Friday, April 10, 2009

How To Determine The Year of Manufacturing of Your Toyota Alphard

So you have taken the first step and walked into the dealer premises. Looking at all the units on display and the price tag which state the year and the price, how do you tell which year is that unit manufactured in?

Over here, the Toyota Alphard is not available as a new car from the official Toyota distributor. Almost all unit available for sale here are fully imported used car. By that I mean the car has been registered and used in Japan. The owner than sold the car to a used car dealer who in turn sell it oversea. The parallel importer will import these cars into our market and distribute these cars to the local used car dealers.

The used car dealer will normally advistise these car as "unregistered" unit and sell at the premium they set. Different dealer will sell these cars differently depending on the year of manufacture of the car. Some will offer to display all the details of the car together with the price while other will tend to hide some of the details and try to sell the car at a higher price from what it really worth.

So what can a potential buyer do to find out what year is that unit manufactured in?

1. Check out the chassis number of the car to ensure that the year of manufacture of the car is what the dealer claim to be.

If the car is a pre-facelifted model, look for the chassis number at the left side of the car bulk head and copy it down. Look at the photo below for the location of the chassis number on pre-facelifted model.

Toyota Alphard PFL Chassis Number
If the unit is a new facelifted model (NFL), it is hidden behind the engine bulkhead. You'll have to open the plastic cover as shown in the photo below (the red square I marked) and look inside. You'll may need a torchlight to see the chassis number if it is rather dark.

Toyota Alphard NFL Chassis Number Once you have copied the chassis number, input the chassis number into the input box on this page:

http://www.japan-partner.com/check-manufacture-year.php

and it will tell you which year this car is manufactured? This is the first step to verify that the car is manufactured in that year. I have tried a few chassis numbers including mine and it is proven to be very accurate.

2. Check out the seat belt label attached to any of the seat belt. It usually state the year this car is assembled. Look for a label as shown in the photo below and check out the year.

Toyota Alphard Seat Belt Label
However a lot of dealer has the practice of cutting off the label so you might not find it anymore in the unit you look at so you have to go for the 3rd option. If the label is cut, then you'll have to exercise caution and should at least follow step 1 above.

3. If you can't find the seat belt label and don't have the means to check the chassis number on the spot, the next option is to look at the toolbox cover. At the left side of the boot, there is a plastic toolbox cover. See this photo for the location of the toolbox cover.

Toyota Alphard Toolbox Cover
Remove that toolbox cover, flip it over you will find some dots in a table layout. The left column shows the year, the top row shows the month while the dots in the cell shows the week. Therefore you can tell from the imprint which week in which month in which year that it is manufactured. In the photo below, it shows that this unit is manufactured on the 1st week of July 2005.

Toyota Alphard Manufacture Info
During my search for my giant, I realized a lot of dealers doesn't know about this little "secret" until I show it to them. Do realized that some unscrupulous dealer might swap the toolbox cover (very rare since they are also not aware of this fact) so do check out item 1 and 2 first before you rely on the toolbox cover for the age of the car.

If you cannot use any of the option above to ascertain the year of the car, my advise is to walk away, and find another unit that does.

So far my experience tell me that the chassis number is the best way to verify the year of the car. If you can verify the year on the seat belt it is also very accurate. The toolbox cover date is also very accurate unless the dealer did a swap.

Why it is important to ascertain the year of the car?

Due to the way Approve Permit (AP) work in this country, imported cars cannot exceed 5 years from the date of manufacture. For example, any car imported this year (2009) must be at least manufactured in 2004 and above. Because some cars maybe manufactured in end 2003 and registered in 2004 in Japan. When it is sold oversea, the dealer using the AP will have to pay the duty for year 2004 and yet the car will have the year 2003 printed everywhere. So effectively you might be paying the price of a year 2004 car when in reality it is a year 2003 car.

I have actually seen several units that is manufactured in 2002 but sold as 2004 model by one dealer. Buyer of these cars will lose out on the second hand value when they want to let go of their car in future.

In the next blog, I will briefly cover how to identify a pre-facelifted and facelifted model.

Edit: I have also since found out that on NFL model, the chassis number is also printed on a face-plate on the left column of the passenger door. Below is a faceplate of the chassis number on a NFL model. The chassis number is the alphanumeral starting with ANH10 (MNH10 for 3.0L model). It also shows the engine variant (2AZ-FE) which is a 2.4L model, with U241E transmission and 2-wheel drive (02A). The colour of the car is white (042), trim (FB03) and manufactured in plant C32. I hope to find out more about the trim number.

Toyota Alphard Chassis Label

16 comments:

  1. Very good description, thank you. Now i know how to check manu year.

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  2. You are welcome. Hope this help in your search.

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  3. hai.I m thinking of owning Alphard. budget around 200k, 8 seaters, and preferably black. Can u help me? azam

    norazamsabari@yahoo.com

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  4. Thanks, I'll check with my dealer and see if they have any stocks that suit your budget.

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  5. Hi, this is KC.

    I have just deposited 3k to dealer which offer me a Alphard registered in year 2005,
    but after checking he chassis number by using your method, the actual manufacturing date is May 2004.

    So, what does it mean?
    Am I being cheated?
    What would happen if the car I bought is exceed more than 5 years from the date of manufacture?

    Thank you for sharing.

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  6. Hi KC,

    Just to be sure that you are saying that you are going to buy a "registered" car? If so then the car would have been brought in 2005 so it is likely that the car is manufactured before 2005.

    If your question is that the dealer claim that this "unregistered" car is manufactured in 2005 but then you found out that it is actually a 2004 car. In that case, you should go back to the dealer and asked for a refund!

    Well if you are buying a "registered car, meaning this is a 2nd hand car, then the year of manufacture doesn't matter anymore. Just make sure that the seller give you a copy of the original AP that is used for this car.

    Hope this help

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  7. Sorry, what I meant is the car was manufactured in May 2004, and registered at Japan in 2005. Now the car is selling as unregistered unit in Malaysia.

    So, what does it mean?
    Am I being cheated?
    What would happen if the car I bought is exceed more than 5 years from the date of manufacture?

    Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  8. For JPJ registration, they will use the manufacture year so effectively if you buy this car you are getting a 2004 car which means it is already five years old from registration standpoints.

    If you want a 2005 unit, then you should negotiate with your dealer on the price for this unit or to ask him to source you a 2005 unit.

    For now this car is still within 5 years of the tenure of the AP system. However in 3 weeks time the car would exceed that. I guess that's the reason why the dealer want to push this car out as fast as he can.

    You'll need to decide if you want this car or you want another unit, either from the same dealer or another.

    Cheers

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  9. i want to remove the chassis fromwww.japan-partner.com/check-manufacture-year.php
    is it possible ?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi,

    I don't think this is possible as we don't have any affiliation with that website. They provide those information to the public to help other to determine the year of manufacture. Not sure why you want to remove the chassis number from that site.

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Nighto, great blog you have here. I am hunting for an alphard and I have a situation here on determining the year of manufactured. I have checked the chassis number from the web site you mentioned, http://www.japan-partner.com/check-manufacture-year.php. It came back as January 2006. However the seat belt label and the toolbox cover both indicated 2005!!. So is it 2005 or 2006 manufactured?? Appreciate your advice. Thanks

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  12. Hi,

    I would consider this as a 2005 model based on the seat belt label and toolbox cover. However this car is register in early 2006 hence it is listed in the website has 2006.

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Nighto, Thanks for your feedback. The car is actually registered in May 2006 as the dealer showed me some documentations originating from Japan. From the japan partners website, it also states this information on the year of manufactured,
    "Basic rule for 'first year of registration' it is in many cases not the same month as your vehicle month of manufacture. For popular models, it is usually 1-2 months after the car was manufactured. Let's say the month of the first registration for your 'Toyota Land Cruiser Prado' is July, 1997 in this case it is likely that the actual month of manufacture for this car is JUNE or MAY, 1997. For models which turned out not too be popular in Japan, the difference in manufacture month and the first registration month can be even longer than that."

    So the question is the Alphard considered a popular models in Japan, which if it is then it could well be manufactured in Jan 2006. What do you think?

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  14. Hi,

    I agree with your assessement but I usually follow what's the car is telling me. I will take the seat belt and toolbox cover to give me a hint. If I want a 2006 model I will make sure both of them tell me so.

    I guess you have to decide on your own if this is the unit for you.

    Cheers

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  15. Hiii. I bought an Alphard Van in Japan but i dd not recieve the vehicle documents so is it possible me to buy an accident Alphard and change the chassis and take licences??????
    Pls rpy im waiting.

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  16. Hi Manazir,

    I doubt they will do this in Japan so it is very unlikely. However you can check the car chassis to check for any sign of impact due to accident. Check the bulk head for any sign of seal broken etc. Check the undercarriage to see if there is any welding that is done recently.

    Hope this help

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