# Why wouldn't car makers put the year on the back **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [February 8, 2017, 11:34pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654 "2017-02-08T23:34:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 9:06pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/21 "2017-02-09T21:06:06Z")
> [@Nevada\_545](#): > > How would anyone know how may miles are on your truck? Nobody has ever asked the mileage of my vehicles. They weren’t strangers that were asking (as I first stated). They were friends and knew the type of commute I had. ---
**Author:** ![common-sense-answer](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/common-sense-answer/32/716_2.png) [@common-sense-answer](https://community.cartalk.com/u/common-sense-answer)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 9:42pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/22 "2017-02-09T21:42:01Z")
_ **“How would anyone know how may miles are on your truck? Nobody has ever asked the mileage of my vehicles.”** _ It wouldn’t be too difficult for manufacturers to slap a _second_ **digital odometer display** (bigger version) on the rear-end, next to the model-year/mfg year badge. That would be kind of fun (until I drove into the rear-end while squinting and reading the info)! _Hey! Would you look at that! A 24 year-old Yugo with 652,000 miles on it!_ _ **CSA** _ ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 10:06pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/23 "2017-02-09T22:06:00Z")
Me too, although my 12 year old Accord only has 180,000 miles. I’m putting on about 25,000 per year now, so tat will go up quickly. At almost 10 years old I had passengers that thought it was nearly new. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/48514_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 10:29pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/24 "2017-02-09T22:29:02Z")
> [@common\_sense\_answer](#): > > Hey! Would you look at that! A 24 year-old Yugo with 652,000 miles on it! Don’t you mean 65,200 miles? Surely that would be a record amount of mileage for a 24 year old Yugo. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![common-sense-answer](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/common-sense-answer/32/716_2.png) [@common-sense-answer](https://community.cartalk.com/u/common-sense-answer)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/25 "2017-02-09T22:33:10Z")
**@jtsanders** _ **“Me too, although my 12 year old Accord only has 180,000 miles.”** _ Me too. In our family fleet we have 2 old cars that we use as general purpose vehicles. I’ve got **under 100,000 miles** (purchased new) on our **21 year-old** Dodge Caravan and **over 300,000 miles** on our **17 year-old Chevy Impala.** The van looks new (never driven in salt). The old Impala is starting to show some wear and tear. It’s a winter salt-car, driven all year since new. People are sometimes surprised by specs on each vehicle. _ **CSA** _ ---
**Author:** ![ken\_green](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/ken_green/32/816_2.png) [@ken\_green](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ken_green)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/26 "2017-02-09T22:33:19Z")
Heck . . these days they barely even put the NAME on it ! My wife will see a car she likes and ask, ‘‘what kind of car is that ?’’. Unless we chase them down to look closer it’s almost impossible to tell as they all look so much alike. ( btw; my 1979 has a whopping grand total of . . . 71,022 mile on it ) ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 11:03pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/27 "2017-02-09T23:03:50Z")
Yeah that’s what I said a couple pages ago. ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 12:18am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/28 "2017-02-10T00:18:48Z")
> [@ken\_green](#): > > Heck . . these days they barely even put the NAME on it ! LOL, good point! And absolutely true! Even the model “badge” is usually just an often meaningless combination of alphas and numerics. I used to wonder why auto manufacturers stopped putting their names on their vehicles, but I no longer wonder. I realize now that a great many things they do make no sense. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Barkydog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/barkydog/32/2470_2.png) [@Barkydog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Barkydog)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 12:25am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/29 "2017-02-10T00:25:53Z")
If you have to ask what year why? My o3 basically same model through 09, People say wow I did not realize it was so old, what do I care, noone cares. ---
**Author:** ![db4690](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/db4690/32/2583_2.png) [@db4690](https://community.cartalk.com/u/db4690)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 2:04am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/30 "2017-02-10T02:04:56Z")
You are generally correct . . . However, I’ve never personally seen a Benz or BMW that didn’t have the company logo on the trunk lid and hood As for Benz, there were generally little holes in the trunk lid, where the logo affixes, and a rather large hole in the hood panel, where the star attaches But I’ve seen several with only the company logos, and no model designations ---
**Author:** ![dagosa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/dagosa/32/9837_2.png) [@dagosa](https://community.cartalk.com/u/dagosa)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 3:06am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/31 "2017-02-10T03:06:34Z")
Many buyers don’t want to advertise they have an outdated car. Cars used to change style every year. Eventually, makers found out that buyers didn’t like having a five year old car that look five years old. It has more to do with marketing then anything. Besides, the last thing you want to do if a thief is looking for a 2013 Camry for parts, is to advertise you have a 2013 Camry. If it floats your boat, just put your own decals on that tell people the year. ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 12:28pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/32 "2017-02-10T12:28:49Z")
Yes, I didn’t mean the car’s brand wasn’t displayed, just the model designation. The Mercedes and BMW badges are still present but the model is absent. No E320 on the Benz or 535i on the BMW. Germans know the model and know they come with a wide range of engines, unlike in the US. While you could get a 520 in Europe, no American would drive a 5 series with a boosted 2.0 liter 4. ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/33 "2017-02-10T16:09:53Z")
I’m talking about the name, not the logo. Way back when, manufacturers used to proudly spell their names out on their cars. And they also spelled out the models. There were even some “crossover” cars from the period when Datsun changed to Nissan where they put both Datsun and Nissan on the cars. The manufacturer IDs now are just logos, and the models are meaningless alpha-numerics. ---
**Author:** ![db4690](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/db4690/32/2583_2.png) [@db4690](https://community.cartalk.com/u/db4690)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/34 "2017-02-10T16:48:00Z")
Speaking of “double names” . . . Remember the Toyota Corolla/Tercel from the early 1980? In Europe it was simply called Tercel Quite an interesting car, actually . . . fwd, yet longitudinally mounted engine, independent front and rear suspension, with sway bars front and rear We actually had one in Europe. It had front adjustable headrests and tachometer, yet none of those were even options in the US The next generation Tercel was considerably dumbed down, though ---
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/35 "2017-02-10T16:53:34Z")
Concerning identification badges. There was a clown on Toyota Nation not to long ago asking how to remove his Toyota Camry badges and replace them with Lexus badges. I told him if he was so insecure that he needed strangers in traffic to think he had a Lexus maybe he should put Jaguar badges on it. ---
**Author:** ![db4690](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/db4690/32/2583_2.png) [@db4690](https://community.cartalk.com/u/db4690)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 4:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/36 "2017-02-10T16:58:55Z")
At the dealer, we always had a good chuckle over owners who removed their regular badges and put on badges from a higher trim line, or even the AMG badges Thus, an S430 would roll in, but the trunk lid would say S55 AMG . . . yet the rims and tires wouldn’t match the badging. And you could clearly see the base brakes through the openings in the rims. And the stance was all wrong, anyways ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/37 "2017-02-10T17:05:03Z")
Seems like there’s a lot of insecure people out there: ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/2X/5/5be517685118b37780a53a9e3d1904ad1c7c3ee0.jpg) ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/2X/6/6211f66b935e6782f255f69aa6fe35dd77855d9c.jpg) ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/2X/4/492f8bf6cc0a02d21f53ebbe421198467e5fc2fc.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![common-sense-answer](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/common-sense-answer/32/716_2.png) [@common-sense-answer](https://community.cartalk.com/u/common-sense-answer)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 7:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/38 "2017-02-10T19:01:17Z")
_ **@texases** _ Wow! That’s cool! I had a _Dodge Spirit_ (great car) for a long time and never knew about there being a _Mercedes Benz_ option. Do you think there’s an **Aston Martin** option for a _Grand Prix_? On second thought, with that double grille in front, maybe a _BMW_? _ **CSA** _ ---
**Author:** ![ken\_green](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/ken_green/32/816_2.png) [@ken\_green](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ken_green)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 7:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/39 "2017-02-10T19:55:16Z")
and THIS is why Ford will not sell Harley Davidson badges, stripes, and labels without the VIN proving it to already be a Harley edition being repaired. Had a local guy with 5.0 badges on the side of his Mustang. . . just fine until he started it up ! ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 9:24pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654/40 "2017-02-10T21:24:10Z")
Back in the mid 90’s, GM would not put Olds or Buick badges on their Auroras or Rivieras. It was rumored that they were afraid that the brands had taken on a negative public view and didn’t want to advertise it. For, if any of the brands took on a negative view it would have been Chevrolet. It might be the same car as a Pontiac or Olds but I’d sure be tempted to pull the bow ties off. Same thing with Kia or Hyundai. Like I have said before, sometimes you are better off to simply dump a brand name rather than trying to re-hab it. Case in point is Sears again (looks like they aren’t dead yet and have gotten another shot in the arm to survive today). I would buy a Craftsman lawn tractor tomorrow if they would leave it red, and give it the Huskavarna name that manufactured it instead of Craftsman. That plus dropping their silly model numbers that makes it hard to buy parts from standard suppliers. They have the right size and engine combinations (outside of the weak transmissions) and the right color combos, but that name and parts availability has got to go. [Previous page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654.md?page=1) [Next page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-wouldnt-car-makers-put-the-year-on-the-back/99654.md?page=3)