Tracing a car...

Sids Not

I've been offered a car by a mate who has it in garage of his soon to be new house....problem is theres no reg no. or paperwork..just the chassis no. is there any way i can get replacement doc's for it or is it not worth the trouble....its a minor traveller..not too bad nick either...

trevorbrady

I'd be interested to know too, I'm in the same boat with a beetle...

Silvera

If you contact your local motor tax office (or better still write to an 'Authorized Officer' there) and explain the situation ...including as much info as possible about the car (make model, chassis number, approx year, colour, current owner/location etc etc) they MAY be able to find the reg number for you (for a small fee i'd imagine).

Actually, i'd suggest that your mate writes to the motor tax office - as he is the current legal owner of the vehicle (you could type up the letter and have him sign it).

I'm presuming that your mate IS the legal owner of the car ? The previous house owner sold it with the house to him, yes?

Failing this perhaps the Morris Minor Owners Club (Ireland or UK) may be able to trace some info for you via the chassis no.

In a worst case scenario, perhaps your mate could transfer the ownership of the car to you (via an RF2 form) using the chassis no ....and you could apply for a ZV registration number?! (Not as nice as getting the original reg back on it, but at least it would be road-legal again).

P.S. I'm guessing there are no scraps of paper in the car anywhere (e.g. under the rear seat) with the reg no mentioned on it (e.g old service reciept or tax disc)??

Let us know how you get on!

Sids Not

No paperwork whatsoever, as the house wont be his for a couple of weeks...we cant do much really...but i'm guessing only the original owner (deceased now) can apply for new documents, the builder who's selling the house said he was going to keep it himself if he could find the papers..but couldnt..limbo me thinks....dont want to see another irish car dumped..:(..
I'll get onto the local office on monday and let ye know the score, unless anyone here has the info already..

carchaeologist

I went in with the beetle book last week to change it into my name,iv a replacement book with only 2 owners out of 5 in it,i asked could i get the previous owners names and the said no,and wouldnt argue..grr:mad:
I thought they had to give that info to you if you asked??

cantdecide

A previous modern bike of mine- a '99 Bandit had at one stage been abandoned. It was laid up behind a rented house and neither the owner or any recent tenants were able to figure out who the owner was. A previous owner went to the guards and asked if it had ever been reported stolen, which it hadn't. He employed a solicitor a somehow claimed it.

(In fairness, its red paint had gone -literally- white on the plastics and it didn't have wheels, clocks, a seat so it clearly wasn't worth much or anything. It also hadn't been taxed since 2003 IIRC, which I found out when I went to tax it. The previous owner replaced all of the missing gear and between the further repairs and refinements, it really became a nice bike again http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icX9mMNUIu8 nearly brought a tear to my eye to see it come back to life)

Proves there is a mechanism for claiming abandoned cars.