Alternate VIN # locations

Ok, without going to all the gory details, I am wanting to know if there are any other locations on my truck that I can verify its VIN? I know about the windshield plate, and driver door frame sticker. Are there any other, possibly hidden locations?

I am stuck in a prolonged battle with the NYS Title Bureau over the Title for my truck. Two years ago, they transferred my vehicle Title to NYS from PA where I live, without my or the lien holder's knowledge, and they are holding it for a vehicle that was registered in NYS that is using the VIN for MY vehicle in PA. I have provided all the info/proof I have that verifies my vehicle history and VIN, but they are still refusing to release the Title back to PA. Without that title, PA is refusing to renew my PA registration for the truck.

Anybody ever heard of a situation like this?

 

The VIN is actually in several locations. I remember when I removed the fenders and hood from my truck they had stickers on them with the vin. I assume for final assembly at Toyota, help keep parts matched to the right body ect. I cant remember exactly where they were but the VIN is definitely listed in other places around the truck.

The ECU stores the VIN as well which can be read with any copy of Techstream. All you looking for more ways to verify your VIN? They are pretty specific as far as what each letter represents in the VIN.

 

So someone in NY is using your VIN on their registration? Is that public info where you can request their name? Or go to Toyota and see if they have a record of it getting service and where at. I think carfax does it too because I still get emails from carfax for a truck I traded in 4 years ago every time they get it serviced.

Find them and have them fix their registration. Seems like NY had no right to take the title if you nor the lien holder allowed it. When I moved to NY and registered my truck, I had to get a letter from the loan holder to allow me to register it here.

Did you buy your truck used? Possible fraud from the seller?

 

I have already verified my truck's vin, comparing the windshield and door sticker vin against the original sales paperwork. Everything matches. I was just wondering if there was a 'hidden' location I didn't know about.

 

According to the NYS Title Bureau, the info on the NYS vehicle owner using my VIN is personal and can't be released to just anyone. I have already gotten the carfax report, and it shows the VIN vehicle history from original purchase in NJ to owner registration in PA, and that owner trading vehicle into Ford dealer where I purchased it from. But in Feb 2020, the vin is reported as being registered in NYS, 13 days after I renewed the PA registration. A month later NYS took the Title from PA and issued it to the vehicle owner in NY. Carfax then shows 3 separate NYS inspections were performed in Middletown NY, each of which report a milage less than what was on the vehicle when I purchased it in Oct 2019. So, at this time, I have no reason to suspect any issue with the Dealership I bought it from. Everything indicates a normal VIN history until the VIN pops up in NYS in Feb 2020. And, according to the title clerk at the NYS Bank that I financed the purchase with and is supposed to have a lien on the title, they were never asked to approve, or notified about the Title transfer.

Right now, all the NYS Title Bureau will tell me is that they are still investigating the issue, with no time frame for an answer.

 

Don't know if this helps but there the vin number (your car) is also attached to your ecu. You can get to it using Toyota Techstream.

 

I was aware of the ECU coding, but I tried to get a version of techstream to work years ago when I had 4Runners, but was never successful with it and gave up trying. Is it any easier now?

 

The one on the bottom is under the RF (passenger) seat; it's a small plastic bar.... Most Toyotas also have VIN stickers in several places throughout the truck (usually these are black w/silver or whiteish lettering) that were slapped on during assembly to keep parts sorted out during the builds...

 

Another image of where you may find some of those "slapped on" stickers...

 

You don't need techstream necessarily. I have a code reader that does ABS, SRS, traction control etc that shows vin as well. I don't think the super cheap readers will do it but it doesn't have to be techstream.

 

I bet somebody typed the vin number at the DMV and you’re paying the price for it.

 

I hope you are right, but it is taking a very long time for NYSD DMV Title bureau to figure this out. I am starting to suspect that someone in NY used my VIN to register a stolen vehicle.

 

OK, an Update to this S#it show story. NYS finally released the title to my truck back to PA on 10/3/22. PA then renewed my registration, so I am now legal again. NY won't officially confirm what happened, but the 'unofficial' version is that there are some individuals in NY, and some other states, that have figured out a way to 'game' the digital title system now in use in most states. They have a stolen vehicle and are able to do a search to find a vin from another legal vehicle that closely matches it and use it to get a 'legal' registration for the stolen one. They have also figured out how to 'generate' an official request to have the title for the legal vehicle transferred to the stolen one in another state. The owner of the legal vehicle has no idea the title has been transferred until they try to renew their registration and it won't process. In my case, I 'lost' my title way back in Feb 2020, and didn't discover the problem until May 2022, when my vehicle wouldn't pass the PA state vehicle inspection because of an invalid registration. And it took 5 months of fighting with both the PA and NY title bureaus to finally get it straightened out.

And the real kicker is that according to the PA title bureau, with the new digital title system, there is no process in place to prevent it from happening again. There are news reports of this happening to people in other states. And in PA there was a recent story of a group of individuals generating 'clean' titles for vehicles that had a salvage title and then resell them without performing the required legal repairs to make the vehicle safe again. It is a 'new' world, and I don't like it. Beware......