People seek to find the registered owner of a vehicle for various reasons. For some users, the motivation is to trace a car sold years ago but they couldn’t recall the buyer¹. Or maybe, like this enthusiastic car owner², you’re interested in contacting the previous owners to learn some stories and the history of the vehicle.

While the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) doesn’t disclose vehicle owner information for personal purposes, you can take advantage of online searches and networks to find the registered owner of a vehicle. Or at least, you’ll know how the vehicle ownership changes and get some clues about its current or past owners.

Method 1 – Contact the local DMV

According to the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act³, the state DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) is restricted from disclosing crucial personal information unless for legitimate and permissible purposes. That includes legitimate business, insurance underwriting, civil or criminal processing, etc.

If the aforementioned reasons apply to your situation, you can visit the website of your state DMV or a field office to request relevant vehicle records. You may need to submit paperwork (like the INF 70 in California) and pay a fee for the search.

Method 2 – Check the bill of sale

If you’re looking to find the owner of a vehicle you previously sold, start by retrieving your bill of sale. This formal document records the transfer of the vehicle and typically contains the buyer’s name and address.

Once you have the person’s name, you can search for it on Google or a people search engine below to acquire contact details like phone numbers, email addresses, or social media profiles.

Method 3 – Get a vehicle history report

While a vehicle history report may not reveal the vehicle owner’s names, it provides valuable insights into the vehicle’s history, such as how the ownership changes, if and where it’s listed for sale or auction, etc. 

Option 1 – BeenVerified

BeenVerified is one of the best all-around tools for searching for everyday information about people and vehicles. Crawling billions of public records from leading sources, it will offer you a wealth of information such as a vehicle’s ownership history and cost, damage, accident, and maintenance records, as well as possible market value.

Enter VIN or License Plate >>

1) Visit the BeenVerified vehicle search page.

2) Either enter a VIN number or a license plate + State to search. Click the SEARCH button and you’re good to go.

3) Unlock the report when it completes. You can take a look at Ownership History and Sale Listings to collect the information you need.

Apart from offering vehicle history, BeenVerified can help you verify a private seller to safeguard your car purchase. 

When an Illinois buyer was purchasing a used car, he didn’t realize the car was not registered to the seller until issues arose during title transfer⁴. To avoid these scams, also known as title jumping, you could search by the seller’s name, check his/her assets details, and ensure you’re dealing with the legitimate owner.

Option 2 – Bumper

Bumper is a professional service for online vehicle searches. If you want to know your vehicle better, look no further. Search with Bumper to acquire the vehicle’s accident history, salvage and branded titles, standard equipment, manufacturer recalls, equipment and trim specifications, sale history, market value, ownership costs and much more details.

1) Go to Bumper’s official website.

2) Select a search type (by VIN or license plate), input the information required, and click SEARCH.

3) Wait a couple of minutes for the report to get ready. It will search through the database and provide you with every piece of vehicle records available. If you’re on mobile, download the app to view the report at your fingertips.

Method 4 – Hire a private investigator

It’s a good idea to hire a private investigator who can track down information efficiently based on your needs. Simply search online for a licensed private investigation company or detective agency in your area and do your due diligence.

Read the customer reviews about the agency, and check the investigator’s credentials to see if they have the specialty to meet your purposes. Also, talk with them as it’s important that you’re comfortable working with the person. Professional private investigators with proper credentials may access DMV data or public records kept from regular people.

Method 5 – Post searching ads online

If you can’t trace your old car or identify the owner with the approaches above, consider posting searching ads on online public platforms such as any car-related forums, social media like Facebook groups or Reddit, and local community spaces.

Clearly state why you’re looking for the vehicle and share as many details as possible, such as the VIN, old pictures, specifications, etc. There may be plenty of people willing to assist in your search.

Hopefully this post helps you find out the registered owner of a vehicle. If you have more questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment below. We’ll be glad to get back to you.

1. r/askcarguys [firstorbit]. (2022, June 11). Is there any way to look up owner info by VIN? Or how would you find a car that you sold 15 years ago? [Online forum post]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/askcarguys/comments/v9zmo2/is_there_any_way_to_look_up_owner_info_by_vin_or/ ↩︎
2. r/cars [Titansilber]. (2020, May 20). Anyone ever reach out to the previous owner of one of their cars? [Online forum post]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/gn7z3n/anyone_ever_reach_out_to_the_previous_owner_of/ ↩︎
3. Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994. In Wikipedia. ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver%27s_Privacy_Protection_Act/ ↩︎
4. [GKE30M3]. (2011, March 23). Title Issue Dishonest Seller [Online forum post]. bimmerforums. https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1625876-Title-Issue-Dishonest-Seller ↩︎