Rv wrong year on paperwork VRs vin

[Hank111]

I purchased a 2025 ram Jayco comet last week or so I thought , as when I ran the vin number it comes up as a 2023, I have a loan at bank that the paperwork says it’s a 2025 along with warranty paperwork, what are my options??? I called the Ram rep and they said it’s a 2023 according to the vin number as well

[NXR]

The legal model year is assigned by the final vehicle builder, in this case Jayco. That is noted on the Certificate of Origin, a legal document that gets turned into the DMV to create the very first title.

The VIN and the actual RV model year not matching is very common with motorhomes because the RV manufacturers stockpile a number of chassis that could be from a different model year.

There are no "options" needed if the title, the loan, and the insurance policies all say 2025. RAM did not build the final vehicle, just the chassis. But when looking for chassis parts you'll use 2023.

Ray

[azpete]

this happened back in 1979 thru 1982. some chassis were 1978 on a 1981 coach. yes, the finalbuilder assigns the year on the title. that was a real can of worms, but once you are aware of it, you can at least get the right parts.
the banks didnt pay much attention to this. we sold a lot of coaches that had that situation. i used to own a part of a winnebago dealership in rockford il until 1997. so i dealt with the problem first hand. i tried retirement and hated it, so i started work with hwh.
paul maddox
i work full time for hwh corp. i do not solicit part sales or service work on this forum.

[boiledowl]

Also your Ram warranty wont go into effect until it is sold to a customer ie: you

[glwinger]

This also happened in early in 2007 with some Chevy Silverado's. Chevy changed the body style in 2006, but also had what they called a 2007 "Classic".
It had the 2006 body but sold as a 2007. It seems they had factory leftover 2006's, but sold them as 2007's.

A friend at work had one. Title showed 2007, but running the VIN showed 2006.

[Country Road]

Whether there is a reason why Jayco did it or not, it isn’t good business, in my unworthy opinion, to sell it as a 2025 model.

What it will do is create doubt in the mind of a potential future buyer and perhaps make it worth less.

[chrlydonsrf]

Sometimes it just is what it is. It's unlikely a buyer is going to have second thoughts when they understand it's common industry practice to assign year model to when the house, not chassis, was built. My Jayco is a 2016 on a 2015 chassis, so the veh. id shows it as 2015, but year model is 2016

[d23haynes57]

For Diesel motorhomes it gets even worse where the engine can be a year or two older than the chassis which can be a year or two older than the finished coach.

[NXR]

Originally Posted by Country Road

Whether there is a reason why Jayco did it or not, it isn’t good business, in my unworthy opinion, to sell it as a 2025 model.

What it will do is create doubt in the mind of a potential future buyer and perhaps make it worth less.

"it" is determined by the final vehicle builder, not the chassis builder. Forest River stocked up on a bunch of their Super C chassis when they saw the shortages, and the lead times, during the pandemic. That factory rep said that they were producing the motorhomes with the actual chassis price factored in and that the prices were about to jump a lot because they were getting low on the stockpile.

Ray

[NXR]

Originally Posted by chrlydonsrf

Sometimes it just is what it is. It's unlikely a buyer is going to have second thoughts when they understand it's common industry practice to assign year model to when the house, not chassis, was built. My Jayco is a 2016 on a 2015 chassis, so the veh. id shows it as 2015, but year model is 2016

Technically, it's a law and not a "common industry practice". The OP was lucky that theirs was actually titled as a 2025 and not a 2023.


I went through four incorrect titles on our new 2020 Georgetown GT5 with a 2019 chassis before the fifth one was successful:

1. "Ray" was used on the first title instead of "Raymond". The VIN was missing a zero, which nobody noticed. The Title Bureau also marked the title as TT instead MH but nobody noticed. Back to the dealer for a new title with my legal name.


2. Second title issued. Name changed to "Raymond" but year and model were changed to a 2019 Ford when it was a 2020 Forest River Georgetown on the first title.

Back to the dealer for a third title but dealer argued that they always title them that way. I argued that the first title was correct so that was not possibly true. She then checked several on their lot and found some were titled one way and some the other. I told her the 2019 would be a problem for insurance and for resale.


3. Third title issued as a 2020 Forest River Georgetown again.

Turned out the previous DMV employee was inexperienced and needed to do a "manual override" on motorhomes but they saw so few of them that the employee did not know.

Tried to get plates. The DMV person patiently explained that a Motor Home is one you drive and a Travel Trailer is one you tow and I did not need motorhome plates. I chuckled and told her that since I sat up front and drove it, I was pretty sure it was a motorhome. Back to the dealer for a new title. (This was when it was found the dealer's chosen title bureau used code "TT" instead of code "MH" on the first title.)


4. Fourth title issued as an MH and that's when I noticed the VIN was invalid because it was missing a number. The VIN was wrong on all previous titles as well (yes, I kept copies). But the DMV thought it was valid even though it did not match up as a valid format. Back to the dealer, who was really tired of seeing me.

I reminded the dealer that their chosen Title Bureau was the one screwing up AND that their Title Bureau sent every title to the dealer, who then forwarded it on to me without ever bothering to look at it.


5. Fifth title issued and finally all was well. 45 day temporary tag was a few days from expiring.

I asked the dealer for the Certificate of Origin and they said Ohio required that they surrender it for a title, and they did not keep a copy. But she was able to login to the State and download a copy for me.


My insurance company also rated the motorhome as a 2019 and not a 2020 because they also used the VIN, just like a car. The difference was just $40 a year but if the motorhome got totaled then having it insured as a 2019 instead of a 2020 would have reduced our insurance payment. I noticed that when I got the policy. That one was pretty easy to get fixed.

Moral of the story: CHECK EVERYTHING on the title and insurance!

Ray

[NXR]

Originally Posted by boiledowl

Also your Ram warranty wont go into effect until it is sold to a customer ie: you

True, however that relies on the RV dealer submitting the proper paperwork to the chassis manufacturer. If they did not, and a lot seemingly do not, the chassis manufacturer relies on the original VIN.

I know of two people that happened to and Ford had the warranty marked as expired when it wasn't. One time it took fighting with the dealer to get them to do their job. The other time the owner said the Ford dealership sighed and asked for a copy of their title. The Ford dealer was able to get it fixed in a few days so the repairs could continue.

Being aware of that possibility, I created an account with Ford for my F53 VIN at: https://www.ford.com/myaccount/

Yup, the RV dealership never updated the "sold" date with Ford but I was able to get it fixed before I needed Ford warranty work.

Good point.

Ray

[Country Road]

I agree with those who say 2025 is correct as long as the title says 2025. I wouldn’t have concern with when the components were manufactured.

[Hank111]

Thank you

[Paul_D]

I have a 2018 Freedom Elite, built on a 2016 Sprinter chassis.

The title listed it as a 2018 Freedom Elite. The registration was 2018 FE. The insurance company uses the VIN and it automatically populates as a 2016 Sprinter. No issues until initial registration is expiring and state issues warning notice that registration renewal is blocked .

Fortunately the insurance agent is very experienced with RV's and creates a exception submission to the state, and registration is renewed.

The one advantage of using the VIN for EZPass - it was tolled as a regular van, vice the over 7,000 lbs vehicle. That only lasted for the first year. Eventually EZPass must have received the registration information from the DMV.