For imported vehicles, they have a build date and they also have a compliance date, they also have a third factor, the model year. Because of the different build schedules of overseas manufacturers, for example, mostly American products, they have a close off around about July, August, when they close out the model year, if you're talking about the current year you might have the 2012 vehicles finished being built in America in August, so the last of the 2012 vehicles arrive in Australia in November, so in December you could potentially be picking up a 2013 model which is different to a 2013 build and also different to a 2013 compliance. The build date is the date the car rolls off the assembly line wherever it's built, America, England, Europe, wherever the vehicle is built.
The third confounding variable is the compliance date. The compliance date is the little sticker in these cases, it used to be a little aluminum plate, but now it's a sticker. It's a little sticker that's usually in the door frame and that date is the date the vehicle is available for sale in Australia and that's an Australian compliance plate. And that's the date that is determined by ADR regulations as when the vehicle is compliance, ready to roll, ready to be sold in Australia. You could potentially end up with a 2013 model car that was built in 2012 and has a 2012 compliance plate.
