Hi everyone.

Took my transit for it's MOT today and they refused to test it as the VIN plate has gone missing. Who knows where it has gone but it wasn't where it should be which is above the passenger side step. I'm guessing a clumsy passenger kicked it off somehow whilst getting in the van?

I asked what I should do and they basically told me to buy a plate and then stamp it myself. Is this correct?

I put my reg number into etis.ford.com and it came up with all the correct details and I have the VIN details on the logbook.

My questions are...

Where can I buy a VIN plate? Seen on ebay but would need to stamp myself and I'm not sure what info I would need to stamp on there? Is this legal? The ones on ebay seem to be for trailers rather than vans/cars.

The VIN should also be stamped into the metal above the step on the drivers side (according to google) but this has been repaired before I bought the van due to rust and doesnt appear to be there.

Any help very much appreciated as I need my van!

Buy a Dutton and transfer the vin plate from that. Its what everyone else does

Yep, just stamp your VIN on a small plate and attach it to the car. It should really be attached such that it can't be removed (let alone be kicked off), but if that's all that's stopping the MOT then a couple of rivets will suffice.

I believe it's just the VIN for identification that you need, all the other info is already on the DVLA system.

[Edited on 5/8/15 by Slimy38]

Don't want to make it worse but if there's no vin number on the van how do you know it's not a ringer ?

The weights are also needed to tell whether it is a class 4 or 7.
Ford may supply a replacement, getting them to do so may be tricky, they might need to have the vehicle, your v5 etc.

Try http://www.vin-plate.co.uk/ for a blank plate that you can stamp up yourself, i think they may also engrave it for you.
Or find someone who makes trophy plaques, and get them to make an engraved plate for you with all the relevant details.
A minimum of VIN , GVW & GTW should be acceptable, with maximum axle weights as optional fields.

So long as you have previous mot's from the point you have owned it, there should be no issue with the actual id of the vehicle, corrosion on a transit isnt a new thing!

Dave

Years ago we had a car nicked and ringed but got it back within 24 hours but minus the VIN plate. I had a local engraver knock up another one which I attached to the car. No problem with MOT. 5 years later I came to sell it and noticed the engraver had transposed 2 numbers and it had the wrong VIN. I guess this was pre computer based test so I might have had a problem if it was now. In those days the fact there was something there was good enough for the MOT Tester even though it was obviously not original.