Quote: What's the first thing we do when we want to validate a car? Look at the VIN! I agree with the other poster, that this is the true meaning of a vehicles worth.
The first thing? Maybe so, but it's just the beginning. The next thing you'd need to do is determine if it's the original VIN tag or not. Even then all the VIN tag will tell you are the basics, Model-Engine-Plant-Model Year- Sequence Number, that's it!
It tells you NOTHING about the other options that the car originally had, not even the most basic options like transmission or body color, and sometimes a single option can drastically change the level of interest/desirability/value, etc. that the car might garner.
I completely agree with you, the VIN is just the start. It will tell us how rare the car is and we go from there. Is it numbers matching? Is the fender tag present? These alone are enough to set it's rarity/value. The broadcast sheet will further separate the car, but at that point it's only semantics IMHO.
