Tracking a used car owner (in this case, me).

[hawing]

We bought a new car earlier this month and traded in our old one to the dealer. This morning, I received an email from an individual stating that his company had bought our old car through a local dealer and he had a few basic questions about it (where'd we have it serviced, when was the timing belt replaced, is there anything he should keep an eye on).

 

How easy is it to identify the former owner of a vehicle? My library has some WI motor vehicle records, but by state statute we can't release much due to privacy concerns. My work email is easily googled, so the email contact didn't bug me much.

 

Would receiving a message like this out of the blue creep you out a bit? And would you respond? This is information I would have been willing to share if we'd been the direct seller of the car, but I'm not sure it's our responsibility anymore.

[bryan]

From my previous experience, the dealer is allowed to give you the name of the previous owner, but no contact information. If you want to look up the previous owner you can. I contacted the previous owner of my car when I purchased it.

[JimH5]

I guess I would probably be taken aback if someone just contacted me out of the blue. I suppose email would be fine, but a phone call would kind of make me a little creeped.

 

Years ago I lived in Delavan, and a guy rode up in a bike, saying that my house was his boyhood home--wondering if he could see inside. He was back in town visiting his sister, and blah, blah, blah. . .

 

It was probably 10 years ago, and I didn't have any kids then--nor really much of anything that anyone would want to steal--so I walked through with him. He told me about whose bedroom was who, in his family, etc. It was a nice enough encounter, and he left.

 

Doubtful that I would allow that same kind of thing to happen today, as I'm less trusting.

 

Sorry Hawing. . .not really related to your question, but it reminded me of my own story. . .