What year is my new trailer?

[Gary G.]

I keep seeing online photos of the 2015 & 2016 Salem Cruise Lite and keep wondering if the dealership sold me a 2015 as a 2016? Can you tell the year of the trailer by the VIN#?

My VIN# is 4x4TSMB23GTxxxxxx

We had tried to decided between the 2015 and 2016 models, as they both were new never sold TT's. The 2015 we almost bought was about $2,000 less expensive.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm taking my trailer in for some minor repairs tomorrow and would like to know. I may call the factory in the morning before I take my trailer in.

[Kenny kustom]

Look at your bill of sale?


2016 Sabre 36QBOK
2015 Ram 3500 CUMMINS

I am nice!

[Gary G.]

My bill of sale says 2016, but all the photos that I see of my exact trailer are 2015's. That's why I am trying to tell by the VIN number? Can you help decipher it? One site I'm on says the 10th letter is the year and in 2010 the years started alphabetically with 'A'. My 10th letter is a 'G' which would be 2017? How can this be?

[Kenny kustom]

If your legal documents say 2016...


2016 Sabre 36QBOK
2015 Ram 3500 CUMMINS

I am nice!

[Gary G.]

So you don't know how to decipher VIN numbers? That's my question.

[Shanks12]

If you look online for a VIN decoder you will see the 10th digit represents the model year.

4x4TSMB23GT110170

So in your case, the "G" represents 2016

[MightyMike]

There should be a yellow sticker somewhere on the trailer. I am not familiar with your model. Some of them are outside at the left front corner, some of them are on the inside of the door, and some are inside a cabinet door. That sticker should have your VIN number on it and also a production date. That will tell you date it was built at factory. They switch model years around June or July I think, so if it was built in May of 2015 it's a 2015, but if it was built in August of 2015 it's a 2016. Seems awfully confusing, but that's how they classify them. I am not sure of the exact changeover date so don't quote me on that.

[Mr Havercamp]

This happens a lot because they do not have a clear line that seperates model years. You can not go by colors, finishes, or anything else. The only thing is the VIN and that should correspond to the date on the yellow sticker.

You could end up with a 2015 that has parts intended for the 2016 or the other way around. If they were receiving parts for 2016, say different color upholstery, while still building 2015's they could have used them. If they had leftover parts from 2015 they could have used them in 2016.

Case in point. I went and looked at a 2016 Roo23WS early in October that was built in July. I ordered one which just arrived at the dealer and it has different light fixtures inside that are not individually switched. They are different than shown in the new brochures also. What can I do about it? Complain that's about it. I doubt it will get me anywhere because of.......

All information contained in this brochure is believed to be accurate at the time of publication. However, during the model year, it may be necessary to make revisions and Forest River, Inc.,
reserves the right to make all such changes without notice, including prices, colors, materials, equipment and specifications as well as the addition of new models and the discontinuance
of models shown in this brochure. Therefore, please consult with your Forest River, Inc., dealer and confirm the existence of any materials, design or specifications that are material to your
purchase decision.

[Witch Doctor]

My trailer came off the line by the sticker 12/27/11. It was sold to me by the title as a 2012 model. I bought it in Feb. of 2012.

[youroo]

I know anytime I contact F/R they Only ask me for the (Last 4 #'s) of our serial#! Youroo!!

[Mr Havercamp]

Originally Posted by gljurczyk

My trailer came off the line by the sticker 12/27/11. It was sold to me by the title as a 2012 model. I bought it in Feb. of 2012.

The 10th position of the VIN is the model year and that should correspond to the date / year on the outside sticker. The sticker on the outside with the weights and other data is the federal certification. I suppose it is possible that they build a trailer in one year and for whatever reason does not get certified and have been assigned until the next year. The bottom line is the manufacturer can assign whatever year they want to it and it doesn't matter when it was built.

gljurczyk, I'd double check the VIN, if its a C in the 10th position you're ok, if its B you have a misprinted title which is not uncommon.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by Gary G.

My bill of sale says 2016, but all the photos that I see of my exact trailer are 2015's. That's why I am trying to tell by the VIN number? Can you help decipher it? One site I'm on says the 10th letter is the year and in 2010 the years started alphabetically with 'A'. My 10th letter is a 'G' which would be 2017? How can this be?

Howdy Gary, Not quite sure how you are getting G to correspond to 2017? G is the seventh alphabet letter, and if A corresponds to the number 2010, then moving forward six more letter/digits gets you to G/2016.

B/2011, C/2012, D/2013, E/2014, F/2015, G/2016

This question comes up pretty frequently here. As others have stated the 10th position of the VIN is the model year assigned by the factory. RV manufacturers follow the same VIN model year encoding scheme as vehicles.

G indicates model year 2016.

In 1981, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the United States standardized the format. It required all over-the-road-vehicles sold to contain a 17-character VIN, which does not include the letters I (i), O (o), or Q (q) (to avoid confusion with numerals 1 and 0).

One consistent element of the VIS is the 10th digit, which is required worldwide to encode the model year of the vehicle. Besides the three letters that are not allowed in the VIN itself (I, O and Q), the letters U and Z and the digit 0 are not used for the model year code. Note that the year code is the model year for the vehicle.


The year 1980 was encoded by some manufacturers, especially General Motors and Chrysler, as "A" (since the 17-digit VIN wasn't mandatory until 1981, and the "A" or zero was in the manufacturer's pre-1981 placement in the VIN), yet Ford and AMC still used a zero for 1980. Subsequent years increment through the allowed letters, so that "Y" represents the year 2000. 2001 to 2009 are encoded as the digits 1 to 9, and subsequent years are encoded as "A", "B", "C", etc.

[Gary G.]

Thanks for all the input. It's helpful. According to omy VIN# mine is a 2016 but the production date is April 2015. I might just give Forrest River customer service a call to find out more. Thanks again.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

[Mr Havercamp]

Originally Posted by Gary G.

Thanks for all the input. It's helpful. According to omy VIN# mine is a 2016 but the production date is April 2015. I might just give Forrest River customer service a call to find out more. Thanks again.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Nothing more really to find out. That's normal. The 2017's will be out March/April of 2016.

[5picker]

Originally Posted by Gary G.

Thanks for all the input. It's helpful. According to omy VIN# mine is a 2016 but the production date is April 2015. I might just give Forrest River customer service a call to find out more. Thanks again.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

As was mentioned, there doesn't seem to be a clear cut date when the model year switches. When researching our latest purchase, we were told by more than one dealer, the model year switched in March. Researching the yellow stickers and VIN's on the dealer lots showed that to be true in most cases (but not all) so I think it's whatever they decide at the factory on any given day in and around that time frame.

I do know on our particular model, (8529IKBS which is a brand new model for 2016) there were many changes made to both the inside and outside from the time when the first ones hit the dealer lots up until we received in October, the one we ordered. As was also mentioned, I'm pretty sure when a change is implemented, they use up any remaining parts before they change over and that's the reason for the disclaimer in the literature.

[RSchleder]

Your RV is the model year the VN and/or title states it is, regardless of then it was manufactured. Every car, RV. or motorized vehicle sold comes with a "Certificate of Origin" generated by the manufacturer which gives all the data required to have a State DOT title the vehicle. If the Certificate of Origin states it's a 2016, it IS a 2016 and will be titled as such regardless of date of manufacture. Manufacturers have the legal right to decide when they change model years which typically has nothing at all to do with the calendar year!

[dieselguy]

Silverbacks change over the model year around April as well. Mine was built the last week in March, delivered in April 2015 and was sold as a 2016. As was mentioned earlier, depending on how much inventory as to parts is at the factory ... there may be hardly any difference between model years right at the get go. As units are produced and the old model year inventory gets depleted ... then you start to see more and more new model year pieces. The RV industry doesn't seem to follow the auto industry business practices of purging what's left of the old model year build inventory.

[offduty11]

My unit was ordered as a 2015 on Jan 2015. When it arrived at the dealer the papers said 2016 this was in March. A few months ago I see FR has the same model 2016 29re Silverback and the entertainment center (no rear windows) is changed also the front cap color and logo.

[Gary G.]

I just got off the phone with the Oregon Forrest River plant. Although my trailer is a 2016 (its production date is April of 2015) the new 2016 model year changes did not begin until late July or August. This explains why the minor model year changes are not on my trailer.

They continue to use the 2015 model year assembly materials until they run out. I guess this explains my confusion in that we wanted a certain decor (color and cabinets) and were told that was in a 2016 model. But when we finally saw the trailer at the walk through, it appeared to be a 2015! The color was what we wanted but the cabinets and the placement of the DVD player was different. No biggie. I just did not want to pay for a 2016 (which was about $2,000 more) than the 2015 model. At least I don't feel like an idiot focusing on the minors!

[Kenny kustom]

My 2016 sabre looks different than the other 2016's sitting on the lots now.....


2016 Sabre 36QBOK
2015 Ram 3500 CUMMINS

I am nice!