A question for the owners straddling a new year.

[woofy]

I know a few here had cars built in the tail end of one year and complied/ delivered the following year. What year did your insurer use? I ask as I have just found out my other car bought late nov was complied in 2011 but built in 2010!

It was bought during the end of 2011 runout for plated stock a month back, but in reality could have been around and complied in the 2010 end of year sales.

My invoices said feb 2011 build so when I notified the insurer of the error, suddenly it's a 2010 car with a higher premium and worth 3k less in market value as they all use build date. Not to mention that trade in and resale wise people do the same thing.

Not happy Jan, and due to it missing from my contract despite being a known stock item, these dates were missing from every bit of paperwork I had excluding the invoice (which has the wrong dates but correct VIN) and aren't mentioned anywhere. It wasn't until the initial service yesterday I saw the build date from the system.....

[pologti18t]

It's always build date.... complied date means nothing.

[wai]

This issue of bulid date and compliance date is something that is used by the industry to their advantage.

If you are trying to claim something, then they can use either. They can use newer date when setting a premium, but the older date when they have to supply a replacement.

The build date is (should) always be used as it is when the vehicle is made. The compliance date refers to ADR's only and was the date used when not all manufacturers clearly specified the build date. In many cases it was coded in the chassis number or VIN. Also, the compliance plate only needs to be dated and attached when the last item requiring ARD compliance is fitted. Car manufacturers/importers/distributors would fit the last seat belt to the vehicle just before it was delivered to the dealer to get the newest date possible. The only time an older compliance date was used was when the particular vehicle could not meet a newer ADR.

I bought my Caddy in July, however if I had not specified a '11 build date, I would have been supplied with the oldest vehicle meeting the other requirements that VW had in stock, and that would have been an '10 vehicle.

A bit late in your case, but this is why buyers should specify this in their order and make sure it is included in the contract they sign.

[dArK5HaD0w]

My invoices said feb 2011 build so when I notified the insurer of the error, suddenly it's a 2010 car with a higher premium and worth 3k less in market value as they all use build date. Not to mention that trade in and resale wise people do the same thing.

there's ur clue - "feb 2011 build". right away i can tell it is a MY10 model.
MY11 models started (builds) around July 2011.
Doesn't matter when the car was complianced in 2011, ur car was built in feb 2011 - making it a MY10 model.

its the same every year. Its around July-Aug that the model year changes.

so, if for example u want a MY12 model, the build date must be atleast after July/Aug 2011. MY12 builds will continue till June 2012.

the VIN number will also reveal what model it is, using the VW/Audi/Seat/Škoda VIN Decoder website

[K1W1]

Doesn't matter when the car was complianced in 2011, ur car was built in feb 2011 - making it a MY10 model.

That is wrong.
The MY11 cars started production in July/August 2010 and stayed in production until June/July 2011.
Any car BUILT in February 11 is a MY11 vehicle.

The car industry in the northern hemisphere (USA and Europe) traditionally run model years from somewhere in the July to August period through to the June to July period the following calendar year. New year models are introduced into showrooms in the August through October period in line with when the major auto shows are held and before winter sets in and people stop buying over the Christmas period.

[dArK5HaD0w]

That is wrong.
The MY11 cars started production in July/August 2010 and stayed in production until June/July 2011.
Any car BUILT in February 11 is a MY11 vehicle.

ah yes.....my bad. i got my calculations mixed up!! hehehe.

so for woofy's car to be a MY10 model, it must've been built between June/July 2009 and June/July 2010.
Maybe Feb 2010!?!?

[VAG newbie]

Just took delivery of my Superb today. Yes, it's always the built date. I had an insurance quote in late Dec last year for an agreed value of $50000. Then when I tried to take the policy today, they refuse to insure it for $50000 as it is a 2011 car despite it's MY12. They would only insure it for an agreed value of $43000, even though it's still a brand new car waiting at dealership, they said it has already "depreciated".

That is a huge depreciation! I wonder how many Skoda dealer is willing to sell you a brand new MY12 Superb Elegance TDI built in late 2011 for $43000 driveaway?

[wai]

Just took delivery of my Superb today. .....

That is a huge depreciation! I wonder how many Skoda dealer is willing to sell you a brand new MY12 Superb Elegance TDI built in late 2011 for $43000 driveaway?

This is why as a buyer, you need to be aware of this and make sure that the price you pay is also reduced by this amount.

Unfortunately when buying, we rarely want to bargain hard as it is not always a nice experience when we do.

[woofy]

Just to clarify, its not my Skoda, I bought that in a runout sale and it was built in May and I got that in Nov 08, it was built, complied and driven out in 08, but was a MY08 car as the MY09s were just coming into stock around then.

This was a Hyundai Santa Fe, they are all MY10 as they haven't changed anything until Aug 2011 when they brought in another engine variant. I got the car for a substantial amount off so not so dirty, and compared to some coming on the boat still got about 3k off when they would have been not a whole heap younger. I have for the last two cars always put the same yr build date and mention that, but stupidly on the day of doing the deal, I assumed I had, and forgot to make sure it was on the contract. They did put Feb 2011 and March as the dates of build and compliance though on the invoice, so I was miffed to find out the build date was 6 mths prior and in an earlier year. Not much I can do now and we are planning on keeping it for at least 5 yrs so will probably work out to not much $$$ lost in the long run and I saved about 6k from one on a boat built this year had I waited. Rego uses the complied date btw. I chose the slower moving car out of the 3 variants so that probably confused things as the base and top models would have had a 2011 build date and originally I was looking at the base model in earlier discussions. In the long run the variant I have will be worth more than the 2011 bulld base model for about 2k more out of pocket now and world of difference with bits included so not a big deal I guess.

I've found in researching it all that BMW and MB tend to do this trick a lot and deliberately don't get anything complied until its being delivered so some people have really old cars. Subaru also do it. Quite a few consumer groups and auto clubs warn about it though, with them now being told to show total driveaway price, this might be the next target as they really should just use build date.

[K1W1]

I've found in researching it all that BMW and MB tend to do this trick a lot and deliberately don't get anything complied until its being delivered so some people have really old cars. Subaru also do it.

It's all to do with paying duty and sales tax it's not to rip customers off and EVERY auto importer does it.
The cars sit in a bonded storage facility until they are required (effectively from a paperwork point of view they haven't at that stage been imported into Australia). When the car is sold by the importer (manufacturer usually) to a dealer it's taken out of bond and the appropriate Government taxes are paid. There is no point at all in paying the Australian Government millions of dollars when you don't have to.
This is not new. I once sold a brand new (as in zero miles) Mazda that was built in 1986, complied in 1987 and finally registered in 1988.