Finding your old bike's current owner
Discussion
On Shed and Buried this evening, at one point Allen Millyard showed the gang a picture of himself as a child on a Velocette which he said he knew was still registered. One of them suggests he buys it and he says he would try if he could find out who owned it.
Now why don't the DVLA offer a finder's service? Say, apply it to any vehicle over 30 years old, charge £100 to cover them writing a letter to the current owner to see if they'd be happy to have their details passed to the enquirer. Perhaps do it through a recognised owners' club.
Could it work?
Now why don't the DVLA offer a finder's service? Say, apply it to any vehicle over 30 years old, charge £100 to cover them writing a letter to the current owner to see if they'd be happy to have their details passed to the enquirer. Perhaps do it through a recognised owners' club.
Could it work?
It could work but even if all of that was done the Data Protection act and GDPR would trump the lot. I think this is also why the previous owner address is no longer on the v5.
I agree though, if you are willing to pay and they had some sort of way to ensure the both parties agree and do some sort of ID checking it should be possible. Well, it IS possible but i guess the gost of developing, maintaining it etc. would also be a challenge. All of the data is there though, and it is usable if you're police, emergency services, government etc. but all of those organisations don't need to comply to GDPR and DP like us mere mortals.
I agree though, if you are willing to pay and they had some sort of way to ensure the both parties agree and do some sort of ID checking it should be possible. Well, it IS possible but i guess the gost of developing, maintaining it etc. would also be a challenge. All of the data is there though, and it is usable if you're police, emergency services, government etc. but all of those organisations don't need to comply to GDPR and DP like us mere mortals.
Davie_GLA said:
It could work but even if all of that was done the Data Protection act and GDPR would trump the lot. I think this is also why the previous owner address is no longer on the v5.
I agree though, if you are willing to pay and they had some sort of way to ensure the both parties agree and do some sort of ID checking it should be possible. Well, it IS possible but i guess the gost of developing, maintaining it etc. would also be a challenge. All of the data is there though, and it is usable if you're police, emergency services, government etc. but all of those organisations don't need to comply to GDPR and DP like us mere mortals.
They do have to comply..its just that there are clauses that allow for data sharing for 'Lawful Purpose'I agree though, if you are willing to pay and they had some sort of way to ensure the both parties agree and do some sort of ID checking it should be possible. Well, it IS possible but i guess the gost of developing, maintaining it etc. would also be a challenge. All of the data is there though, and it is usable if you're police, emergency services, government etc. but all of those organisations don't need to comply to GDPR and DP like us mere mortals.
Triaguar said:
Davie_GLA said:
It could work but even if all of that was done the Data Protection act and GDPR would trump the lot. I think this is also why the previous owner address is no longer on the v5.
I agree though, if you are willing to pay and they had some sort of way to ensure the both parties agree and do some sort of ID checking it should be possible. Well, it IS possible but i guess the gost of developing, maintaining it etc. would also be a challenge. All of the data is there though, and it is usable if you're police, emergency services, government etc. but all of those organisations don't need to comply to GDPR and DP like us mere mortals.
They do have to comply..its just that there are clauses that allow for data sharing for 'Lawful Purpose'I agree though, if you are willing to pay and they had some sort of way to ensure the both parties agree and do some sort of ID checking it should be possible. Well, it IS possible but i guess the gost of developing, maintaining it etc. would also be a challenge. All of the data is there though, and it is usable if you're police, emergency services, government etc. but all of those organisations don't need to comply to GDPR and DP like us mere mortals.
clive_candy said:
On Shed and Buried this evening, at one point Allen Millyard showed the gang a picture of himself as a child on a Velocette which he said he knew was still registered. One of them suggests he buys it and he says he would try if he could find out who owned it.
Now why don't the DVLA offer a finder's service? Say, apply it to any vehicle over 30 years old, charge £100 to cover them writing a letter to the current owner to see if they'd be happy to have their details passed to the enquirer. Perhaps do it through a recognised owners' club.
Could it work?
What's the registration of the Velocette? Might be one of the several we have, I don't watch the show so I haven't seen it.Now why don't the DVLA offer a finder's service? Say, apply it to any vehicle over 30 years old, charge £100 to cover them writing a letter to the current owner to see if they'd be happy to have their details passed to the enquirer. Perhaps do it through a recognised owners' club.
Could it work?
This is one of the reasons I personally wouldn't buy (or wouldn't want to buy) a bike which has lost its registration number.
I've successfully traced the history of a few of my bikes. The best one is the 1931 Sunbeam I have where I'm now in touch with the son of the bloke who took it off the road in 1960 and who hand painted the tank that's still on it. I also traced another one recently to find out that there was two people with the same name from the same area (Yeovil). One of them was a highly decorated WW1 pilot, the other one was a shopkeeper who's wife divorced him for "insufferable cruelty". Yeah it was the second one who first owned our Scott in 1928
Generally, if a bike's still registered there are numerous owners clubs that keep registers of machines or Facebook pages which have huge coverage now so it's a lot easier to trace them. But I do agree, if the DVLA could send a generic letter to the current owner's address for something like £30 saying that someone is interested in contacting them about the vehicle and with that person's contact number then it's low risk and high reward for the DVLA I'd have thought!
Fore Left said:
Simple really. You make a request to the DVLA and pay the extortionate appropriate fee. The DVLA sends the request to the owner with your details and message and the owner can decide whether they want to contact you or not. There would need to be some vetting of the message to ensure it wasn't being used for malicious purposes but that's what AI's for...
This might work to keep the thieves at bay, but once the marketing people started to abuse it it would become a logistical nightmare to administrator just like the freedom of information act.Data protection and GDPR are also the reasons why if you now buy a car/bike from a dealer you won't get a history file with it. Any documents that include or allude to the previous owner's name, address, personal info are not legally allowed to be passed on. Obvs private sellers will not be aware or care and so are likely to just hand the stuff over. So, over time it will become harder and harder to trace a vehicles owner history.
Gixer968CS said:
Data protection and GDPR are also the reasons why if you now buy a car/bike from a dealer you won't get a history file with it. Any documents that include or allude to the previous owner's name, address, personal info are not legally allowed to be passed on. Obvs private sellers will not be aware or care and so are likely to just hand the stuff over. So, over time it will become harder and harder to trace a vehicles owner history.
I don't think that can be true My brother got a call from a dealer the other day to say that he'd seen my dad's name in a past logbook for a bike and did my brother want to buy it. Which he did!
Or are you suggesting that when a Ferrari 250GTO is sold for £50m at auction they aren't allowed to say who previously owned it and destroy all the history?
srob said:
Gixer968CS said:
Data protection and GDPR are also the reasons why if you now buy a car/bike from a dealer you won't get a history file with it. Any documents that include or allude to the previous owner's name, address, personal info are not legally allowed to be passed on. Obvs private sellers will not be aware or care and so are likely to just hand the stuff over. So, over time it will become harder and harder to trace a vehicles owner history.
I don't think that can be true My brother got a call from a dealer the other day to say that he'd seen my dad's name in a past logbook for a bike and did my brother want to buy it. Which he did!
Or are you suggesting that when a Ferrari 250GTO is sold for £50m at auction they aren't allowed to say who previously owned it and destroy all the history?
Dealers these days shouldn't pass on anything to a new owner/keeper that identifies a previous owner/keeper; that includes old logbooks, service receipts, parts receipts etc - anything that has a full name, an address, email address or phone number.
Rubin215 said:
What that dealer has done is a breach of GDPR and could potentially cost him a fine if you were to report it (seriously).
Dealers these days shouldn't pass on anything to a new owner/keeper that identifies a previous owner/keeper; that includes old logbooks, service receipts, parts receipts etc - anything that has a full name, an address, email address or phone number.
So you're seriously saying that if someone like Rob Walker owned a 250SWB Ferrari and that meant it's value was £15m not the normal £10m, someone like Coys or Bonhams or one of the big dealers wouldn't be allowed to pass on that fact?Dealers these days shouldn't pass on anything to a new owner/keeper that identifies a previous owner/keeper; that includes old logbooks, service receipts, parts receipts etc - anything that has a full name, an address, email address or phone number.
Literally every auction catalogue says who previously owned bikes. For example: BSA from Bonhams.
I also contacted the local authorities of the first places a couple of my bikes were registered this year and both issued me the name of the first registered keeper. Surely that's no different?
Rubin215 said:
What that dealer has done is a breach of GDPR and could potentially cost him a fine if you were to report it (seriously).
It isn't and doesn't - the data was provided by the old owner, freely, and not used for any unrelated purpose.If you hand a bunch of service history with your name on it when you sell something, you're effectively giving licence for that receiver to pass on that specific data. If they were to then keep writing to you etc, then you have a case, but just passing on static data that you implicitly consent to is not relevant to GDPR.
The whole set of regs have been grossly mis-used and mis-represented, all they are is to give a right for users to have more control over their data and making companies responsible for securing it.
The only way to really do this is through old paperwork (if you have it and it's still relevant) or through going over the facebook owners groups/old fashioned actual owners groups.
I think you'll have more luck with modern bikes whose owners will likely be using social media than senile old duffers who own some clapped out tat from the 60s etc
I think you'll have more luck with modern bikes whose owners will likely be using social media than senile old duffers who own some clapped out tat from the 60s etc
Biker9090 said:
The only way to really do this is through old paperwork (if you have it and it's still relevant) or through going over the facebook owners groups/old fashioned actual owners groups.
I think you'll have more luck with modern bikes whose owners will likely be using social media than senile old duffers who own some clapped out tat from the 60s etc
But nobody wants to find a modern bike again. It’s like you wouldn’t try and find an old fridge, or a toaster or any other white good you’d just buy another the same?I think you'll have more luck with modern bikes whose owners will likely be using social media than senile old duffers who own some clapped out tat from the 60s etc
srob said:
Biker9090 said:
The only way to really do this is through old paperwork (if you have it and it's still relevant) or through going over the facebook owners groups/old fashioned actual owners groups.
I think you'll have more luck with modern bikes whose owners will likely be using social media than senile old duffers who own some clapped out tat from the 60s etc
But nobody wants to find a modern bike again. It’s like you wouldn’t try and find an old fridge, or a toaster or any other white good you’d just buy another the same?I think you'll have more luck with modern bikes whose owners will likely be using social media than senile old duffers who own some clapped out tat from the 60s etc
srob said:
But nobody wants to find a modern bike again. It’s like you wouldn’t try and find an old fridge, or a toaster or any other white good you’d just buy another the same?
I'm using "modern" to refer to pretty much anything from 1990 ish onwards. There are PLENTY of people who want something from that timeframe - even a thread the other day about a guy getting an old Blade. catso said:
Recently bought a used car for my Son from a main dealer and whilst the V5 doesn't show the previous keeper's name like they did a few years back, the service handbook plus the comprehensive file of warranty info & invoices etc. does.
I've heard this being touted as a reason for lack of service history in used car sales these days. Disposed of for data protection reasons... easy way to cop out if you haven't got much paperwork in the first place! Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff