Tracing a previous car you owned....Help..

[tommocft]

Need some help/fresh ideas on how i can track down my old 1969 280SL Pagoda.

I sold this car back in 92, and have being trying to track it down for the last 10 years. As it had a private plate on it that i took of when i sold all the info i had left to go on was the chassis number. Anyway after some digging i eventually found new Reg which is BAN124G. So contacted DVLA to see if they could provide me with new owners details but due to data protection that cant help..

So now at stale mate... Im desperate to buy this car back it has a huge sentimental value to me.

Can anyone help.???? Happy to pay for info..

[M4cruiser]

This Merc has been unlicensed since 19 Nov 2012 - usually means it's no longer around - because if the tax just ran out it would have been at the end of a month.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Could it have been SORNed? A car like that is unlikely to be run into the ground and scrapped...

[NadiR]

Just ran a quick check on the askMID insurance database, and the car is coming up as insured.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Well, let's look again at how 'one' CAN get the details from the DVLA.

'Interested' parties CAN get the registered keeper's details from the DVLA. So this includes (obviously) police, customs and most law enforcement agencies.

However, it also includes private parking companies. However, this might mean a huge company like Parking Eye, but it might also include, let's say, a single self-employed individual who has just today started a private parking company, and has seen a vehicle parked on private land that they require the keeper's details for, in order to send a parking invoice to.

So I would imagine such an individual might have to send a letter with the company's logo and address at the top of, to the DVLA, enclosing a cheque for £2.50 (or whatever it is the DVLA charge now - I think that's right) in order to receive a letter from the DVLA with the details required on it.

And even if, for some reason, there's a problem that arises from doing so, there's no guarantee that in the first letter you sent, that the registration you provided was even correct. 'Oh'...you might say...'well that's the reg number of the car I saw parked on my private bit of land...but maybe I mis-read it, or it was a false number plate...'

Failing that, a friendly word and a bung to a private parking company might yield a similar result.

However, this is all hypothetical, and could be fraudulent - so I am not suggesting you do so - just suggesting a merely hypothetical situation...

[tommocft]

Thanks for all your responses. I thought it was maybe not taxed as it is over 30 years old and is tax exempt but I may have this wrong.

Looks good for me that it's insured as to me it's worth something to someone. And potentially still on the road.

Thanks Ray, for creative idea. I didn't think of this in such a hyperthetical stance.
I will let your know how I get on with my new business venture. :-)

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Necessity is often the Mother of invention, as someone somewhere once said...

Best of luck, keep us posted

[longshot]

What story are you planning to use to get them to sell it back to you or are you just going to offer way over it's value?

[tommocft]

Looks like if I take that hyperthetical stance I have to be part of the bpa which is 2k as a basic membership fee. Argh.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/dvla/data/parking.aspx

Longshot... I am planing on making them an offer to good to refuse and hope there are genuine nice people still in this world who will be prepared to sympathize with my whole situation.

[longshot]

Would you like to share the story behind this?
You have my curosity.

[NiceCupOfTea]

I've heard people say that they have got info from the DVLA after an accident and need to trace the other car. I thought it was quite a simple process...

[Google [bot]]

longshot said:

Would you like to share the story behind this?
You have my curosity.

Same. Also watching because I suspect this may have a good ending

[tommocft]

This car was originally owned by my grandfather and had many happy memories driving around in this car as a child.

On his death I was meant to inherit this car but unfortunately when his estate was finalised there was an outstanding balance that needed to be paid and the car was sold to cover this.

As time has past and I became an adult I have been looking to buy this car back for over ten years now but have never been lucky enough to locate it. I have only just found out its new reg today.

I still have the original personalized number plate that was on in when my family owned. I just need the car now to put it back in its rightful place.

[tommocft]

Have downloaded the dvla form not sure how I'm going to play this yet, all I know is what ever I decide that form is going in the post box tomorrow special delivery for Monday.

Watch this space.

Google.... I hope you are right, it's been a long time coming. :-)

[longshot]

Have you tried the owners club to see if you can get some info from there?

Hopefully tomorrow some of the scarily good PH detectives will be able to help you in your quest. Hope so anyway.

[tommocft]

No where do I start.?

Is this the Merc owners club.?

[M159V8]

Best of luck with tracing the owner of the car which hit and ran...or perhaps amidst all the shock you misread the reg, it couldn't possibly have been a classic Merc

[tommocft]

Thanks. Things sometimes do get misconstrued when shock sets in.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

tommocft said:

Have downloaded the dvla form not sure how I'm going to play this yet, all I know is what ever I decide that form is going in the post box tomorrow special delivery for Monday.

Watch this space.

Google.... I hope you are right, it's been a long time coming. :-)

Nice work I'm sure what you require will be forthcoming soon...

[M159V8]

Just wanted to say, a family member was in your position recently and had to request owners details of a certain car from the DVLA, and it was quite a long wait, at least a month if not more, if I rightly recall.