Toyota Owners Site - Invalid VIN?

[dstewart3ss]

I'm looking at purchasing a 2013 LC 200. Went on Toyota Owners website, typed in VIN, says it's "Invalid VIN for the Brand". Anyone experience this?
I've checked that I typed it in right a bazillion times, have verified the VIN is legit on the truck itself and the carfax.
I'm very confused......

 

[Kinnada]

is there a scan function for the vin barcode rather than typing in all the letters and numbers? you may want to try that

 

[dstewart3ss]

There is but I don’t have the car with me anymore. Maybe I can get a picture of the VIN from the owner and act like I’m actually scanning it. We’ll see who’s smarter

 

[Sandroad]

Sometimes things like that get stuck, so to speak, on an initial invalid entry due to cookies or cached data. Try deleting all website cookies and history and cached data, then do a complete off/on restart of whatever device you’re using. After restart, be super careful on the first try to make sure you get the vin right.

 

[dstewart3ss]

Sometimes things like that get stuck, so to speak, on an initial invalid entry due to cookies or cached data. Try deleting all website cookies and history and cached data, then do a complete off/on restart of whatever device you’re using. After restart, be super careful on the first try to make sure you get the vin right.

Great suggestion, hadn't thought of this. Gave it a try. No luck - UGH.

 

[KLF]

I had a similar problem last week with a '15 Tacoma that I'm probably buying. Entered the VIN, it told me it was invalid. But when I logged in the next day to try a different one, the truck was there in my Vehicles list, fully searchable.

 

[dstewart3ss]

I had a similar problem last week with a '15 Tacoma that I'm probably buying. Entered the VIN, it told me it was invalid. But when I logged in the next day to try a different one, the truck was there in my Vehicles list, fully searchable.

That’s interesting. Was hoping I would experience the same today but no such luck. Were you accessing it from a mobile device or computer? I’ve tried it on both and the same result. Below is a screenshot of the page I navigate to.

 

[sdnative]

Are you sure it's the correct VIN? Should the "2" be a "1"? I.e. change the AJ2D to AJ1D?

I don't know what this digit represents but my 2013 has a 1 in that position.

 

[KLF]

That’s interesting. Was hoping I would experience the same today but no such luck. Were you accessing it from a mobile device or computer? I’ve tried it on both and the same result. Below is a screenshot of the page I navigate to.

View attachment 3958610

I was using a laptop Windows computer.

Another oddity: there are a lot of entries in the service records, apparently the PO always had it serviced at the dealer and there are entries showing they changed stuff like the diff and t-case fluids, flushed the trans, etc. Very detailed. But, when I try to download or print the records, each record only says "Serviced", none of the details. So now I gotta go through and transcribe it all into an Excel sheet manually. Weird.

 

[dstewart3ss]

Are you sure it's the correct VIN? Should the "2" be a "1"? I.e. change the AJ2D to AJ1D?

I don't know what this digit represents but my 2013 has a 1 in that position.

Yeah it’s a 2. Matches the full VIN on the carfax too.

 

[KLF]

Position 9 in a VIN is called the "Check Digit". It's a calculated number based on the rest of the VIN. There are several Check Digit calculators on the Web, maybe check that it's correct.

Check Digit Calculator Check Digit Calculator - https://share.google/PDrycTFF7vfETkPX6

 

[studawg]

Ive had problems with the Toyota owners website for years. It is really finicky and unreliable. As the other commenter mentioned, it will look like its not working, but then show up in your saved vehicles. Logging out and back in sometimes works, clearing cache, etc... Sometimes I think there are certain browsers that it doesnt like.

 

[gaijin]

Yeah it’s a 2. Matches the full VIN on the carfax too.

View attachment 3958758

Oops...

FWIW,

HTH

 

[Sandroad]

Well... something seems to be funny. DOT translates that VIN to a 2013 Lexus:

View attachment 3958897

FWIW,

HTH

It looks like a couple letters are transposed in your lookup

 

[dstewart3ss]

Yeah you got a few letters wrong. Update: I downloaded the mobile app. Logged in and it let me add the vehicle! Interestingly I also got the carfax this morning and the vehicle was originally bought in Puerto Rico and stayed there until late 2024. Maybe this had something to do with the VIN issue? Either way, I was able to get it to pull up using the Toyota mobile app on my iPhone.

 

[dudemancool1904]

Vin checks out on NHTSA vin checker