Uncle Jimmy Posted February 22, 2015 Posted February 22, 2015 Wasn't aware of this until about 5 mins ago. What info do you get from the DVLA?It says you have to have a valid reason for applying- is being nosey enough? Have many of you found this worthwhile?
Matt Posted February 22, 2015 Posted February 22, 2015 I did it for my first car because I had no documentation from the first owner so I said I wanted to contact him to ask if he had any paperwork for the car. I got the name address of the first owner, the second, myself and I also got some badly photocopied documents showing that the first owner put a private plate on the car (which I want to buy so I'll probably be filling in another one).
trigger Posted February 22, 2015 Posted February 22, 2015 I've done this loads of times, It's well worth the £5, Just say you're tracing the history of your own car, I think you now need to send a photocopy of a bank statement as proof of id.
forddeliveryboy Posted February 22, 2015 Posted February 22, 2015 Nosey isn't quite enough, but some may say that Blair's Britain is simply doing what the Stasi did but charging the public for the pleasure. It has always been possible to find out info without an official form - I suppose compared with the hundreds of thousands of cameras watching our every move this is nothing.
Mr_Bo11ox Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 Nosey isn't quite enough, but some may say that Blair's Britain is simply doing what the Stasi did but charging the public for the pleasure. Oh yeah, was it free to find out the previous owners of a secondhand car in communist Germany then? Mr Lobster, dollywobbler, brickwall and 6 others 9
forddeliveryboy Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 Of course it was, the Stasi had access to almost everything. They would have known whatever they wished to know, simply by asking members of the public who rolled over at the first sight of authority without a care in the world to ethics or morals. And of course there were all the carefully maintained documents. Could a member of the public do this? Yes if you knew the right people. I have friends who lived there, it's amazing (and not a little frightening) how fast people forget how life in the surveillance state was.
Alan_Green Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 Most satisfying bit for me was punching the old keepers addresses in to streetview. In my case I could see the garage where my car slept undisturbed for 22 years from 1991 to 2013. I plan on writing to the family to get the backstory and see if they have any old photos I could scan. So, yes, it is a good service. The reason I gave on the form was that I was a car enthusiast and wanted to blog about it. Cavcraft and scruff 2
Mr_Bo11ox Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 members of the public who rolled over at the first sight of authority without a care in the world to ethics or morals. WTF!!!! Yeah those morally decrepit, unethical bastards who just cheerfully did as they were told by the Stasi without a care in the world!!!!! How could they live with themselves. Mr Lobster, ChinaTom, Cavcraft and 1 other 4
Richard Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 This service has been available since at least the early 80s, long before Blair's time, I can remember my friend wanting to do it on his mother's car. The nominal £5 fee (which I'm sure is what they have always charged) is great value when you consider they charge £25 to send out a duplicate copy of a current V5.
mercrocker Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 I have done it a few times but the information received back has been variable. Also worth doing (if your car is old enough to have been registered by the local council before DVLA) is seeing if the original registration authority (i.e. county or borough council) has kept their records. Some have, some haven't but I know from doing it that Kent and Dorset both have (also be mindful some counties have changed boundaries since then). On the Minor that I traced I got a photocopied page from the original registration number issuing ledger showing the garage that issued the plate (and it wasn't the garage that the car was dispatched to from the factory). I also wrote to all the registered owners (with SAEs) but unfortunately never received anything!
sierraman Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 I did this once, found out the car I had was most likely on its second visit to 96k... It was a sierra with the 5 digit odometer. It had amongst others been a fleet car with BT for 3 years.
Uncle Jimmy Posted February 23, 2015 Author Posted February 23, 2015 Good! I shall send said form off and get some more info on the '73 Ovlov. It has zero history with it so it would be good to know who the previous owners were (Erich Honneker or otherwise) and which dealership sold it.Volvo did sell a few motahs to authoritarian regimes, 264s went to the GDR, some 140s still about in North Korea.
Alfamale Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 I did this with the Delta. SAE trick worked a treat as I was sent some lovely photos of the car and an invitation to meet the chap who owned the car for 20 years. Best of all, the car came with only one key but this lad had the spare and was only too pleased to reunite it with the car. He also had the original handbook where he had meticulously documented all the maintenance and laying up,periods the car had been through. This was especially gratifying as the car had lost a huge folder of history between the two owners after him. Uncle Jimmy 1
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