Day of first Registration 1968

[Berndt U.]

Hello from Berlin Germany
I need the date of the first registration of a 1968 Convertible.
The car was sold to the UK in 1988 and now we like the get a German
Registration. At the Time the rules have changed, we need the exact
date. Day/ Month / year .
Can we get this Information anywhere
VIN 194678S427808
Thanks
Berndt

[Oliver B.]

Re: Day of first Registration 1968

With the VIN (and Date Build Code for that matter) you will get no more than the car's production date.
Just like over here in Germany, the car might have stood awhile at the dealer before it was finally sold. Even if it has been an order, there will be some days between date of production, the car's shipment to the dealer, customer delivery and finally the registration by the owner...

German "Zulassungsstellen" (registration autorities) usually deal with this by taking the model year of the car and assuming the first of July as the original registration date. (Sometimes, if you can state a probable month of production, they might take the first day of the following month; but trying to convince them of your knowledge - the production date - is still is quite a challenge...)
And as is with authorities, these "rules" can be bent and ignored depending on knowledge and cooperativeness by the person you have to deal with - so good luck.

In my case the a.m. procedure worked quite well: my '77 has a Date Build Code of June 6th - so an assumed registration date of July 1, 1977 is quite reasonable...

(Any further info needed on the Date Build Code? Just ask...)

All the best
Oliver

[Berndt U.]

Re: Day of first Registration 1968

Thanks Oliver
But here in Berlin they change the rules and we must have the original Title with the correct date. Before the that we can also use the 1.7. as the first registration date
Thanks for your Information's
Berndt

[Michael W.]

Re: Day of first Registration 1968

Having dealt with the TUeV in Berlin with registering a vehicle imported from North America I can empathize with your plight. My explaining that day of first registration was NOT recorded by the manufacturer nor by any publicly accessible database made no difference.

I was lucky enough to still have the original sales contract made between the dealer and myself, and inexplicably the date of that contract was accepted. I kept my mouth shut and didn't explain that this date was six months before I actually took delivery and registered the vehicle.

Sorry to hear that they still like to make people's life difficult.

[Jack H.]

Re: Day of first Registration 1968

The situation is more complicated in the US than it is in your 'civilized' world of greater Europe. Here, we register automobiles at the State level and there is no 'Federal' involvement...

That means there are AT LEAST fifty different vehicle registering/licensing authorities and each has its own set of rules/law. Compound that with the differences in record retention policy and record disclosure these different agencies have and the information you're trying to get (first registration date for a given vehicle) is akin to looking for a needle in a haystack!

Quite a few of the individual States don't bother to retain records on cars that have gone 'stale'...car moved out of that particular State, car didn't have its license renewed because it went into a state of dis-use (stored in a barn). And other States simply lay down a firm time limit (say 10-years) for record retention.

The US system is very 'un-German' in its nature. But, our system is reasonably well known outside the US. I think authorities that seek to force European-like rules on vehicles that were imported from other nations where the records they're asking for simply don't exist is quite illogical!

[Oliver B.]

Re: Day of first Registration 1968

Thanks Oliver
But here in Berlin they change the rules and we must have the original Title with the correct date. Before the that we can also use the 1.7. as the first registration date
Thanks for your Information's
Berndt

Coming back to this (guess you haven't solved it yet, do you?)

What paperwork DO you have?
Okay, guess it was a lot easier for me, as I had the original title with the car when importing it.
At least back then the title was voided in order to get a new German title issued (I could take the voided - stamped - original with me fortunately)...

But even the title does only show the first date of registry (issueing date of the title to be precise), if it still is the first one issued - ever! Now, how slim are chances...?

If you car travelled from the US to UK and then to Germany I understand you are most certainly NOT in possession of the first and original US-title.

So how about debating with the Zulassungsstelle taking the Date Build Code as an indicator? Reason should tell, that the car was not on storage for ages (still, it will take a civil serveant to be open for such an argument).
Good luck!