Re: Importing

[Rosso75@domain.elided]

<< A 17 digit VIN has been used since the early 1980's on all Alfas...  
...the US and EU standards are slightly different. The main difference is 
that fields 10 and 11 are used for the year and the plant in the US standard, 
while this information is optional in the EU standard. 

  Hmm.  I guess you do learn something new every day.  I wonder how many 
states would notice the difference.  When I lived in Virginia I found that 
their DMV computers are programed to accept only certain information when a 
VIN is entered.  For example, on cars where a letter is used to designate the 
year, the computer won't accept a number.  I'm sure there are other states 
that are less diligent.  As someone else pointed out though, that's not the 
immediate problem....

<< the biggest problem is getting the vehicle through customs...  The vehicle 
is impounded at the port of entry...  If the car does not pass DOT/EPA the 
owner has two options, ship the car back out of the country or send it to the 
crusher.   >>

  Gotta be a way around that too.  The few times I was at SIR there was a guy 
with a Lotus Elise.  There are probably a few people here that know more 
about that car than I do, but the story I got was that it's a nonconforming 
vehicle that is used almost exclusively on the track.  He just gets a 3 day 
trip permit on Friday, drives the car to the track on the weekend, then puts 
the car back in the garage when the trip permit expires.  If it was 
compliant, I would imagine he would have registered it, and obviously it 
wasn't crushed.  Anybody know how that car found its way here?

Bryan Carter
Olympia, WA

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