Chassis build versus motorhome build

[Mawgan]

Hi there, I bought an advertised 1998 Georgie Boy in California and brought it back to New York. I took the paperwork to the DMV and they noticed the title says 1997 and the vehicle transfer document said 1998. They would not register the vehicle until both documents stated the same year. I checked on car fax and indeed the chassis is 1997. This dealer says this is normal. The chassis is built and then a year later the motorhome is built on the chassis. This begs the question. Did I buy a 1997 or a 1998 motorhome? Also is this normal? Secondly how do I get past the issue of the conflicting dates on the paperwork? Any members faced this before?

[Dutch_12078]

Bumpyroad wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:


No disagreement, Bumpy, I just think she was a ways off on her "2003 or so" guess of the year.

well when I asked her what it was, she did look at her sheets of paper and told me the year. I doubt that the company would list a 1998 coach as a 2003 or 4 or whatever it was. the only point I am trying to make is that this discrepancy can be more than one year.
bumpy

Ok... I won't press the point. It's all good... 🙂

[Bumpyroad]

Dutch_12078 wrote:


No disagreement, Bumpy, I just think she was a ways off on her "2003 or so" guess of the year. s.

well when I asked her what it was, she did look at her sheets of paper and told me the year. I doubt that the company would list a 1998 coach as a 2003 or 4 or whatever it was. the only point I am trying to make is that this discrepancy can be more than one year.
bumpy

[tenspeedret360]

path1 wrote:
http://www.winnebagoind.com/resources/service/pdfs/2009-08%20Q%20&%20A's%20on%20Split%20Model%20Year...
Your hardest part will be finding someone that actually knows their job. Print this out and give it to them.

Excellent link! couldn't state it any clearer!

[dougrainer]

The LAST Dodge Class A chassis was 1979. There was a severe glut of Dodge Chassis back then. There were 1982 titled motorhomes with 1979 Dodge chassis. The CORRECT Year and Title date is the COACH Date, NEVER the chassis year. When the Motorhomes are manufactured, they issue a MSO (Manufacturer Statement of Origin). There is NEVER a title issued as that is a function of Government. The Dealer gets the MSO and once sold, it is given to the local Gov. office that issues Titles. The MSO WILL have the correct Year date for the Motorhome and will NOT be based on the Chassis year. MOST Gov Title people know how this is done, but you always run into untrained or ignorant people that do not take the time to do their job correctly. Then you have to jump threw hoops to get it corrected. Dealerships run into this all the time on used units. Doug

[Dutch_12078]

Bumpyroad wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:
I was looking at motor homes at the Foretravel dealer in TENN, Alcoa?, and saw a unit across the lot and the saleslady said it was a 2003 or so on a Ford chassis. I mentioned that the wheels looked awfully tiny for a 1999 or newer chassis and sure enough it had the 16 inch wheels. there were several years different between chassis and body. some yearly changes are important, some not.
bumpy

I suspect she was a bit off on the coach year on that one. The last 16" wheeled F53 chassis was the 1997 with the 460 V8 engine. The 1999's came with 19.5's and the Triton V10. There were no 1998 F53's.

yep. don't see where we disagree at all. it was built on a pre 1999 ford chassis with 16 inch wheels. but the model year of the motorhome was several years into the 1999 chassis vintage.
bumpy

No disagreement, Bumpy, I just think she was a ways off on her "2003 or so" guess of the year. More likely, it was no newer than a '99 coach model year, with a '98 being more likely. In that time period, it would have been highly unusual for a chassis to sit around more than a model year without going into production, two model years at the very outside. Even during the 2007/2008 down turn period, RV manufactures were selling off excess chassis inventory to other specialized vehicle manufacturers, rather than having them sitting around for extended times.

[Bumpyroad]

Dutch_12078 wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:
I was looking at motor homes at the Foretravel dealer in TENN, Alcoa?, and saw a unit across the lot and the saleslady said it was a 2003 or so on a Ford chassis. I mentioned that the wheels looked awfully tiny for a 1999 or newer chassis and sure enough it had the 16 inch wheels. there were several years different between chassis and body. some yearly changes are important, some not.
bumpy

I suspect she was a bit off on the coach year on that one. The last 16" wheeled F53 chassis was the 1997 with the 460 V8 engine. The 1999's came with 19.5's and the Triton V10. There were no 1998 F53's.

yep. don't see where we disagree at all. it was built on a pre 1999 ford chassis with 16 inch wheels. but the model year of the motorhome was several years into the 1999 chassis vintage.
bumpy

[Dutch_12078]

Bumpyroad wrote:
I was looking at motor homes at the Foretravel dealer in TENN, Alcoa?, and saw a unit across the lot and the saleslady said it was a 2003 or so on a Ford chassis. I mentioned that the wheels looked awfully tiny for a 1999 or newer chassis and sure enough it had the 16 inch wheels. there were several years different between chassis and body. some yearly changes are important, some not.
bumpy

I suspect she was a bit off on the coach year on that one. The last 16" wheeled F53 chassis was the 1997 with the 460 V8 engine. The 1999's came with 19.5's and the Triton V10. There were no 1998 F53's.

[Bumpyroad]

I was looking at motor homes at the Foretravel dealer in TENN, Alcoa?, and saw a unit across the lot and the saleslady said it was a 2003 or so on a Ford chassis. I mentioned that the wheels looked awfully tiny for a 1999 or newer chassis and sure enough it had the 16 inch wheels. there were several years different between chassis and body. some yearly changes are important, some not.
bumpy

[ferndaleflyer]

My title says Freight Liner and the year is one year older than the DP.....I could care less what its called because the sales tax was less as registered....May be able to haul some freight behind it!!!!!

[tatest]

You have to work your way through the employee chain to find someone who knows the rule, which for most states means use the model year of the motorhome, not the model year of the incomplete chassis.

Problem is not that they were built in different years, that is rarely the case. Most manufacturers do not leave parts inventory sitting out in the weather for months. The problem is RV manufacturers choice of model years, as they are somewhat exempt from DOT rules on this.

Chassis manufacturer can make 1997 MY chassis as early as October 96, can make it through December 97. Can't start 1998 MY until October 97. Georgie Boy starts making 1998 MY in March 1997, maybe some as early as January. So from March through October, every 1998 Georgie Boy is on a 1997 chassis, even if both chassis and completed vehicle were made in the same month.

Problem starts when someone uses the chassis VIN to register or title the vehicle. It also has a finished vehicle VIN that will be encoded with the model year of the finished vehicle. Use that VIN, there is no discrepancy. If a state requires use of the chassis VIN, they need to record both VINs. Not every clerk understands this. Some states may choose to be stubborn, then it is not even a motorhome, it is a Workhorse or Ford bare chassis that you are titling and licensing.

You eventually found the right clerk, I see, in a state that does the right thing. I had to bring the RV to the tag office so the tag office manager (no DMV involvement in Oklahoma) could come out to inspect the finished vehicle VIN.

[turbojimmy]

Mawgan wrote:
Thanks for all your responses. I went to a different DMV and it was a breeze. Only a half day wasted 🙂 it could have been worse.

Awesome. Not the half day wasted, but cutting through the red tape. Enjoy it now!

[Mawgan]

Thanks for all your responses. I went to a different DMV and it was a breeze. Only a half day wasted 🙂 it could have been worse.

[J-Rooster]

I own a 2004 Winnebago on a 2003 Winnebago Chassis! RV manufactures buy chassis in bulk (because they get a better price) quite often the RV Manufactures can't use all the chassis for a given year so they start the new year with the old chassis until there gone. On the outside of your RV on the curb side, is a Manufacture Tag stating what year your coach was built, example: 01-04, this tag will signify the true year of your coach. The year that is on your manufacture tag is the year of your coach. There can be pitfalls when your chassis year doesn't coincide with the manufacture year as you discovered the Department of licensing in some States are not aware of this. Another pitfall is if the manufacture has a chassis change year! You need to be aware of this! In my case Winnebago had a chassis change in 2004, as I stated my chassis is a 2003 so when I go to buy new shocks for example I have to buy shocks for a 2003 Winnebago even though my coach is registered as a 2004. Hope this helps you.

[Escargot]

With my 2002/2003 build PW, DMV registered it as 2002; finance company had it as 2002, and insurance company had it covered as a 2003. The VIN is what DMV is interested in for make year validity.