I have posted this before, but I still can't find any information on how to locate (assuming it is still registered) a GM car with a 13 digit VIN. I actually went to my local police dept and asked them. They were not of much help. So what does law enforcement do if someone reports a stolen vehicle with a 13 digit VIN? How do they look it up if it still licensed and registered somewhere?

 

Abandon the computers for old-fashioned methods ... phonebooks ... oh, what are those?

 

Maybe the state you reside in does not allow non-police inquiries and the officer felt it was easier to tell you they couldn't help.

 

Lots of cars are still being registered with 13 digit VIN. So the DMV, Insurance Companies, etc, all know about them.
So of course the police can check on a VIN if it is registered.

So why do you NEED to locate this car?
No matter your answert I can see why the police do not want to help you if you are not filing a police report.
Too many thieves out there.

 

Law Enforcement has access to data bases which the public does not have. That access also prohibits them from releasing the information due to confidentiality concerns. That's likely to be the reason your local police could not help you.

 

I am an LEO lose your job today for data violations. 13 digit vins until 1983 when they went to 17 digit which is still current.
All mv depts can register a pre 1983 vin.
What do yoi think they do with a Ford model A?
You will not get anything from the pd.
Marshal

 

I ran into this same problem trying to locate a 1978 Silver Anniversary Corvette I bought new. Find a car dealer and have them run a car fax, it still works on those old serial numbers. It will tell you if the car is still licensed, or if the title is branded as salvage, stolen, or clean or whatever. Might even tell you what state it is licensed in. After that, try state DMV, and Corvette Clubs in the area. After a 6 month search I found my old car, but the present owner will not sell.

 

you can run a title report from NMVTIS (checkmyvin.com and others).. cost you 5 bucks or so..
most states subscribe to this database and the report will tell you of any brands ( stolen/flooded etc..) on the title.. if the title and owner still exist.
It might even tell you of old brands and how they later showed up as washed..thats why washing titles doesn't work any more.
you will not get a name, but you may get a state and the data is only as good as the person entering the data.
for example, a car may have changed hands in texas on 2010 and be on the report, but may have changed hands other times/other states and not be on the report.. especially older sales where many states were less compelled to subscribe to the MNVTIS.

you will never get who owns it or where the car is, just a title history and any brands on it.
you can always call the DMV and ask them to run a report to see if it shows up as stolen..I have done that before researching cars I might buy.
probably the police can tell you the same thing but that is all they will tell you.

 

Any luck with your vin search?

 

try this https://www.nicb.org/vincheck

 

I'm really curious as to your motives. Did you own this car at one time and want to reconnect? Do you have a valuable part for the car and want to reunite it with the car?

Without a special connection with law enforcement or some other access to a nationwide database, you're back to starting with the last verified contact for the car and trying to follow leads from there. However, I recently asked Arizona for my own information on a car I still own but which was moved out of state in '95. What I wanted to know was the date I originally titled it in the state (gathering history of the car just for my own files). I supplied the title #, vin#, my name, the plate it had - even sent a scan of the AZ title. Their reply was that their database of inactive titles only goes back 7 years. My point in telling you this is that if the car has not kept a current registration, it may be invisible to modern databases.

Be mindful that this type of search should be difficult, in my opinion. I don't want some schmo who got access to production records or whatever deciding to look up my VIN and contacting me. Reminds me of Oregon way back - maybe 20, 25 years ago, in which you could enter a license # in an online database and get the registration name and address. Talk about creepy for female drivers!

 

Hi,

Not exactly true that you will not get help from a police department. It depends on what you are looking for. I purchased a 73 Corvette with a defective title, in the VIN the Z was an X. I needed to know if this was a simple typo or was it a way to get a stolen Vette registered. I explained the issue (regular people can't look up 13 character VIN). I asked if the correct VIN was ever reported as stolen, answer no. I asked if there were any flags that would come up if the incorrectly listed VIN vehicle were pulled over for some sort of violation, answer no. I knew going in about the VIN / title issue, got a fantastic deal on my Corvette as I did all the leg work getting the title fixed. So, ask reasonable questions and you can get reasonable answers, but that doesn't mean asking what the original poster wanted to know was in any way reasonable. Russ.

 

"I'm really curious as to your motives"

This was the first brand new car I ever bought. I drove it for 4 or 5 years and sold it. If its still registered somewhere, I would like to find it, but its a tough job. The search is as interesting as actually finding it. I once finally located a 1928 Essex super Six that used belong to a great Uncle. It took several months, but I finally found it.

 

Good luck with the search. It may help to offer a little more information here and maybe the NCRS forum: serial #, old pics, the history as you know it, etc. You never know who may have some knowledge about it.

 

Red08,

I would think the first place to start would be to find out if the vehicle has been "junked" or not. If you were friendly with a police officer you might get that level of information (might not). Or perhaps asked an insurance company to let you know if the VIN is still associated with the Vehicle or was it totaled in the past (payout for being stolen, etc). An insurance company should have that information or access to it. No sense looking for a vehicle that doesn't exist. Good luck. Russ

 

Post the VIN of the car and a number of us will check out sources (we always seem to do this) and let you know if the car still exists, etc.