Does anybody have any tips how I can track down the previous owners of my 85? Washington state DOL will not give me any info. Said it was confidential. The guy I bought it from is less than forthcoming and carfax is a joke.
Thanks
JW

 

JW - it's next to impossible and yes the information is confidential! How many owners do you suspect? There's an Experian service called "Check My Ride" which it seems accomplishes it but how effectively I certainly don't know. I've never used it and can't imagine that I would be interested in trying to. It may also only be a service that would let you "follow" maybe a previously owned vehicle NOT look for previous owners.

You looking for the guy with the "white brush"?

-Dave

 

Depending on local laws you could hire a private investigator who may have more resources and be able to either get you the list of names, addresses of prior owners OR

Do like everyone else and put up a facebook page of your car with vin number, "start networking if anyone has owned this" car and you may be surprised how quickly previous owners pop up out of the woodwork.

The great thing about carfax is that it gives you a great start on what areas and what dealers sold the car, put up ads in those cities and townships and network through those cities car clubs, ALL car clubs cause you never know where your vette has been someone may recognize it !!!

Also put a free ad on craigslist, you would be surprised most serious craigslisters search nationwide using spider bot freeware search engines to locate hard to find parts nationwide on CL, then arrange purchase and shipping to get what they want if they cannot find it locally it's worked for me !!

PROVIDING of course you are not looking for them for ominous reasons previous owners would love to know what happened to their beloved vette.

Case in point i did this and found the car i drove in high school just by networking, turns out it met it's match at the crusher years ago but i can sleep now knowing that it's in a better place than rotting in someone's back yard.

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks Guys. According to the Car Fax report there has been 5 different Titles issued for this Vette since 1992. Car Fax only goes back 20 years and mine is a 85. After finding out (as you may remember from my RPO Confusion thread) the car started out as Dark Bronze Metalic and is now White upper and bronze lower. Added to this the current title list the car as White/Siver. Now I wonder if the 86K on the meter is correct. However it runs great and looks great so maybe I will just leave it alone and enjoy.
JW

 

Kentucky allows the dealer to give you the previous owners contact info...

 

I didn't read the rpo thread, ( post the link on this thread ) but proving mileage is really really really difficult, if it was rare and you had to do it to prove value at the concours level then getting affidavits from each owner that they only drove the car x amount of miles each year etc etc would make sense.

Why exactly do you need to know who the prior owners were? if you don't mind me asking.

 

I just treat my Vette like part of my family and I guess I'm part a purist so, I would like to know the history. Kind of wanting to know your wife,s history... Maybe not a good idea.

 

Being dis-respectful with crass humor won't get you the help you seem to so desperately need. I don't appreciate it and neither will the moderators ! be mindful of that when posting and grow up.

 

Sorry. Didn't mean to be dis-respectful. Please accept my apology.

 

Apology accepted, thank you, good luck in your search.

 

Seriously???

Perhaps he meant his wife, not yours. Regardless, get a grip.

 

I agree. He meant his own wife.

 

you know any cops?

 

Similar happening to me when trying to find out about my Corvette.

I am from Australia and my car came from Illinois. I tried the Illinois Department of Transport people to get information on the salvage titles I saw on car fax. I got no help at all and got the confidential thing.

Not interested in the owners details but rather what happened to warrant a salvage title. I told them the car is in Australia and I am not after the previous owners details.

Anyhow have emailed the original selling dealer to see if they can help me.

 

Send me the info, I live in Illinois let me see can I call in favor: tryonetaylor@sbcglobal.net

 

I stand corrected if i misunderstood his intentions. Now i must apologize if his post lead me to think otherwise.

 

I think he meant in general...like a guy asking his wife her history before he met her, and not really wanting to know who's been there before. So let's all take a chill pill and worry about Corvettes while on CF.

 

I lucked out and found the temp registration (the one the dealer puts on your windshield) in my owners manual.

 

I'd like to know where my 79 is now. I'm sure the owner would like the window and tank sticker.

 

Gentleman,
My post was wrong and inapproprate. It was a bad attemp at humor. I certainly was not referring to HIS WIFE!
JW