> Jon Steiger
> Subject: Re: DML: info on 1993 Dakota
>
> At 10:41 PM 4/16/98 -0500, you wrote:
> >T & J wrote:
> > Hate to tell you this- but NO. The vehicle VIN # is used for the
plants
> > where motor, body, and in what country your vehicles were built
in-either
> > Canada or USA. It also tells of course the vehicle serial # and what
> > day,week and year. This of course uses the VIN#'s in a sequense by
using
> > certain numbers and letters that have to be interperted. If you really
want
> > to know the options and what was installed on the vehicle in the
building
> > process, you have to find that hidden BUILD SHEET from the company
that's in
> > your vehicle--your guess is as good as mine where it is, but usually
they're
> > in the springs of the seats or under the carpet, or any other place
that's
> > protected from weather,like behind some plastic panels.
> [...]
> >I beg to differ. When I first got my truck, I took it back to the
dealer for a
> >small oil leak. I know about everybody there, my family has been dealing
with
> >this dealership for ever, and one of the guys asked my for my VIN. I
gave it to
> >him, and he returned with a gift: a print out of about two pages of
every
> >option/fact about my truck I could ever want, from gears, to gas tank,
to color,
> >to engine, to interior color...everything, just off the VIN. Dealers
can do
> >that. If it's common practice for every one, I don't know, but it's
possible,
> >and took him about 30 seconds.
>
>
> You're both right. :-)
>
> The VIN itself actually only gives build info; this info is actually
encoded
> right into the VIN. Stuff like the interior color, gas tank, gears, etc.
are
> not in the VIN, there's simply not enough room. :-) However, the VIN
is a
> unique identifer, and would make a great primary key in some sort of
nationwide
> database that Dodge dealers could tap into. When the truck was ordered
or built,
> it probably goes into the database, and it would be simple to tap into it
using
> the VIN to dig that info out again.
>
> Does anyone know if this database is national, or is Robert just lucky
> enough to have a dealer that saves this info in its own database for the
> vehicles it sells?
>
> -Jon-
Jon,
I also have a two page print out like Robert's for our 97 Dakota. It's
called
the "Vehicle Information Plus Summary Report" It list everything on the
vehicle including the built date and time. You should be able to get it
from any dealer. We bought our Dakota from one dealer and got the printout
from another dealer when we were having work done.
Mike Catlin
R/T in Maryland
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