"McMike" (mcmike)
11/17/2015 at 08:30 • Filed to: VaneoLady
2
14|
"McMike" (mcmike)
11/17/2015 at 08:30 • Filed to: VaneoLady | 2
| 14 |
Virginia WWY or WVY-5217
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regularly sees this car on his daily commute.
Is he interested in buying it? No... that’s not why we’re interesed in the info.
We’re curious how a
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came to be registered in the state of Virginia. As far as we know, this was never sold in North America. It was a popular vehicle for wheelchair accessability in Europe, but this one does not appear to have the ramp kit fitted.
Seeing weird cars in Northern Virginia is not that uncommon, seeing how VAG’s offices are located here. What’s odd about this, is that it has a stick figure family, and a non-manufacturer plate. That plate also looks [EDIT* to the uneducated eye] like it was issued very recently (Mrs McMike’s car has the VJT prefix, and it was registered back in August.)
Anyone want to clue us in on this thing’s history, or what it’s registered as?
Another Vaneo image for your time.
*Doug DeMuro, license plate enthusiast
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about my home state plate sequencing that I even knew existed.
Sam
> McMike
11/17/2015 at 08:39 |
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Autocheck’s basic plate lookup says that it’s a 2001 Mercedes-Benz with VIN # WDB4147001N234875
Edit: I threw it into Autocheck and they have no information on the car, other than 2001 Merc.
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McMike
> Sam
11/17/2015 at 08:44 |
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And a google search of that vin reveals that it made a trip from France to Baltimore in 2012 as a 2003 Vaneo.
http://en.52wmb.com/b-mr_markus_ni…
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Sam
> McMike
11/17/2015 at 08:55 |
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Very curious. I really want to know how they managed to slip it by the Feds.
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McMike
> Sam
11/17/2015 at 08:58 |
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VIN checks out, but year doesn’t. Vaneos weren’t made in 2001.
If this was imported in 2012, and it has a new VA plate, it’s possible that whomever owns it just bought it from the person who imported it?
Is there a chance they think it’s just a used 2001 Mercedes Minivan, and will be disappointed when they try to get it serviced anywhere?
willkinton247
> McMike
11/17/2015 at 09:08 |
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Also, we occasionally see weird Euro cars that have Diplomat plates, like this Audi A2 I see around sometimes. Diplomats are allowed to bring cars over, so that makes sense, but typically they spring for the Diplo plates too. These are just standard VA plates. It’s so weird.
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McMike
> willkinton247
11/17/2015 at 09:14 |
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EXCACTLY!
Wierd, lost cars around these parts usually have Diplomatic, Foreign, or Michigan Manufacturer plates on them.
Oh #VaneoLady, what’s your story? This had to been a private sale.
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willkinton247
> McMike
11/17/2015 at 09:14 |
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http://www.brauns-international.de/en/the-move-ma…
Okay so this is my guess. This car was imported by someone who was able to import it, like a diplomat. Then they sold to whoever is currently driving it. Is that possible though? Or do cars have to be shipped back to Europe.
I wonder if Doug’s friends at that import place can offer any insight.
Rainbow
> McMike
11/17/2015 at 09:18 |
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It’s a 2003 Lambo.
Doug DeMuro
> McMike
11/17/2015 at 11:03 |
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The plate returns to a 2001 Mercedes unknown (but it’s a Vaneo). Registered April 18, 2005, as a diplomatic vehicle, and then “exported from Germany and imported to Baltimore” on July 7, 2012.
So what happened is, a diplomat illegally sold the car to an American citizen or illegally kept the car after taking a non-diplomatic post in America. Inexplicably Virginia issued a title for it. It’s registered in Herndon.
EDIT
: By the way McMike, you have Virginia plates a bit backwards. The original design started at ZZZ-9999 and counted
backwards
. So the first plate was ZZZ-9999, then ZZZ-9998, etc. At some point they stopped doing this in favor of the Jamestown plates, which started at JAA-0001 and went through the mid-K series. When the new “Virginia is for lovers” plate came out, they started at VAA-0001. So basically here’s how it went:
1. ZZZ-9999
backwards
to roughly WJ_-####
2. JAA-0001 through roughly KN_-####
3. VAA-0001 through current high.
So actually this plate and yours were issued years apart and yours is much newer even though this one is higher numbered. Here are visuals.
1: (ZZZ-9999 backwards to WJ series)
2: (JAA-0001 through KN series)
3: (VAA-0001 through current)
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McMike
> Doug DeMuro
11/17/2015 at 11:09 |
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That raises a few few questions...
I wonder if the current owners have a weird fetish for unusual vehicles (like most of us in here do) or if they bought it thinking it was a cheap, practical car from a friend?
Where do they get it serviced?
Why would you chose to bring THAT over? That would be like a US diplomat not taking the assignment unless they can take their Pontiac Vibe with them.
When was it last registered? That plate number looks very new.
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Doug DeMuro
> McMike
11/17/2015 at 11:15 |
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Responded to your comment about the plates with my edit. Virginia plates are a bit confusing, but I hope my explanation clears it up.
I think the current owners know exactly the situation. Possibly they may even be the people who brought it over in the first place...
The Benz dealer will service it! They can order parts for it and everything. They probably think it’s weird, but I promise it’s not the only foreign-market Benz they service... I saw an A-Class in DC last year (on legitimate diplomatic plates).
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McMike
> Doug DeMuro
11/17/2015 at 11:23 |
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Well shit, that was a huge dump of VA license plate knowledge.
That’s a really confusing way of sequencing 7 character plates. You would think they would just run out the 6 character with XXX-999, then start over with AAA-0001.
I hope the DMV can at least keep it straight.
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Doug DeMuro
> McMike
11/17/2015 at 13:33 |
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They wanted to do that. But what happened was, by the time they hit ZZZ-999 on the six-digit plates, they had already started issuing these, which started at AAA-0001. For some reason they then felt the only reasonable option was to count backwards...
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McMike
> Doug DeMuro
11/17/2015 at 14:09 |
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Good info, thanks.
Is VA noteworthy because of this, or do you have info on every state’s sequencing tucked away in you head?