield pillar, and anywhere else the correct VIN appears.
They will want to see the correct VIN on at least two different locations on the car.
Also, check out Registrar of Imported Vehicles, it's the government site for vehicle importations. Good luck!

 

Typically the motor vehicle people look for 2 matching VINs. Usually door plate and windshield. Don't mention the other number under the hood. It does not meet the requirements the US adopted in 1981. So many imported vehicles from that era have a "factory" VIN which did not meet the new standards for import. However the RoW markets did not adopt these requirements until later on.