John,
The replacement VIN may also have been added by the CHP. When I bought my truck, the [replacement] VIN on the certificate was not even close to the original VIN on the truck-it was matched to a decal that the CHP had applied. If this is the case, and you do find your actual VIN on the truck you can go to a CHP field site and tell them you want the two to match. They were actually very accommodating.
