Wrong year of car

[Velghosta]

Jurisdiction

West Virginia

I purchased a "2014 Chevy Impala limited" 7 months ago. It's a nice car and rides good. Had a little over 29,000 miles on it. Have had some problems but so far nothing major. Doing online searches to find parts, but I could hardly find anything. Images came up as a completely different car than mine. It was a "Chevy Impala", but looked nothing like what I'm driving. So, a couple days ago I decided to search it again but only changing the year, which was to "2013". Now I know why I couldn't find what I needed, because my car is not a "2014 Chevy Impala". It's a "2013" and all my information has "2014. I've never had this happen before, so I'm not sure what to do about it. What kind of problem is this for me? Is it a problem I need to address?

 

[army judge]

I'm not sure what to do about it.

What kind of problem is this for me? Is it a problem I need to address?

Yes, this will probably be of some concern, sooner or later.

I'm surprised that no one caught this before you discovered it.

Your insurance company should have spotted the issue when you gave them your VIN (and other details) to write the policy.

If your car is being financed, the lender should have spotted the issue when reviewing the "deal documents.

Finally, your state's auto licensing agency should have alerted to an issue when you registered the vehicle.

Odd, very odd, indeed.

Its NOT unheard of, however.

Okay, sometime on Tuesday, call the dealership and ask what's up with the unusual VIN.

Oh snap, you bought the car from a private "scammer", err "seller, right? LOL

You paid in cash, and someone gave you keys and papers, right?

Maybe your WV DMV can help you sort this out?

You can call WV-DMV at: 800-642-9066 or 304-558-3900

One more thing, here is on of many online VIN decoders:
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VIN decoder is the best online tool to check vin number | VinDecoderz.com
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Here are a few 2014 Chev Impala VINS:

2G1WB5E38E1164704
2G1WC5E30E1132147
2G1WC5E30E1177962

Use them to learn how to verify a vehicle using the VIN.
Then, try it with your VIN.
Let us know what you discover.
Your problem has me very curious.

 

[adjusterjack]

The 10th digit of the VIN is the year code.

In Army Judge's examples that code is E for 2014.

For 2013 the code is D.

Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN codes)/Model year - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

Check the VIN on your title with the VIN on the car and see if they match. Those are the two that count.

If they don't match, go to the DMV first and find out what has to be done.

If the VIN on the title matches the VIN on the car but your paperwork (bill of sale, purchase contract, advertisement) says different then you probably paid a higher price for the car than you should have. But if you failed to check the paperwork against the car I don't see you having anywhere to go with that.