How do you trace a previous owner from a VIN

somethin sticky about this whoever you bought it from can and should give you a bill of sale in his name to you. go to dmv with that info and they will probably give ya the info for the rest of the paperwork in who ever's name it is in. use the recieved a ***le and lost it plea, works the best in so cal
hope this helps
Ken

 

Illinois uses the ***le as a bill of sale, and I lost it. I didn't buy it from the guy who's name was on the ***le. I don't think the guy I bought it from did either. I'm surprised the ***le even came with it after all these years. I'm just going to go into the DMV today and file for a lost ***le and see what happens.

 

Dude, they don't give you the address when the state sends the letter. That's why the state sends it. Privacy laws.

By showing up with a boogered ***le, it puts the problem onto you.

When the ***le is gone, it becomes the state's problem.

You're WAAAY overcomplicating this.

 

I don't believe this falls under reciprocity. Reciprocity generally concerns licensing, and not property ownership laws. A license is a privilege, not a right. Property ownership is a protected right. Registration is not a "license" but rather a recording of ownership, similar to filing a property deed with the courthouse.

Registration of ownership, when the property is transferred from a seller in one state to a buyer in another state, falls under the "full faith and credit" clause and, in this cir***stance, under the "commerce" clause. In addition, for a state to refuse to recognize ownership of tangible personal property bought legally from someone in another state, under the seller's state's property ownership and transfer of ownership laws, would amount to a "taking" by the buyer's state of its citizen's personal property without due process. Ownership and ***le of property rights do not change just because the property moves across state lines. While the subject matter of the Dred Scott v. Sanford decision is very distasteful, I believe that it applies to this issue, and is settled law.

By the way, you are correct about potentially getting tickets for those equipment violations when the laws differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction...and I believe those citations are wrongful, as well. When the local violation is against a vehicle involved in interstate commerce (i.e. the trucking industry), then the commerce clause applies to this situation, as well. This is also settled law, but I don't remember the case name off the top of my head (Bibb v. Navajo Freight Lines?). The rest of us have not had a case come up yet to settle this issue.

 

T-Time is correct, but the authorities often do illegal things, knowing that you are not going to sue them, since it costs so much. There is no downside for them at all -- they would never be fired for such a thing as denying you ***le, since they can just say they were following official procedure.

A DIY "Quiet ***le" action would cure the problem of lost ***les, but most people aren't up to DIY legal processes. Look it up, it's a very handy concept.

 

Yep. This is why I keep bringing the Cons***utionality of this up every time somebody mentions that such-and-such state does not recognize transfer from Alabama, NY, or wherever. Sooner or later, somebody with enough vested interest may see it and challenge it, and bring down that house of cards.

 

Illinois has very strict privacy laws and will not do ***le searches. Missouri has since done away with their ***le searches do to privacy acts as well. I had several done in the 90’s but they stopped offering them about 10 years ago.

The state will do nothing for you if you don’t know who is the legal owner is. I think the best way to deal with this is if you know someone that owns a shop then have them file for a mechanics lien, I’m not sure what the waiting period is for Illinois but Missouri is either 6 or 12 months. I would have the vin checked for wants before you do anything though.

 

Were you able to make it in to file for a lost ***le? I would ***ume that you can't do that because you are not the person on the ***le, but they may have some way to do it in a situation like yours. If you think you know the previous owners name and city could you start by doing a yahoo people search? Here is a time when it would be really nice to have a friend that was a cop.

 

Not yet, I don't remember the PO's name well enough to do a people search. My brother has a friend that's a cop, might have to give him a call.

 

The ONLY way to file for a "lost ***le" is if the vehicle is already in YOUR name. Period.

 

What about the VIN on the dash? What about the numbers on the Cowl Tag?

I inspected a '70 Nova for a vandalism claim. The VIN on my paperwork started 11327 (Nova 6 cyl coupe). The number on the Cowl Tag was 11427 (Nova 8 cyl coupe). Someone painted over the VIN enough to obscure the raised numbers/letters. If the car had been totaled, the insurance company would have been responsible for making sure the car and ***le matched. Now the insurance company has held off on paying the claim and it's going thru their SIU (Special Investigations Department) and they are going thru the Florida DMV and the Federal NCIB. Is this what you guys think is OK? Take the time and do it right.

 

What L-88 suggested does not change the VIN number in any way. It is a "right" way.

Clearly, the situation with the Nova is simply an error on the paperwork. Happens all the time. The insurance company is just looking for any excuse not to pay. They may have an obligation to report a discrepancy, but this is overkill. At any rate, they had insured the car, whatever the VIN number problem may be...even if it had been monkeyed with at some time. They still owe for the vandalism regardless. It's time for the owner to get a lawyer and file a "Bad Faith - Failure to Pay Claims" and "Breach of Fiduciary Duty" suit. It is my understanding that in Florida, the insurance company must pay within twenty days after the amount of the loss has been established (Florida Statute 627.4265).

In Florida, economic damages must be established for a Failure to Pay Claims suit, so it should be coupled with the Breach of Fiduciary Duty claim. The two usually go hand-in-hand.

"In Gracey v. Eaker, 837 So. 2d 348, 353 (Fla. 2002)., the Florida Supreme Court held that the victim of a breach of fiduciary duty is en***led to non-economic damages, even in the absence of economic damages." Mark Nation, Florida Insurance Blog

Its because of **** like this that folks hate and distrust insurance companies.

 

what ever you do ,,no waste your money at broadway if you live in IL,,a good friend of mine(a former county judge) had the state of IL show up and take the plates and paper work for 4 model Ts,,no hotrods,,just plan restored model Ts,,he is now goin the bonded ***le process0.

 

The number on the tag matches the ***le I had. The truck is legit, I F'ed up and lost the ***le.

 

actually it's not all that hard here in MI. You don't even have to get a cop to verify the vin like you did years ago. You just have them run the vin and if it's not in the computer and registered in someone else's name you can get a ***le to it. Saves the extra cost of the ***le services mentioned. And the guy I talked to at the Secretary of State's office in Allegan, MI didn't like that aspect of ***ling an old un***led vechicle.

 

That is the law in most states; some are a little more lenient than others.

I had sent for several lost ***les for cars that wasn’t in my name but I knew all the correct info and in MO. The application has a spot for the owners name and address and a spot for the mail to address. I had a ***le search done and got the info that way but that was back in the 90’s when you could still do ***le searches. The ones I did were because the ***les got destroyed or lost, one went through a flood a previous owner had and he never transferred it to his name, another one was because my wife washed my coat with the ***le in the pocket before I transferred it. The last one I did was for my fathers car after he p***ed, my mothers lawyer wanted $500 to get the car in her name, I hated that lawyer so I just sent for a lost ***le myself in his name and took that to the license office with a death certificate and they ***led it to both of us and it only cost $25 total, That lawyer was pissed when she told him I already done it.

A friend of mine owns a junk yard and rents to a tow company, he told me that an impound/tow yard can get the info you need from the state, they have to send a notice out to the owner when they impound a car so if you know someone that works in a tow yard you can ask them to get it for you.

 

Guys, lets not beat a dead horse. The truck is still registered to someone, he cannot use Broadway ***le. He needs a way to find the contact info for the person its registered to.

johnboy13 there have been some suggestions given through the thread that make sense.

One more thought, I have seen this idea come up in a few threads, find out if you can file for a mechanics/storage lean. This would give you an opportunity to get the POs name and addy and give you a financial stake in the car if the PO decides to screw with you, which he likely will not.

 

I might have caught a break today, I work with a guy that is the Fire Cheif for a local small town. I asked him about it this morning and he said he has a couple of buddies that are cops. I gave him the VIN, and he's going to see if he can find anything out.

 

My Fire Chief buddy got the info for me. Thanks for all the tips. John

 

Where there is a will, there is a way.

 

public data account, pm me the state and vin number and I'll look to see if its in their database.

 

Sorry I did not read entire thread, but in Tx all you do is go to the DMV office, fill out a form and pay $2.00. Not sure about your state, but thought that might help a few fellow Texas guys.

 

Well, I went to track the guy down last night, and the address I was given doesn't exist, and has never existed. TurboRoadster, PM sent.

 

That DMV clerk has you chasing your own ***, they shooed you off. Recognize it.

Now realize that in these situations no 2 clerks will give you the same answer. Live in enough states and deal with enough DMVs and you'll realize it.

Go back to the DMV. Perhaps even a different location. Answer questions with yes and no, don't provide backstory. Don't let them shoo you away without talking to a supervisor and getting contact info. You're not doing this maliciously, you're doing this because the supervisor is the one with the power to push your paperwork. Most people don't realize it, but they'll almost act like a caseworker for you. It's in their best interest that you don't come back 5 times and consume resources. If they resist, do your best to filibuster and consume counter time. Write down names so when you come back you can reference conversations directly.

You're probably gonna have a wait period & police VIN check. Might even have to bond it. But there IS a procedure in place for your situation.

good luck

 

It wasn't a DMV clerk that got me the address, it was my buddy. Either the address was written down wrong on the piece of paper he gave me, or it was entered wrong into the system. Either way, I've been dealing with a very nice lady at a privately owned ***le service. She told me that she was heading to the capital today and would personally get a printout of the address listed with the VIN. If I know what address is actually on the ***le, whether it exists in real life or not, I can get a new ***le.

 

Just an update for those of you that are interested. I've gotten all of the paperwork taken care of, but just need to come up with an extra 274 bucks to get it all finalized. It really wasn't that difficult once I had someone that knew the laws to help me out.

 

Well, I filed all of the paperwork this week. I'll know by the first of September if it all went through.

 

The ***le came yesterday, my truck is officially 100% legit.