Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2015 00:55:31 +0000
Reply-To: Robert Keezer <warmerwagen@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Robert Keezer <warmerwagen@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Lost owner info, VIN lookup?
In-Reply-To: <347F948F-4CE7-4D81-9098-012D0B46E803@icloud.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
In my State of Washington, you call and make a vehicle inspection appointment with the State Patrol,, which costs $50.00.
You must drive it or tow it to the inspection location.
They search the VIN to see if it's stolen, and the last owner was.
If they find there's a owner, it could mean the buyer didn't transfer the title into his name, so the car is still under the ownership of the last owner.
Or that he illegally ditched it.
If they successfully contact the owner who presumably abandoned it, they may have the vehicle impounded by a tow company, and the owner will be summoned to retrieve his vehicle and pay the towing and storage charges.
The owner and you can work out a sale if he doesn't want it.
Or, the tow yard will auction it off or sell it, and you could purchase it from them.
If the owner can not be found, then they can issue you a temporary registration, good for three years.
If the original owner doesn't claim the vehicle after 3 years, you bring your documents to a local licensing agency and apply for a title and plates.
A friend and I found a abandoned utility trailer years ago and he applied for the temp registration and used it for three years before applying for a title.I sold a Vanagon 12 years ago that the buyer neglected to transfer into his name.Twice I was contacted to come and my Vanagon, once by a two company and another by the City of Seattle.
Both instances the "buyer" retrieved his Vanagon.
Ten years later, in 2012, I got a notice in the mail from Seattle demanding $600.00 in unpaid parking tickets. Unreal.That Vanagon could still be out there after all these years, still in my name.
Hmmm-maybe I should try to locate it and reclaim it if it's abandoned, or "owned "by someone else.It was a two-toned blue 84 with a sunroof.
And so there is a very common example of how cars end up without titles and eventually abandoned.
Most likely these cars aren't stolen, but I'm listing the URL below to a new article about a man who retrieved his Austin Healey 40 years after it was stolen.
Robert1982 Westfaliahttp://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/07/12/man-finds-car-stolen-over-40-years-ago-on-ebay/
I have a situation, My brother is the lead at a VW dealer, and they are looking into selling 3 vw’s with lost owner information, by a mechanics lien. They have been abandoned there for years. One is out of state with a cali tag, one is instate with a texas tag and the other is missing a plate.
Any luck with anyone locating owner information with a VIN, car fax does not share previous owner information, I just finished chatting with them.
Thanks.
ADam Butler
Florence, TX
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