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There are different situations when you need to look up someone by a license plate. Perhaps you want to figure out who frequently parked a car in front of your house or, similar to the experience of an online user1, you hope to find the owner of a possibly abandoned car with intentions of purchasing.
So is it possible to look up someone by license plate and how the process works? This post will have all these questions answered.
Can you find someone by license plate number?
A user has expressed concerns about the possibility of being traced through a license plate number (mainly for malicious purposes such as stalking)2. However, it’s generally not possible. The Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA), enacted in 1994, protects the privacy of individuals and regulates state DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) from disclosing personal information.
Accessing personal information based on license plates requires permissible and legal purposes. Those include government functions, renewal of driver’s licenses, vehicle registration, insurance underwriting, court procedures, safety recall, employment background checks, etc.
If you’re stuck in a hit-and-run accident or witnessed illegal behavior, you should file a police report, and law enforcement will aid in finding out the information. Also, you can contact your insurance company for assistance.
When it comes to purchasing a used car, most buyers are aware of the importance of examining a car’s history by its VIN. However, a Redditor raised a question about whether a license plate lookup can serve the same purpose3. Although such lookups won’t reveal the vehicle’s owner, they offer a wealth of information about the car, including its damage and repair records, ownership, sales listings, market value, and more.
How to look up a license plate?
It’s quite easy to find out a vehicle’s details by a license plate. Here are some methods for you to try.
Method 1 – Run a vehicle search with BeenVerified
BeenVerified is a user-friendly one-stop tool for finding people and vehicle information. Simply by entering a license plate or VIN, a 17-digit identifier of a car, it pulls up extensive data points, including the number of past vehicle owners, specifications, accident history, theft records, ownership cost, and so on.
If you know the license plate owner’s name, search it with BeenVerified below. It will show you the person’s phone number, address, social media profiles, living and work addresses, and even criminal & traffic records (if available)
Method 2 – Look up license plate with EpicVIN
EpicVIN is an NMVTIS-approved data provider and a powerful tool for vehicle searches. With a robust database, it allows you to track down the vehicle history by license plate and reveals loads of valuable information:
- Accidents and salvage records
- Vehicle specifications
- Ownership costs
- Sale listings
- Market value
- Theft records
- Recalls and warranties
1) Go to the official EpicVIN website.
2) Select by US License Plate, enter the number, and click Check.
3) Wait until the results load up and you’ll see different sections of records. Click each section to get more detailed information.
Method 3 – Hire a private investigator
A licensed private investigator may be capable of digging into vehicle data and public records and assist you in finding the car owner for lawful purposes. If you want to verify the ownership of a vehicle, they can also search for the car’s sales history and relevant supporting documents.
However, hiring a private investigator can be expensive as they usually charge an hourly rate for the service.
Hopefully this post helped. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment below.
The Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) was introduced in 1992 in response to the misuse of personal information obtained from public driving license databases – when increasing opponents of abortion exploited public driving license databases to track and harass abortion providers and patients. The law prohibits the disclosure of personal information by Departments of Motor Vehicles, except for permissible purposes.
- General Discussion [bryanhayn]. (2009, May 8). I found an abandoned vintage Vespa…and I WANT IT! Help! [Online forum post]. ModernVespa. https://modernvespa.com/forum/topic42520 ↩︎
- r/privacy [Plott]. (2023, January 10). Is there a way for someone to find my name through my license plate in California. [Online forum post]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1080q3g/is_there_a_way_for_someone_to_find_my_name/ ↩︎
- r/whatcarshouldIbuy [AdeptnessAfter2023]. (2023, December 18). Look up a car by license plate instead of vin number? [Online forum post]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/whatcarshouldIbuy/comments/18km29z/look_up_a_car_by_license_plate_instead_of_vin/ ↩︎
There’s no guarantee you’ll find the information you’re looking for with the tools discussed in this article. They all source their information from publicly available data sources, such as county, state and federal courts, government departments, and police records, and those sources may contain incorrect or incomplete data. It’s illegal to use these tools to make decisions about employment, admission, consumer credit, insurance, tenant screening, or any other purpose that would require FCRA compliance. Read the Fair Credit Reporting Act to learn more....About this article
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