Toyota Yaris VIN Number Location

If you need to find the VIN number of your Toyota Yaris (1999 - 2005) it can be slightly confusing. On some models the number can be located on the lower part of windscreen, which is visible when looking at the bottom of the windscreen from the outside of the car.

Or it can be engraved on a chunk of metal directly above the engine. This post is not about these two locations.

The third location for the VIN is on a little metal plate located under the bonnet (Hood) on the drivers side. Pictured below. This is the location I want to talk about today.

Toyota Yaris SR Year 2000 VIN Number Location

Vehicle I.D Number Is The VIN. Not the model number. Picture Credit: http://www.toyota.com.au/

I recently bought a Toyota Yaris SR (Year 2000) that didn't come with a V5C. As you may know, in order to get a new V5C you need to fill out a slip together with a postal order for around £25 and sent it off to the DVLA. I done all that was required then waited for the V5C to arrive in my name. After a few weeks I had a letter from the DVLA telling me that they needed the VIN number and car details like make and model to process the V5C request. I thought to myself, Ive already done this.

But it wasn't until I looked at the metal plate again which holds the VIN number, along side other numbers and codes, like model number etc, that I realised I had sent them the wrong number. I sent them the model number! I thought that was the VIN number. It's an easy mistake to make, I think. Anyway, I re-sent them the correct details and am now waiting for the V5C to arrive, but have had a letter telling me it's on the way so it's all good. So the reason for this post was to show what number the VIN actually is on the plate because I suspect that anyone else who's not too clued up about VIN numbers can easily make the same mistake.

So if you need to send the DVLA your Toyota Yaris VIN number for any reason and it's located on a metal plate under the bonnet (Hood) on the drivers side this is the right number to send, The 17 digit Vehicle I.D Number as pictured above. I wished I'd have known this before I sent mine off. Luckily I still had a long amount of tax left on the vehicle so it wasn't too much of a problem.

But if you have short tax on your Yaris and you make the mistake of sending the DVLA the wrong VIN number it takes a long time for them to contact you in order for you to re-send them the right number. Something to consider if you need to tax your car in a hurry. If you have no V5C you can't tax your car.

If you can't find your VIN number at the location talked about here just look for it at the other two locations mentioned above. The lower part of windscreen, which is visible when looking at the bottom of the windscreen from the outside of the car. Or engraved on a chunk of metal directly above the engine. And just remember when checking those locations that it's the 17 digit model number, as shown on the image above above that you need to make a note of.

Ford KA Car Scrap Value 2013 More Money

Ford KA cars make great little run arounds. I used to have one myself. They are cheap to buy, cheap to run, and cheap to maintain. Great on insurance being group 2. Had mine for about a year and in that time nothing went wrong with it. When I say nothing I mean it started first time every time and I never had no trouble from the engine. These are the two most important things for me.

The car wasn't without it's little problems like needing a heater valve replacement, which I done myself, and the car had a coolant leak in the engine which meant it went through coolant a lot quicker than a KA without a leak!

The car also needed a fair amount of work doing for it's MOT, which was due to expire within a few weeks. Couple that with the body rust and it's safe to say that when selling this car it would be for scrap or spares or repairs only.

So the time came when I needed to get rid of the car. I wasn't going to pump a load of money into this car, it wasn't worth it. With the amount of money it would take I may as well just buy another run around. OK, so what's the scrap value of a Ford KA. From my research the price range is around £75 - £120 (2013) depending on where you go and whether you drop the car off to them or not.

If they have to come and collect the car because it's not drivable, or has no MOT etc they will give you less money going on how far they have to travel. However, there are a few places that also deal with Salvage and Recovery that will give you a bit more for your Ford KA. I was offered £135 for mine which still had short tax and MOT.

But it wasn't until I checked out some other avenues that I seen that you can get more for your Ford KA than the scrap value. First off eBay. Have you checked out eBay's auctions for Ford KA's being sold for spares or repairs..Most actually sell for a decent price. I was surprised after adding some running auctions to my eBay watch list with what they actually sold for. Regularly around £200. In most of the auctions I watched they sold for closer to £250. Obviously eBay has it's bad points.

One being the fee's to sell a car. To sell a Ford KA on eBay, spares or repairs or not, it will cost you £30. £10 to list the car and £20 if it sells. This is a bit of a rip off to be honest because you could put the car on Autotrader for 2 weeks for £10. Saying that, A car being sold as spares or repairs on eBay with a low starting price does have a better chance of selling if compared to Autotrader. One other negative aspect with eBay is time wasters, but I suppose that applies when selling a car using any method, not just eBay.

The best way to sell your Ford KA, for free, in my opinion is Gumtree. This is where I sold my Ford KA. A good thing about Gumtree is it's split into locations. Like Gumtree London. Gumtree Birmingham etc. A bit like Craigslist. This is good because you get to target potential buyers that are close by. This is where eBay can be annoying. Lets say you are in Manchester and you have put your Ford KA on eBay. The winning bidder is from Birmingham and can't get down to collect the car until the weekend. By the weekend they have changed there mind and no longer want to go though with the sale. This is a common problem when selling a car on eBay.

With Gumtree it's much better. And it's free. And it gets looked at a lot in your specific area, so you have a really good chance of selling your car locally. I sold my Ford KA on Gumtree for £230. A good result, and a lot more money in my pocket than what I would have got if I sold it for it's scrap value. It did make me think though, why would someone pay that much money for a car that needs a lot of work doing. I suspect it's someone that may need spare parts or someone who knows how to fix cars and is confident that they can get it sorted for cheap and either sell the car on or keep it to use as a run around.

BMW Snapped Timing Chain 07 - 09 Fault

Well this isn't something you expect to encounter when buying an expensive car from a top car manufacturer. Also with the affected cars being within the years 2007 - 2009 you'd expect that they would have a lot of life left in them. There has been numerous cases of the timing chain snapping and causing major engine damage. The damage is so severe when the timing chain snaps that the only fixes are either a full engine rebuild or buying a new or used engine.

You may get away with just replacing the timing chain (£500+) if the car was driving slowly, like in slow moving traffic and then pulled to the side of the road as soon as the problem arose, but in reality this is a rare occurrence. In most cases the more expensive fixes will be needed.

We are talking serious money here. Like £1000 - £7,500 depending on what model and what fix you choose to go for out of the available options. As you might have guessed people who know about this problem that own BMW's within these years are quickly putting their cars up for sale hoping to get a quick purchase from an unsuspecting buyer and just moving on to something else, most definitely not another BMW. The affected models are the 2007 - 2009 1-Series, 3-Series and 5-Series that have the N47 Engine. So be aware of this problem if your thinking of treating yourself to a nice BMW.

 

A Friends BMW M Coupe that was quickly traded in for an Audi A5

In some cases BMW have agreed to pay some of the money to fix a car in which the timing chain had snapped, but only if the car has full BMW service history. But don't hold your breath as each case is looked at as completely separate, and it's at BMW's discretion as to whether they contribute to repair costs or not. So if you are interested in buying a BMW with an N47 Engine and the price is too low for you to walk away from make sure it has full BMW service history at the very least.

If the worst does happen then you may get some financial assistance from BMW to fix the damage. But, is it really worth all the bother? I mean, you can buy an Audi A5, Audi A4, or Audi A3 for around the same money. Fair enough, Audi's aren't perfect but with such a costly potential repair on the mentioned models of BMW's it would be wise to steer clear for a while.