How to find your old car

For some people a car is just a means of transport, but for some of us it’s so much more. You can’t help but develop an attachment to certain cars you’ve owned for the way they look or drive, or the journeys or memories you made in them – and that leads some of us to seek out our old cars, to try and recapture those feelings.

Thankfully, modern technology has made it easier than ever to trace your old car, particularly if you have the right information to hand. While there’s no guarantee your car is still out there – one failed MOT is, unfortunately, all it takes to scrub a lot of cars from the road – our guide below explains how you can at least go about finding out how your old car is getting on.

Check your records and documents

It seems like an overly simple place to start, but if you still have any documents on your old car then these can hold vital information to make your search a little easier. An old bill or MOT certificate probably has the registration number and maybe even the chassis or vehicle identification number (VIN), and with this information you can then go much further. The VIN can also be used to identify a car even if a subsequent owner has changed the registration plate for any reason.

One of the easiest ways to find your old car is to run its registration number through an MOT history checker like the one on GOV.UK, or a history check website. The former will let you know when the car was last MOT’d, and the latter will usually give you MOT and tax status information.

If it’s been a long time since either, then the chances are the car has sadly gone to the great scrapyard in the sky – though if you’re lucky, it may just be SORN’d, meaning it’s under a Statutory Off Road Notification, the official declaration that a car is untaxed for a period of time. It might be sitting on a pile of bricks in someone’s garden, covered in moss and home to stray cats, but at least it’s still around.

Get vehicle information from DVLA

Once you’ve done a quick search of the registration to see whether the car still has an MOT, and you find it’s still around, then your next port of call should be the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licencing Arency.

It isn’t as simple as calling up for a chat with DVLA staff, but with the right details, you can request more information from the service that could help you track down your old car.

The first step is to download a V888 request form, which is a ‘request by an individual for information about a vehicle’. On this form, you provide your own details and some details of the vehicle you’re looking for information about, namely its registration number, make and model.

The form also includes a section for explaining, in detail, what information you require, why you require that information, and how you intend to use it. Naturally, there are a lot of privacy hurdles when it comes to digging up information that could be connected to other individuals or addresses, so the DVLA will want to make sure you have a legitimate reason for seeking it out. You’ll also have to sign a declaration stating that you’ll only use the information for the stated purpose, and won’t pass it on to others.

Accessing information using the V888 form has a £5 cost attached, though be prepared to get very little for that £5, as there’s certainly no guarantee the DVLA will be able to provide the information you’re after. If it works though, it’s an effective way of tracing those who might have more knowledge of your old car.

Other methods to find an old car

Whether the DVLA information request above works or not, there are several other ways you can potentially trace your old car, including those detailed below.

Contact previous buyers or dealerships

If you manage to obtain suitable information on your old car from the DVLA, you can also use some of this information to get in touch with previous owners, some of whom may be happy to provide you with more information.

Ask owners clubs

You might consider owners clubs a little old-fashioned in this day and age, but they remain one of the best resources for really in-depth knowledge on particular makes and models. If you’re looking for a particular car, then a club may be able to put you in touch with either a registrar for your old model, or some of the owners, who might know of its whereabouts – or if you’re lucky, one might even be the current owner of that car you used to own 20 years ago.

Use social media

Social media is a megaphone for many of society’s ills, but it’s also a powerful tool for making connections with anyone across the world. We’ve seen people on social media quickly track down stolen cars before, and with just a photograph and a little asking around, a little sleuthing from friendly car enthusiasts can unearth a car you used to own, too. Sites like X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook have large car enthusiast communities. Post a photo of your old car, and a few details you know about its last whereabouts, and you might be surprised how quickly others are able to join the dots and track it down.

Search the registration number online

This sounds almost too simple to be feasible, but the sheer volume of information uploaded to the internet means something as simple as your car’s registration number may turn up hits for your old car. 

This might be because someone has uploaded a photo of it and search engines have identified the numberplate in the image, or it might be that an owner on a forum has mentioned the numberplate somewhere. You can also trawl websites like DriveArchive, where subsequent owners may have uploaded a picture and a few details of an old car.

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