So I bought a Mini Cooper while stationed in Greece. It was a red, 2008 little Island beater.

However, I now near the end of my time here, and I'm starting to prep the car to sell before I leave. The rear tail light module was not functioning, so I took it out to get a new one. A mechanic was trying to place the part, but said the module he had wasn't from a 2008. I looked up the VIN, and the only site that told me anything was a 2005 car. The other ones tell me "vin not found" when I tried.

However, I also wanted the break down of the VIN itself, and what I found made no sense.

WMW RC31 020 T B34411
The 10th digit, which should be the year, is a "0", and from what I've looked up, they don't use 0 or O for years to avoid confusion. Went from 2000 - Y to 2001 - 1. If it is a year, what year?

The VIN is only available on the engine bay. The driver's side door sticker has been removed, and the front windshield viewer is blocked. So, uh, can't check to see of this is duplicated.

Any comments and advice is helpful, thanks!

 

Real – this seems to check out and can tell you the parts numbers you need:
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/select?vin=TB34411

I've discovered just now that a lot of the BMW VIN Decoders have been bought out and replaced by some kind of CarFax type service. Ugh. This is why we can't have nice things.