Can you get vehicle info from the DVLA using owner info?

[sazshx]

Bit of an odd question this I suppose, so please bare with me.

I was having a long chat with the old man about the cars he has had in the past... and eventually it dawned on him now that he cannot actually remember for certain what cars he has had in the past anymore, which is a shame for someone so into their cars. As a typical older man who dislikes change and technology, he is not really up with the "computer thing" and I have agreed to at least find out if there is a way of finding out what he has owned in the past - I suppose in part to show him that the internet is not just a place for fraudsters and mail-order brides (the latter of which he is actually ok with).

I suspect the answer to all of these points is going to be a resounding "no", but I guess the crux of the question is:
1 - Is it possible to get information on the cars he has had (make, model etc) from the DVLA using his name/address/date of birth etc?
2 - If it is possible, would this be something he would have to request from the DVLA or something I could do on his behalf?
3 - Out of interest, would it also be possible to get this info on what a deceased relative might have owned using their name/address etc? (Not really what I'm after but I figure anyone else interested in doing something similar might be coming at it from this angle and, well, I'm already asking the question)

I have seen a few forums detailing that it is possible to get the information of an owner using a registration plate (V888 form) if there are reasonable circumstances, e.g. parking on private land. I guess this is the same question, but the other way around, asking for car info based on owner info? The V888 form doesn't appear to cover this, as it needs the info I don't have (car info) to yield the info I do have (owner info).

Anybody out there have any ideas?

(Admins I'm not sure if you are going to happy with where I put this discussion so if you want to move it, please just go ahead)

Cheers

[Jurassic pork]

Top lurking!

As for your question, you can get what is called car ancestry, but as for doing an owner ancestry, I'd have thought that the DVSA would only be allowed to keep personal data for a certain period of time before destroying it.

[akirk]

You can’t even get it by car now - changed last year...

[TooMany2cvs]

akirk said:

You can’t even get it by car now - changed last year...

But that's asking for previous keeper history - which is personal identifying information under the DPA/GDPR. So they probably should never have been giving that out, but GDPR has focussed minds.

sazshx said:

I suspect the answer to all of these points is going to be a resounding "no", but I guess the crux of the question is:
1 - Is it possible to get information on the cars he has had (make, model etc) from the DVLA using his name/address/date of birth etc?

DoB won't help any, because it's not part of the V5C RK info. I've never heard of them giving that info out, but I don't think there's a solid reason why they (politically/legally) couldn't. You'd need to give all past addresses. FoI request would probably be the way to go about it.

Whether it's possible, technically, is a different question. The keeper details are indexed by registration - I very much doubt they've done any kind of OCR on the older info, which seems to be stored on fiche, going by what they've previously sent from V888 requests.

And even then, DVLA only started in the mid 70s. I'm guessing you'd want older info, for stuff that quite probably was scrapped before the centralisation, so would never have got to Swansea from the old county council registration archives - and if that exists at all, it'll certainly all be on paper.

sazshx said:

2 - If it is possible, would this be something he would have to request from the DVLA or something I could do on his behalf?

The request would need to be from him.

sazshz said:

3 - Out of interest, would it also be possible to get this info on what a deceased relative might have owned using their name/address etc?

No, it'd need to be from the subject themselves.

[sazshx]

Cheers for the replies everyone.

I figured that logically at least SOME information must exist, as you can trace the owner of a vehicle from its registration plate. But it does stand to reason that the DVLA wouldn't dish this information out freely, if ever, and that if they did store it then it would only be for an arbitrary amount of time.

However, I must ask what you mean by FoI - freedom of information? Are you implying my father could ring up the DVLA and access any information the DVLA had about him, including previous cars and addresses? Would they be obliged to give it, as it is his info?

Also he started driving in '67 or 68, so I presume at least some of the information would still be on paper, if they had it at all. I highly doubt it would ever be traced, but it would be interesting to find it all.

Thanks for your input.

[Mojooo]

They will not give it out under FOI I suspect and they probably don't offer it as a service because of data protection concerns and they can't be arsed with the aggro.