Is the year shown in reports reliable as year of manufacture?

For motor vehicles registered before 1 January 2007 "vehicle year" means the year of manufacture or the model year or the year of first registration. For vehicles registered on or after 1 January 2007 "vehicle year" means year of first registration.

For some types of vehicles the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) , shown in our lowest priced Basic report, can be used as a guide and the 10th digit represents the "Model Year". This however is not always entirely reliable either as different manufacturers in different regions can sometimes use a different encoding in the VIN including vehicles imported from Japan before 1999 for which the VIN usually begins "7A8" as stamped by the NZTA at that time.

A physical inspection or pre-purchase will often determine the actual year of manufacture from additional build data in various places on a vehicle.