What Model Do I Have?

I recently bought a 2001 Accord here in Canada and I am having a heck of a
time figuring out exactly what model the car is.

The dealer that I bought it from was a Toyota dealer and therefore not
terribly knowledgeable about Hondas but they advertised the car as an EX-L.
However, I am not sure that's a "real" model designation, as opposed to
something that's just been made up. I halfway suspect that the car is
actually just an EX with leather seats so they described it as an EX-L to
indicate the presence of the leather seats. But I don't pretend to know what
official model designations Honda Canada has set up.

I had hoped to find something in or on the car itself that told me the model
but was very surprised to find nothing indicating a model on the door
panels.

I was googling to find out more when I discovered a site for Honda owners
that says it can determine the exact model from the VIN numbers. However,
when I went to that site - https://www.ahm-ownerlink.com/ - and tried to
register, it claims that my VIN is not a valid one. I'm taking the VIN from
the bill of sale, which agrees with the VIN on the emissions test but the
site claims its not a valid VIN. Does anyone know if this website can only
validate VIN numbers for US vehicles and is not able to verify a Canadian
VIN? Otherwise, my documentation has the wrong VIN on it and that might
present problems with insurance and so forth.

Complicating all of this is the fact that the font Honda has chosen to use
on the VIN is not the easiest to read in the first place and I have emerging
cataracts, making it a non-trivial task to read the darn VIN.

If anyone knows a reliable way to determine my model, I'd love to hear it!

 

If the leather seats are factory, then it is an EX-L. If aftermarket, then
not.

 

Doesn't it say "EX-L" on the trunk lid?

That's American Honda's Owner site. Honda Canada, Inc. is a separate
company, and has its own Owner site:
<http://www.honda.ca/owners/website>

That's right. Canadian VINs have an "8" as the 12th digit. US models
have a zero. That's how dealers can tell if they have a US- or Canadian-
market car in front of them.

The place for you is:
<http://www.honda.ca/owners/website>

No issues there. The insurance company will know the difference.

<http://www.honda.ca/owners/website>

Register your car and you'll know soon enough if the Toyota dealer is
pulling a fast one or not.

 

I bought the car used so I'm not sure how to tell if the seats are factory
or not. Any ideas how to determine that categorically?

 

D'uh! I can't believe I forgot about the trunk lid! Thanks for reminding me!
I'll go have a look at that....

Excellent! More useful information. And I _do_ have an 8 as the 12th digit
which confirms what a Honday dealer told me previously, that it is a
Canadian VIN.

One of the door plates proudly states "Made in the USA" but also has a
Canadian logo on it, which I found annoyingly self-contradictory....

Many thanks!!

 

What's the 11th character of your VIN? If it's an "A", the car was made in
Marysville, Ohio. The VIN's 1st character will be "1", "4", or 5".

The Canadian logo on it is probably Transport Canada's logo. That means the
car was made to Transport Canada's regulations in effect at the time of
assembly.

 

What are the first 8 characters of your VIN?

There is no personal information in the first 8 characters, but leather-
interior models are sometimes called out in the 4th to 8th characters.

 

For what it's worth, I had a look at the trunk lid and it only says
"Accord". There is no model designation at all. Given that it might have
fallen off or been stolen, I had a look but couldn't see any sign that there
had EVER been a model designation anywhere near "Accord" on the trunk lid:
no vestiges of glue, no "shadow" of a model designation. Is it normal for
2001 Accords to be missing a model designation?

I verified the exact characters used in the VIN plate on the dash and
registered at the Honda Canada owners site with that VIN. It says that my
car is a 2001 Accord 4D EX-LT. I assume it found that by looking up the VIN
in its internal database.

Is EX-LT a real model designation? I've never heard of that one before. Then
again, I certainly don't keep up with all of the umpteen models of all the
cars in the world or even just the models sold by Honda Canada.

Also, does the '8' in the 12th position of the VIN prove that the car was
made here in Canada or only that it was sold here and might have actually
been manufactured in the US or Japan or wherever else Honda builds cars?

 

The "8" refers to the market the car was intended for, not where the car
was made. Your car was probably built in Marysville, Ohio.

As for the EX-L badge, if the car originally came with one (as I'm sure it
did), it should be right under the "Accord" badge. It's just stuck on with
tape. They do fall off on occasion, and are sometimes not replaced when
bodywork is done.

 

The VIN starts with 1HGCG556, making the 4th through 8th characters "CG556".

 

The 11th character is an "A". So apparently the car was made in the US but
manufacturer to Transport Canada regulations. So the "Made in USA" and the
logo are _both_ right ;-)

Thanks for that information!

 

I don't think I've ever seen a 6th-gen or newer Accord with a trim level
badge except for "Special Edition", apart from "V6" on V6-powered versions.
My '04 Civic LX never had a badge; in fact, the only 7th-gen and newer
Civics I've seen with badges have been Si and "Special Edition" models.

 

So:
a) maybe it just fell off
b) maybe the original owner had a fender-bender and had to get the trunk lid
straightened out and repainted and noboby bothered to get another EX-L badge
for it. Okay, that seems plausible.

I wish I'd noticed that earlier. Now I'm wondering if the car was in an
accident. Mind you, my mechanics didn't see any sign of accidents when they
inspected the car before I bought it. The badge probably just fell off....

So EX-LT is a real model designation and EX-L is what the badge would have
said on an EX-LT if I still had my badge?

Just for the heck of it, I sent an email to one of the local dealers with
the VIN and asked what model it was. He said it was just an EX, nothing
about EX-L or EX-LT.

This is just plain confusing. I'm really not sure what item to choose in the
drop-downs when I describe my car for the online insurance quotes. I don't
know whether EX is close enough or whether I have to choose EX-L or even
EX-LT. Most of the quote forms have an option on what to do if the model
doesn't exactly match the drop-downs. I'll just have to follow those
instructions.

I'm assuming that the model influences the premium but would the difference
between an EX, EX-L and EX-LT really be signtificant?

I would hate to get a claim rejected simply because I misidentified the
model slightly....

 

You may find this interesting
http://forums.hondashowoff.com/showthread.php?t=8771

 

Posted this earlier, but here is better
http://forums.hondashowoff.com/showthread.php?t=8771

 

It's possible your model never came with a badge
(as noted by other posters).

Then /phone/ your existing insurance company instead of using
the online forms. If anybody knows, they will know. They can tell
from the VIN.

There are a number of free VIN decoders out there. Here are some:
<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&biw=1721&bih=902&q=honda+vin+decoder&aq=f&aqi=g5g-m5&aql=&oq=>

 

Slightly rearranged, the relevant section reads,
CG554 = LX 5M
CG564 = LX 4A
CG555 = EX 5M
CG556 = EX 5M

- "CG5" refers to the '99-'02 4-door Accord sedan
- the fourth digit refers to the transmission (5=manual, 6=auto)
- the last digit is the trim level (4, 5, or 6; low, med, high).

Going by past Honda practice, I think the EX designated with a "6" has a
leather interior, a sort of EX-plus.

The only problem with the above list is that Canada and the US sometimes
had different model designations for the same car. For example, an "Si" in
the US might be sold in Canada as an "SiR", or vice versa. It's entirely
possible that Honda Canada badged the OP's car as an "EX-L", whereas
American Honda may have called it an "EX".
I know some previous Accord generations were available in Canada as "EX-L".

The OP needs to call his insurance company and have them verify what the
VIN means. I suspect "EX-L" is correct.

 

Damn. I missed swiping a couple of listings.

A more complete copy-and-paste, again with slight rearrangement:
CG554 = LX 5M
CG564 = LX 4A
CG555 = EX 5M
CG556 = EX 5M
CG565 = EX 4A
CG566 = EX 4A
CG567 = LX Special Ed. 4A

You can see how the numbers increment as the trim levels change.
I think "6" means "leather".

Now I'm wondering what you got with a "7" in an LX-SE. Leather carpets?

 

It _is_ interesting. Thank you! I had hoped there would be some way of
decoding the full VIN to see what else it said.

According to this, my car is an "EX 5M" since the 4th through 8th digits of
the VIN are CG556. What the heck is an "EX 5M"????

And for the record, there is definitely one error in the description of the
plant. It says the Honda plant in Canada has a code of H, representing
Halson, ON (Ontario) Canada. That is just flat out wrong. The Honda plant is
in Alliston Ontario, roughly an hour north of Toronto. I've lived in Ontario
all my life and it was BIG news when the Honda plant was established in
Alliston.

I have no idea how that transmuted to "Halston". There is no such place in
Ontario, at least not that I've ever heard of. (There is a Halton Hills but
that's the closest I can think of.)

 

That's absolutely right. My previous car was a '92 Accord and it was
designated an EX-R here but apparently there was no such model in the US.

Is the insurance company going to know better than the manufacturer?? I
would have thought the manufacturer would be the final authority since they
made the darned thing. The insurance company is just going to be working
from data that Honda gave them, right?