Modern Vespa

Evening. Just brought my Vespa back from Australia and trying to register in the UK. The DVLA have asked me to confirm the year of manufacture as they wont accept the equivalent of the V5 from Australia 🙄.. can anyone help in where or who I contact to find this or is this stamped on the Vespa anywhere's ...

I'm in Aus and have no idea what a V5 is - are you sure it's an Aus thing? Or does you Prima have 5 cylinders?

I would have thought they could workout the year from the VIN? Insurance paperwork and rego papers have year of manufacture.

Your local dealer will be able to tell you from the VIN.

The UK V5C ["log book"] is the equivalent of a registration document elsewhere. It names the registered keeper, but NOT the owner, and all the other details of the vehicle. No such thing as a 'title' document exists, so owners are advised to keep signed-by-both-parties records of purchase/sale. Almost no-one does though, as nearly everyone just treats the V5 as the same thing (but it ain't). The registered keeper is responsible for all legalities w.r.t. the vehicle, such as taxation, insurance, speeding tickets, bus lane violations etc.

The separation of keeper and owner is deliberate - it enables the issue of company cars etc.

According to this website you can find the "model year".
But it doesn't say "year of manufacture" and they are not always the same.

The following group of eight elements (10-17) is the vehicle identifier section.

In the 10th position, you'll see a letter indicating the model year. The letters from B to Y correspond to the model years 1981 to 2000. The VIN does not use I, O, Q, U or Z. From 2001 to 2009, the numbers 1 through 9 were used in place of letters. The alphabet started over from A in 2010 and will continue until 2030.

Yes, it's a bit confusing. Here are the model years since 2000: Y=2000, 1='01, 2='02, 3='03, 4='04, 5='05, 6='06, 7='07, 8='08, 9='09, A='10, B='11, C='12, D='13, E='14, F='15, G='16, H='17, J='18, K='19, L='20, M='21, N='22, P='23, R='24, S='25.

https://www.edmunds.com/how-to/how-to-quickly-decode-your-vin.html

^^^^

Completely true only in North America.

VIN code regulations vary with jurisdiction - though they are tending to agreement.

Check the badge on the inside (remove pet carrier). This encodes the serial number and exakt production date on a QR code. At least this works for European vehicles, I don't know whether this sticker is also available in vehicles intended for other markets...

Not on my Australia Supertech

Vespa Club of Britain do provide dating certificates, which are approved by the DVLA.

I know these usually relate to historic Vespas, but might be worth a shot if they won't accept your existing documents.

Official Documents can be ordered via "Vespa Vintage": https://www.vespa.com/en_EN/vespa-vintage/
https://service.piaggiogroup.com/Vintage/richdetail.asp?L=EN&B=Piaggio

Yikes

Every manufacturer charges money for this, nothing unusual (and in the case of Vedpa not even very expensive...).

If you google the service for replacement documents, you will even find dozens of providers on the first few pages who offer the "service" of ordering the documents on their site... and then filling out the manufacturer's form in the background and forwarding some of the money collected...

If you want to be ripped off, you have plenty of options...

Vespa Club of Britain is only £11, but you have to be a member (which is £20 but includes badges, stickers and a bi-monthly magazine for a year).

https://vespaclub.uk/dating-certificates/

The VIN of my 2012 BV 300 does not contain the year of manufacture.

It is ZAPM69200000*****:
- ZA for Italy
- P for Piaggio
- M692 for the type
- then 5 zero's
- then the 5 digit serial number

It's an American thing - the 'Model Year' seems very important over here. <shrug>

Think of it in the same terms as the UK tax year. It's not aligned to the calendar year, but it's the boundary that actually matters the most.

my 2019 in Australia does have the year letter which matches year of *manufacture* (think marketing said model year was the next but ...)

RP8M45715KV0xxxxx