55.2-59 Locating a truck

[jnova67]

My uncle recently past away and I am trying to find his old truck. What is the best way to go about doing this? I have the old title

[Hcb3200]

If you have the title but not the truck going to assume it got sold with bill of sale or a replacement title.

Head on down to the dmv and ask for a title search with VIN.

Or if you know a guy who knows a guy in the officer of the law division then they can do a lookup with VIN to see last owner.

If its your Uncle well then you might have a heck of a trail to find.

A quick possible search is put the vin on a google search with words for sale and see if any current adds or even old ones are out there pointing you in right direction.

[mr48chev]

HCB provided some terrible advice with Ask a law enforcement officer to check. That is ILLEGAL IN ALL STATES and any law enforcement officer worth his salt will tell you that and say that they wonder why you even asked as it could cost them their job.

Very honestly about all you can do is go to the state DMV and ask if the vin is still in the system. It is illegal for them to give you any more than a yes/no answer and 100 % illegal for them to tell you who has the truck registered to them. That again is a fired on the spot and face jail time for giving out the info.


Online vin checks usually won't show vins with less than 17 numbers but that is worth a stab


Plus I have to add, would you want some mouthbreather showing up on your porch asking about the truck you have or had that is stored in a locked garage because they found info illegally? At my house you would be looking at the working end of a Mossberg 590 loaded with buckshot.

I hate to sound mean about this but the nonsense of invading peoples lives to look for Uncle Joe's or Grandpa's old truck that you cannot see sitting out in the open driving by on the road and ask if that is perhaps Uncle's old truck and would it be OKay to check the vin to see is not something that I appreciate. If you show up asking about anything that cannot be seen from the highway that is 400 ft from my yard that I might have the first thing I am going to ask is how did you learn about it (if I don't have it listed for sale and I never post the address) and the person who told you about it will be banned from my property for life unless I specifically told them it was for sale.

[1project2many]

That is ILLEGAL IN ALL STATES and any law enforcement officer worth his salt will tell you that and say that they wonder why you even asked as it could cost them their job.

On the face of it this is true. Although if you start by telling folks what you're up to they're not likely to chew your head off for asking. There are definitely ways to ask questions that aren't illegal, and some questions like "what can't I ask about" is valid.

A title search based on suspected lost title could be a good start. At the very least you'll learn whether or not a duplicate title has been issued. If there's a duplicate, it's perfectly fine to ask how long ago it was issued. Be prepared to show that you are related to your uncle.

I purchsed a truck in NE back in the '90s. Back then the county was happy to share info for past owners and all it took was a phone call to get a printout of all prior registered owners. I am not sure that the same would happen today but with the right approach folks might be willing to put you on the right path.


If your uncle lived in a small community you might be able to go to a local breakfast shop and strike up a conversation or two with some of the older folks to learn more. You'd be surprised how much you can learn over a coffee or two.

Good luck.

[Hcb3200]

Agree to all of the above. With some clarifications.

No one on this site wants you to do anything illegal or put someone in a spot they should not be. But you can gather a lot of information legitimately gained from multiple sources.

My comment about law enforcement giving you the owner was not properly spelled out (hazards of answering on the phone app and not wanting to type much) My owner comment should have been, they and the dmv can confirm if you uncle was last owner from the title you have. If he is not the last owner they cannot tell you who but they can tell you some information. This information varies by state.
Some will tell you its registered or not, what state its was in and when it was last registered. Some states allow even more information like what county its in current color, make and model its registered under etc. They should tell you if its a duplicate title at dmv or a bill of sale only etc. None should tell who who or address or other personal information. If they tell you its on them and not you. you asked "what can you tell me". asking is not against the law.

Take that information and then head to the internet. I can take a few discreet items and track a lot of information down on a person. Most folks put it all out there on social media along with public information sites.

Google search the VIN first. This will give any auto selling websites that have it for sale (and some sold) like autotrader, streetsideclassics, bring a trailer etc. because most all of the legit auto sites require a vin to sell. if no luck there.
Then do the lookup by make model year and filter it down to the state and see what shows up. if any are around the county its in (if you know that ) you are getting closer.

Go on sites like this one, stovebolt, jalopyjournal etc. and ask if anyone bought a truck around the registration date in the state its in with year make model color, a picture is even better and who bought it from (your uncle or his estate) and TELL THEM WHY YOUR ASKING. Because like Mr48 says most folks get a bit touchy when you just show up. They don't want to go straight too is it stolen or into why is this dude tracking me down by my truck vin. IF you find who what where it is. Don't just go knocking on the door (unless its siting in driveway) send a letter (old school) or phone call first.

Point is, do your due diligence. Don't ask anyone to do anything they are not comfortable with illegal or not. Use the power of the internet and you might get lucky.

And importantly come back here and let us know how it turned out.
Enjoy the ride.

[mr48chev]

Just to make sure, I ran the vin on my 77 1 ton last night and because it is not a 17 digit vin it got kicked back as not 17 digits.

Most of the sites that you look up vins on only handle 17 digit vins. The same one found my HHR right off. I might spend the dollar and get the report but am pretty sure that it was in a rental fleet before my daughter bought it as it had rental fleet dump it mileage on it.


Every time one of these things come up and it is fairly often there is always some uninformed individual who says go ask a cop to run the vin. Any good cop will tell you straight to your face that that is illegal in all states.

The DMV is not allowed to give you a name or address. THAT IS ILLEGAL. I couldn't even get confirmation that the vin on an Arizona title I had was correct because who ever owned the car before I got it carried the title in their wallet folded up. I didn't have the car where I could run out and check the vin as I had bought it, took the title with me to get it transferred and get plates and the car was 80 miles away.

With these deals a number of people need to read the federal privacy act.

Truth is the memory of the old truck as you uncle had it may better as a memory and not destroyed by finding the truck and discovering that it is now nothing like your uncle's old truck and if it stayed in the area you may have actually seen it at a local show all done up 100 percent different than what you remember. 95% of the 47/59 trucks in this group are someone else's uncles old truck that some guy wishes that he could find but would be mad to find that the one I have is chopped with suicide doors, or that the one someone else now has an S-10 frame and LS and isn't the old green truck with the 216 that they rode in with Uncle joe on the way to the lumber yard back when they were ten. Be careful of what you wish for.