Can you get the contact details of the previous owner of a car ?

forgotmyname

Ask for the logbook so that you can check the numbers match...

Name & address on there. Whether you can get a contact number thought will depend
if they are ex-directory.

property.advert

forgotmyname wrote: »

Ask for the logbook so that you can check the numbers match...

Name & address on there. Whether you can get a contact number thought will depend
if they are ex-directory.

That is true but thinking outside the box can often produce a work around.

bigjl

Jakg wrote: »

Not neccesarily - I was looking at a car, and the seller showed me the V5 - I took a photo (I was going alone looking for a car for the first time so I took a photo of *everything* as I have a rubbish memory). On the front it shows the previous owners details... I gave him a call.

I asked him about the "FSH" the dealer assured me the car had (no stamps, all with xxxx MG Rover main dealer who I could contact if I want - as it happened they'd gone bust so I couldn't) which turned out to be "my mate changed the oil filter once in my 35k mile ownership". He also said he hadn't really cared for the car, explained all the little problems I hadn't noticed and was intrigued to know where the car ended up. It was also nice to know the dealer I was dealing with was a bit of a liar (with the cars history) and was a bit tight (took the tax and cashed it in...)

He could be 100% honest because it doesn't matter what he says.

Another example - first ZT I saw, called the previous owner - he was an old guy, basically paid whatever the dealer said doing, loved the car, and only sold to get something newer - a few minor issues but besides that it was fine.

I always call the previous owner if it's a dealer...

Of course this doesn't rule out the previous owner who thinks he got a bad deal when he traded his car in and tells a load of lies when phoned up by somebody out of the blue.

If the prospective buyer of a car I had traded in phoned me up I would tell them to leave me alone, if buying a car is so stressful that you have resort to phoning the previous owners and harassing people due to not being able to assess wether you should buy a car or not then maybe you should just stick to main dealer, fully prepared cars.

The poster of the above quote, was this recently, or a while ago, because for a fair few months only the registered keeper can cash in the tax. But if the dealer did this is this really being tight or just good business practice, if a dealer sells a hundred cars a year, normal for a small dealer, then if he gets on average £50 back on every car then that is £5000pa, would you give away £5000pa, no, business is business.

flutterbyuk25

property.advert wrote: »

Thanks to you and the others who suggested this. It appears I was not totally mistaken then.

Do you know if this information is available online ?

No it's not. Can only be done by post via DVLA with a specific form (V888 - unless it's changed). And it can only be requested once you are the registered keeper not beforehand.

HTH

x

property.advert

flutterbyuk25 wrote: »

No it's not. Can only be done by post via DVLA with a specific form (V888 - unless it's changed). And it can only be requested once you are the registered keeper not beforehand.

HTH

x

The context in which I thought I had seen this come up was in relation to a car which you did not own, which perhaps you had reason to question and I was surprised that DVLA were obliged to give out your details. It was the shock that someone could just ask for your details out of the blue, seemingly without providing a reason, which made it stick in my mind.

I appreciate that either the article I refer to or my recollection may not be totally correct but I am not sure the article would have been written had there not been some "shock" factor.

sassy_one

You may find the previous registered keepers details on the V5, this shows the last 'Registered Keeper' before the current one.

Failing this, unless you have a valid reason to know the details of it's registered keepers/owners then under the Data Protection Act, you would not be able to obtain that information.

Jakg

bigjl wrote: »

If the prospective buyer of a car I had traded in phoned me up I would tell them to leave me alone, if buying a car is so stressful that you have resort to phoning the previous owners and harassing people due to not being able to assess wether you should buy a car or not then maybe you should just stick to main dealer, fully prepared cars.

*rolls eyes*


I'm more than capable of looking at a car, thanks, but there are only so many things that you will notice in half an hour vs the years the owner had the car. Yes the owner could lie... but realistically who will be that quick and vindictive?

I wouldn't call it "harrasing" - both owners were very interested to know what happened to their cars, and were more than happy to answer my questions.

Jakg

Oh and the other useful thing about calling was keys - one of the cars had only one key, and a new key is ~£200 and a 2-3 week wait for my car. Often, after trading in the car the old key turns up, or getting a call from the new owner with the offer of some hard-earned helps them find it.

When I called the guy he traded the car in about 2 weeks before I called, it had 2 keys. The "dealer" (2 guys, trading from a lockup, no warranties and not really a business in the eyes of HMRC) was not exactly the most trustworthy partnership in the world, and I wasn't overly happy that either they or the garage it was P/X'ed at had a second key to my new car... they only need to look at the V5 to find it, and my insurance wont pay out if it was stolen with the keys.

In the end I bought my car from an owners club - luckily they have quite an active forum and the last two owners were members so I can trace it's history of issues back over several years

sassy_one

Jakg wrote: »

*rolls eyes*


I'm more than capable of looking at a car, thanks, but there are only so many things that you will notice in half an hour vs the years the owner had the car. Yes the owner could lie... but realistically who will be that quick and vindictive?

I wouldn't call it "harrasing" - both owners were very interested to know what happened to their cars, and were more than happy to answer my questions.

Agreed.

I have brought cars that seemed fine, even after a test drive and looking at them for an hour, but a week or so down the line you start noticing all those 'minor' things that you missed before as they were either to small or something that is intermittent

patman99

I mus admit that after I'd bought a Renault Espace, I wrote to the previous owner (ex directory) to ask when the timing belt was replaced being that the car had 125k on the clock. Got a phone call from them, they were more than happy to answer my questions.