Approaching the Previous Owner?

[R9UKE]

Evening

 

Just thought I'd ask for opinions on this. Has anybody ever acquired a car through a middle man but then paid the previous owner a visit to see if they have any service history or spare keys? Reason I ask is that I may have just bought one of my extreme wants and ticked another car off my list this evening. It was at the usual auction (Wilsons, Mallusk), a car traded in to one of the main dealerships here in Belfast and sent up there for sale. Now - say they got a shit price for P/Xing (which they probably did), they probably won't have made much effort to include handbooks etc.... which they haven't.

 

In your opinion, is it acceptable to go the address on the V5 and be polite, explain how you bought the car and ask if they have such goodies?

 

I've never done it before, but a friend of mine did and ended up getting a spare key card for his Vel Satis out of it.

[dollywobbler]

I've not gone to an address, but I have written to one, which is a much better way of doing it. I wrote to the chap who'd owned my Saab 9000 from new and he was able to provide a complete service history for it! I think actually turning up at someone's house is a bit off-putting to be honest.

 

I also wrote to the previous owner of a Citroen Dyane that I owned at one point and saved from the scrapheap. The previous owner actually sent me some pics of their car on holiday in France about 16 years previously!

 

I'd say a letter is definitely worth sending. Include email/phone details, as actually replying to a letter isn't what people are about these days.

[cort16]

I'd write a letter personally. I wouldn't be too happy if some door stepped me for car I traded in.

[Cheggers]

I think some folks might find a personal visit a bit intimidating, but I can't see a polite letter offending anyone. Is this the German monster??

[AnthonyG]

I've phoned up a couple of people in the past to ask about whether cambelt changes were done and stuff like that, a letter is a more polite way to go and a lot of people are 'ex directory' now anyway.

 

I certainly wouldn't go to their house first of all - wait to be invited if they have anything to give you I think.

[eddyramrod]

+1 on all the above. A letter is definitely the right approach, but include all contact details you can, in case they choose to reply by other means. Might be worth stressing how pleased you are to have finally acquired a car you've always wanted, etc, and you'll look after it like it's your firstborn, blah blah. Best of luck!

[R9UKE]

Is this the German monster??

 

It is, yes

 

Great, thanks chaps. I wrote a letter to the previous owner of my Mégane when I first got it to ask for anything, got no reply, but later found out that the car was repossessed!!! That kind of explained it. Letter it is!

[greengartside]

My Peugeot's last owner was a garage in rural Suffolk so I should imagine it was their loan vehicle. I may pop in weekend after next and see if they have got a service history book they forgot to include when they sold it. Not sure when the cambelt was done and I'd like to know which dealer in Suffolk sold it originally. Can narrow it down to about 4 or 5 I think.

[dieselnutjob]

I called a previous owner once and he told me that the last time he saw the car it had a BMW embedded in the back of it

[Pete-M]

I've got the name and address of the original and second owners of my Escort (Father and son). I suspect that the father is unlikely to be around - he'd be in his late '80s - but his son should still be around.

 

If he is about, I'll take the Escort back to show them.

 

 

Bloody hell. He's still listed in the phone book. The son, that is, and he was the original owner. His dad got it when it was two years old.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

I sent off for my car's history, but I haven't contacted any of the previous owners. The first three I'm pretty sure are no longer around, but that still leaves six more. I'd love some pictures of it 'back in the day'.

 

Closer to the original topic, I did encourage my sister to contact a previous owner through Facebook (so modern) to ask if he had the spare keys for her car.

[mattblack]

The last MK 5 Cortina I had I bought from a bloke trading from home, he got from the Ford garage where it had been part ex'ed. I phoned the bloke who chopped it in (V5 was still in his name) and found that it had been his company car when new and IIRC he had taken it as part of a redundancy package when it was about 2 years old.

[Timewaster]

When I bought my Mk2 Cavalier (NOT shite, it was only about 5 years old at the time) I tried to phone the previous owner to try and get hold of the missing alarm fob.

Name and address from V5 (150 miles away from the garage strangely), directory enquiries, no problem.

 

Rang the number and a little old lady who must have been in her 80's answered.

From the first "Hello" I knew I was wasting my (and her) time. I eventually explained the situation and she went off to get her husband.

He must have been 100!

I suppose the fact that the Cavalier was traded in at a Toyota dealer should have given me a clue.

He had absolutely no idea what I was on about, but sugested I rang the village garage that had looked after the car for him, they had fitted the alarm.

 

So I rang the garage, mentioned the mans name and I could hear the garage owner roll his eyes, "Oh gawd," he said. "Not him!"

I gave up pretty soon after that.

 

Another occasion, I bought a Honda VFR750 (which I still have, 12 years later) and there were some odd keys with it. I wrote a quick note to the previous owner offering to return them.

He was delighted and sent a stamped envelope for me to return them in. It turns out that he had expensive luggage boxes that he had kept but not kept the keys.

I met him a few months later when I was out on the bike, parked and eating chips. He gave the bike a good looking over before asking who's it was (there were a few of us). I said it was mine, rather nervously as he was on duty and was in his Cambs Constabulary uniform!

He shook my hand, thanked me for the keys and told me the bike had been his pride and joy but he had to sell it to pay for his daughters wedding.

[OwdChina]

I called a previous owner once and he told me that the last time he saw the car it had a BMW embedded in the back of it

 

 

LOLS

[ashmicro]

Defo a letter, especially in NI (you know what we can be like!). Just be aware that you might not like what you hear back. An ex-colleague Pete wrote to a previous owner (for his Orion I think). The previous owner told Pete that the car had at one stage been in the harbour at Carnlough.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I've done it many times. One that springs to mind is a 1995 316i I bought with front end damage (lamp post between the headlights), and repaired. It was a low mileage minter so I did a full on job on it. No handbooks, so I got the previous owners address and went down there. It belonged to an Indian couple in a nice house. Stand back from the door, introduce myself etc - she was over the moon because she had the car from 18 months old and wanted to keep it. The insurance company said no, and told her it had been scrapped.

 

Got the owners handbook, and a very nice cup of tea with biscuits.

 

 

The best ones? A 1973 Escort Mexico I bought in bits about 4 years ago, and sold on again. Before I did, I got all the old logbook copies and got thye name of the first owner. There were three Gents with that name in Leeds, so I wrote to them all. One morning, I got a call from the first owner - jackpot! He worked in the parts department at Tates in Leeds, had it for a couple of years and bought an RS2000.

 

Similarly, I rebuilt a 1964 Cooper S around 10 years ago which had the original green logbook. What are the chances that the first owner still lived at that address? Well he did and we chatted about his old car. He bought it new, had it for a year and traded it in for a Lotus Cortina in 1965.

[R9UKE]

The previous owner told Pete that the car had at one stage been in the harbour at Carnlough.

 

Made me LOL

 

Looking at the area on Streetview it's a pretty impressive avenue of detached double fronted houses. Letter it is, looks intimidating!

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

I've got the name and address of the original and second owners of my Escort (Father and son). I suspect that the father is unlikely to be around - he'd be in his late '80s - but his son should still be around.

 

If he is about, I'll take the Escort back to show them.

 

 

Bloody hell. He's still listed in the phone book. The son, that is, and he was the original owner. His dad got it when it was two years old.

 

 

That's amazing since it is really quite an old car. I will be astonished if he doesn't want to see it. I hope he does, it adds something somehow.

[Pete-M]

 

Bloody hell. He's still listed in the phone book. The son, that is, and he was the original owner. His dad got it when it was two years old.

 

 

That's amazing since it is really quite an old car. I will be astonished if he doesn't want to see it. I hope he does, it adds something somehow.

 

After further investigation, turns out his dad appears to be alive too!

 

A german speaking relative of mine is going to give Herr Firstowner a call.

[maxpower]

i have just done the very same thing tonight and fired off a mail to the company that owned my van to see if they had any history/cambelt change etc.

so hopefully i get an answer later today/tomorrow

[scooters]

I owned George Michael's old TR7 Convertible for a few months some years back...

 

Dear George,

 

You may recall during your early pop career, that you rashly purchased a TR7 Convertible with you first royalty cheque. Can I ask if you ever actually paid all those parking tickets you collected for parking illegally on Hampstead Heath Road in the mid 80's or are they still outstanding? Also, was the bag full of old 5 ps/shillings I found down the back of the seat so that you could get into the coin operated cubicles?

[maxpower]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[maxpower]

i have just done the very same thing tonight and fired off a mail to the company that owned my van to see if they had any history/cambelt change etc.

so hopefully i get an answer later today/tomorrow

 

just got a mail from previous owners with a full printout of history to download......sorted

[HMC]

Done it a few times, only ever in writing, either direct from the history or via the V888 DVLA history form, a fiver well spent if the motor has barely a few scraps of paperwork. I found out one of my old mercs had been a Libiyan Embassy car! A different letter turned up a whole wadge of service history. I usually send a S.A.E too to increase the odds of them being bothered to reply.

[messerschmitt owner]

the first owner of my Berkeley B95 now lives in Cyprus - I found him and have been in touch the past three years. Have a nice photo of car when used for racing that he sent me.

[R9UKE]

 

just got a mail from previous owners with a full printout of history to download......sorted

 

Hope I get a similar result! Sent a letter today. The car is sitting outside the house on Streetview wearing a different set of alloy wheels, so it's looks as if he may have been into his cars. Fingers crossed