I need to know if it’s possible to use a VIN to track down the previous owner of http://www.westcoastfieros.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1770&KW=Patrick - the ‘84 Fiero I’ve been working on recently. No, not because I want to yell at him.

I bought this car almost five and a half years ago (September of 2004) and had it towed to my place as it had unknown clutch/tranny problems. It’s been sitting in my back yard ever since, up until a couple of months ago when I trailered it to Clynt’s place to swap out the tranny. The previous owner and I signed the appropriate paperwork, but I never did register the car in my name. The Fiero is now ready to drive, and guess what... I can’t find the paperwork!

I vaguely remember putting the registration etc in an envelope for "safe keeping" years ago, and I suspect it’s around somewhere, but I can’t find it.

Man oh man I feel so stupid. I can’t insure the car because I have no paperwork to show ICBC for it. As far as ICBC is concerned, this Fiero still belongs to the previous owner. Of course I can’t remember the fella’s name after all this time, so I can’t just phone him up to re-do the paperwork.

ICBC says there actually is a procedure I can go through where I have to get a document notarized, and then ICBC will contact the previous owner to have him contact me. Apparently this all takes about a month!

Man oh man, have I mentioned yet how stupid I feel.

So back to my original question - Is there a way I can use the VIN to contact the previous owner directly (without jumping through all the hoops that ICBC insists I have to)?

If you know of a way of doing it, but would prefer not mentioning it in a public forum, please please please send me a PM. Thanks.

This info is also no doubt available at the click of a mouse to anyone working as an insurance broker.

Someone here might work in such a position, or know of someone who does.

any RCMP officer can also do it.  

Trust me they can, they pulled me over when I was younger and just got my Fiero at 17, and the cop ran my vin to make sure I was the real owner of it.  (17 year old kid diring a newer at the time sports car in the bad area of town) 

I am sure the cops up here can do the same.

Privacy Act prevents them giving out details like this.  Not even sure agents can get it.

If you had a car abandoned on your property, you could make application to find out who owned it. That might help.

If the guy has died or left the country, you are in a barrel if shzt!

On the cars coming int the contry that need restoration before they can be mechanically inspected, they will not transfer before they are restored and inspected, maybe years and many thousands of dollars later.

I've told them how silly that is and they respond that they don't want anyone to be able to get cheap storage insurance for a hulk.  I told them easy - on cars coming into BC, simply note that they can't be insured, even for storage, until inspected and licencable, but fer Krisake do the transfer of title so people know they own them.  If you take a long time to restore a car and happen to lose the paperwork....

Hope the originl owner is still around for you!

There are probably all sorts of people in positions to acquire contact info from running a search on a VIN. As Bill says though, "privacy laws" prevent this info from being readily distributed.

It's not like I'm looking for the previous owner's banking information. All I need is his name and phone number. I obviously had access to both of these when I bought the car five years ago!  

In case anyone out there can help me out, here's the VIN for this '84 Fiero...

1G2AM37R1EP205568

When I bought the car, the previous owner lived in Richmond. Please don't post the contact info here, but instead email it to me at mailto:mnofony@yahoo.com - mnofony@yahoo.com  

If you feel awkward at all about supplying this contact info due to "privacy laws", please send it to me anonymously if you wish. Either way, it'll just be between you and I.

I would really really appreciate it if someone could help me out here. Thanks.

Dr.Fiero wrote: If you frequent a particular autoplan office (as I do) where they pretty much know you by face - could you not have THEM contact the previous owner (since we know THEY have access to the info), and have him contact you? Then there's been no dissemination of info on their part, and you still get what you need.

Seems sensible to you and me, but I went to the same insurance office that I've been going to for the last twelve years for both my car and house insurance, and no go. Some people are just too stuck on "rules", no matter how silly and/or impractical they may be in a particular situation.

Dr.Fiero wrote: ...and let this be a lesson to everyone else to FILE your stuff!

Oh believe me, I've learned a valuable (and painful) lesson!

Because ICBC is known for it's warm and helpful nature, don't you find?

Alas, my '84 is still in limbo.

I was back at my insurance agent's today renewing the insurance on my GT. I didn't want to renew the insurance on this Fiero, but I had no choice as the '84 is still in legal limbo.

Dr.Fiero wrote: If you frequent a particular autoplan office (as I do) where they pretty much know you by face - could you not have THEM contact the previous owner (since we know THEY have access to the info), and have him contact you? Then there's been no dissemination of info on their part, and you still get what you need.

I begged and pleaded with the staff there to look up the previous owner's name of the '84 using the VIN, and then phoning the fella and asking him to please phone me. They didn't want to "bend" the rules without checking with the owner of the insurance agency. They got the owner of the insurance agency on the phone and he was sympathetic, but he informed us that the VIN by itself wouldn't be enough to do me any good. Sure enough, when the staff actually tried to see what they could find, the VIN alone wasn't enough to get us anywhere. At least the first three letters of the previous owners last name are also required. Since I don't remember his name, I'm still screwed.

Damn it, damn it, damn it...

A bit of news for those of you sitting on the edges of your seats the last few months...

Today I stumbled across the signed transfer papers for the car. The registration papers weren't with them (that would make it too easy), but at least I now have the fella's name and address (might be an old address, but that's okay).

I believe I've even tracked down contact info for the fella using his name along with Google and Facebook, so I've sent him a message (as I have no phone number for him and it's not listed) to see if he's the right guy.

Anyway, some progress has finally been made. 

HUZZAH! In my similar story, I still haven't gotten my GMC Sierra put into my name (In paper, the old owner still owns the vehicle), but I did find a Chevy 350 for free, and am looking for a supercharger to mount on it after.

Torque = Le ridiculous.

Yee haw!

I just got an email from the fella I bought the '84 Fiero from. He still lives in Richmond where he lived five years ago, just at a different address.

I need to get in touch with him now and set up a time that we can go together to an Autoplan office and have new registration papers made up.

Persistence pays off!

Capt Fiero wrote: Just hope that now that you have it fixed he doesn't refuse to sign the papers.

Wouldn't that be peachy!

I believe this fella's fine, but yeah, I'll be glad when this is all done properly and legal.

Pat: Yeah, I just finished putting in about five thousand dollars, and hundreds of hours making the car perfect.

Guy: Yeah, I just had some fool put about five thousand dollars, and hundreds of hours into making my car perfect.

Romeo wrote: Pat: Yeah, I just finished putting in about five thousand dollars, and hundreds of hours making the car perfect.

Just to dispel any rumours before they get started...

No, I did not put anything like $5000 into this Fiero.

No, the car is not perfect.

Ummm... yeah, by the time I'm "finished" with this Fiero I probably will have put hundreds of hours into it.

Romeo wrote: Guy: Yeah, I just had some fool put about five thousand dollars, and hundreds of hours into making my car perfect.

Ain't gonna happen.

I met up with the previous owner of my '84 on the weekend. It turns out he's a pretty good guy. He's also actually had five or so Fieros in the past. The last one he had he converted over to a Ferrari re-body (308 ? 328 ? ... I forget) with panels he made himself from moulds he had bought.

So anyway, it's offical now... I finally have this car registered in my own name.