Honda Car Forum

My 1999 Accord has the VIN 1HGCG1650WA5001
It is an American made Honda but bought in Uruguay (South America).

In any American Honda page that asks for the VIN number I get as
answer that it is a non valid VIN. At the Honda Transmission
Settlement page it responds the same.

Why is that if the car has been made in the USA?

Thanks for any help and regards, Harry

"Harry" <harry@adinet.com.uy> wrote in message
news:ngdi93pjqbj4q3juje17402t08utr2e77r@4ax.com...
> My 1999 Accord has the VIN 1HGCG1650WA5001
> It is an American made Honda but bought in Uruguay (South America).
>
> In any American Honda page that asks for the VIN number I get as
> answer that it is a non valid VIN. At the Honda Transmission
> Settlement page it responds the same.
>
> Why is that if the car has been made in the USA?
>
> Thanks for any help and regards, Harry

You are two characters shy of having a complete VIN. The format is 17
characters and you have only 15. You need two more numbers. The last 4
must be numbers.

In article <ngdi93pjqbj4q3juje17402t08utr2e77r@4ax.com>,
Harry <harry@adinet.com.uy> wrote:

> My 1999 Accord has the VIN 1HGCG1650WA5001
> It is an American made Honda but bought in Uruguay (South America).
>
> In any American Honda page that asks for the VIN number I get as
> answer that it is a non valid VIN. At the Honda Transmission
> Settlement page it responds the same.
>
> Why is that if the car has been made in the USA?

It doesn't matter where the car was made. What matters is what market
the car was built for and sold in.

It may be American made, but it sounds like a South American Honda.

You say that "in any American Honda page that asks for the VIN..."
Well, American Honda doesn't sell cars in Uruguay. That VIN is not one
that American Honda "bought" from Honda corporate, or placed into
service. It is not one that they have any responsibility for warranty
work, parts, recalls, etc.

If you want to know about Hondas that were sold in Uruguay, find the web
site for the South American Honda distributor. American Honda won't be
able to help you.

Let me ask you this: if your Honda were built in Canada, for example,
would you expect the Canadian distributor to take ownership of it
throughout its life?

Where it's built has nothing to do with which distributor owns
responsibility for the car.

DodgeDriver wrote:
> "Harry" <harry@adinet.com.uy> wrote in message
> news:ngdi93pjqbj4q3juje17402t08utr2e77r@4ax.com...
>> My 1999 Accord has the VIN 1HGCG1650WA5001
>> It is an American made Honda but bought in Uruguay (South America).
>>
>> In any American Honda page that asks for the VIN number I get as
>> answer that it is a non valid VIN. At the Honda Transmission
>> Settlement page it responds the same.
>>
>> Why is that if the car has been made in the USA?
>>
>> Thanks for any help and regards, Harry
>
> You are two characters shy of having a complete VIN. The format is 17
> characters and you have only 15. You need two more numbers. The last 4
> must be numbers.
>
>

make that the _six_ digits being numbers.

DodgeDriver wrote:
> "Harry" <harry@adinet.com.uy> wrote in message
> news:ngdi93pjqbj4q3juje17402t08utr2e77r@4ax.com...
>> My 1999 Accord has the VIN 1HGCG1650WA5001
>> It is an American made Honda but bought in Uruguay (South America).
>>
>> In any American Honda page that asks for the VIN number I get as
>> answer that it is a non valid VIN. At the Honda Transmission
>> Settlement page it responds the same.
>>
>> Why is that if the car has been made in the USA?
>>
>> Thanks for any help and regards, Harry
>
> You are two characters shy of having a complete VIN. The format is 17
> characters and you have only 15. You need two more numbers. The last 4
> must be numbers.
>
>

make that the _six_ digits being numbers.

Harry <harry@adinet.com.uy> wrote in
news:ngdi93pjqbj4q3juje17402t08utr2e77r@4ax.com:

> My 1999 Accord has the VIN 1HGCG1650WA5001
> It is an American made Honda but bought in Uruguay (South America).
>
> In any American Honda page that asks for the VIN number I get as
> answer that it is a non valid VIN. At the Honda Transmission
> Settlement page it responds the same.
>
> Why is that if the car has been made in the USA?
>
> Thanks for any help and regards, Harry



Because where it's made has nothing to do with the VIN. The VIN is
specially constructed only for your market.

There are VIN constructions unique to Europe, Asia, North America, and I'm
sure Africa as well.

Honda builds its worldwide cars wherever it's most convenient for them to
do so. When car are built for other markets, they are called "export"
models. These cars are made to that "export" market's
safety/emissions/lighting/VIN standards.

--
Tegger

The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ
www.tegger.com/hondafaq/

On Sun, 15 Jul 2007 12:40:56 +0000, Tegger wrote:

>> My 1999 Accord has the VIN 1HGCG1650WA5001 It is an American made Honda
>> but bought in Uruguay (South America).
>>
>> In any American Honda page that asks for the VIN number I get as answer
>> that it is a non valid VIN. At the Honda Transmission Settlement page it
>> responds the same.
>>
>> Why is that if the car has been made in the USA?
>>
>> Thanks for any help and regards, Harry
>
>
>
> Because where it's made has nothing to do with the VIN. The VIN is
> specially constructed only for your market.
>
> There are VIN constructions unique to Europe, Asia, North America, and I'm
> sure Africa as well.


Shoot! Between US and Canada as well!

I go to get parts for my Supra and they look at me and say, No such car!

I explain it's Canadian, and then they access a different system, and
SOMETIMES it shows up!

=?iso-2022-jp?q?Hachiroku_=1B$B%O%A%m%=2F=1B=28B?= <Trueno@AE86.gts>
wrote in news:u1pmi.4160$225.913@trndny03:


>
>
> Shoot! Between US and Canada as well!



That too, yes. But on Hondas it's usually just one digit reserved for
telling a Canadian car over a US one. Otherwise the VINs are identical.

In other markets, the VIN digits can mean totally different things, and
the VIN is of different lengths.

Also, the VIN number in some markets is in a different place on the car
from the US/Canadian one.



>
> I go to get parts for my Supra and they look at me and say, No such
> car!
>
> I explain it's Canadian, and then they access a different system, and
> SOMETIMES it shows up!
>
>


The Honda system in the US is able to decode Canadian VINs and locate
the correct parts.

I do believe the Canadian system can do US VINs as well, but I'd have to
check.





--
Tegger

The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ
www.tegger.com/hondafaq/

Elmo,

when I buy a Car I do not buy it because of the nice face of the
person that it selling it to me.
I expect the distributor to give me good customer support and also
Honda (the one that makes the car) shoul be responsable for it.

My car was made in the US to be commercialized in Uruguay.
If they accept Honda Uruguay to sell their cars they are asumming
responsability for that. They know exactly that Honda Uruguay tells
their customers that their Cars have been made by Honda US and that is
why people buy it. Otherwise thay should not sell their cars here.

If I get that kind of problem whith a german Car I know somebody from
Customer Support is going to Contact me directly from Germany (by
phone) to know if they are well represented in Uruguay and if the
problem is being solved by their representatives-distributors.

When I let my IBM computer be repaired by the official service here in
Uruguay sometimes I get a phonecall directly from IBM headquarters,
ONE YEAR after the repair has been made to let them know if I am
pleased with the service they gave me here in Uruguay.

Another example is what happend to Mattel Toys made in China.
Distributors are doing what the Brand tells them to do.

That is what I call customer support.


Honda Uruguay told me that they need acceptance from Honda America.
And Honda America says that this is Honda Uruguay's problem.

Regards, Harry



On Sat, 14 Jul 2007 17:07:36 -0400, "Elmo P. Shagnasty"
<elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote:

>In article <ngdi93pjqbj4q3juje17402t08utr2e77r@4ax.com>,
> Harry <harry@adinet.com.uy> wrote:
>
>> My 1999 Accord has the VIN 1HGCG1650WA5001
>> It is an American made Honda but bought in Uruguay (South America).
>>
>> In any American Honda page that asks for the VIN number I get as
>> answer that it is a non valid VIN. At the Honda Transmission
>> Settlement page it responds the same.
>>
>> Why is that if the car has been made in the USA?
>
>It doesn't matter where the car was made. What matters is what market
>the car was built for and sold in.
>
>It may be American made, but it sounds like a South American Honda.
>
>You say that "in any American Honda page that asks for the VIN..."
>Well, American Honda doesn't sell cars in Uruguay. That VIN is not one
>that American Honda "bought" from Honda corporate, or placed into
>service. It is not one that they have any responsibility for warranty
>work, parts, recalls, etc.
>
>If you want to know about Hondas that were sold in Uruguay, find the web
>site for the South American Honda distributor. American Honda won't be
>able to help you.
>
>Let me ask you this: if your Honda were built in Canada, for example,
>would you expect the Canadian distributor to take ownership of it
>throughout its life?
>
>Where it's built has nothing to do with which distributor owns
>responsibility for the car.

In article <nsqhc3d3osc6am0uli90bomdcgv6go6mel@4ax.com>,
Harry <harry@adinet.com.uy> wrote:

> when I buy a Car I do not buy it because of the nice face of the
> person that it selling it to me.
> I expect the distributor to give me good customer support and also
> Honda (the one that makes the car) shoul be responsable for it.
>
> My car was made in the US to be commercialized in Uruguay.

So the car was manufactured in the US. It might as well have been
manufactured in Toronto, or in Japan somewhere.

Where it was manufactured has nothing to do with who supports it. It is
manufactured by Honda, then sold to and distributed by the local Honda
organization.

For example, I owned a 92 Civic Si. Built in Toronto, Canada. Built
specifically for the US market, with a US VIN. Sold to me by a dealer,
who acquired it from American Honda Motor Manufacturing, Inc. American
Honda Motor Manufacturing is the manufacturer of record, and they hold
responsibility for warranting the car to be free from manufacturer
defects for 36 months/36,000 miles.

The Canadian distributing arm does NOT hold that responsibility, even
though the car was manufactured in Canada.




> If they accept Honda Uruguay to sell their cars they are asumming
> responsability for that.

no, Honda Uruguay is assuming all responsibility as the manufacturer of
record.

What if my 92 Civic Si were built in Uruguay specifically to be sold in
the US? Would I then go to Honda Uruguay and demand that they take care
of me? No. That would be silly. Honda Uruguay has nothing to do with
me. American Honda has total responsibility.

That's the structure Honda has set up. Accept it, deal with it, and
move on with your life.



> Honda Uruguay told me that they need acceptance from Honda America.
> And Honda America says that this is Honda Uruguay's problem.

Honda Uruguay is trying to blow you off. Take it up with them.

The parent corporation, Honda in Japan, set up the structure whereby
Honda Uruguay as the distributor of record takes all responsibility for
the car.