by "Saab wagon is best wagon-now with less Saab" (saabwagon)
Published 09/21/2017 at 21:36
by "Saab wagon is best wagon-now with less Saab" (saabwagon)
Published 09/21/2017 at 21:36
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STARS: 1
How does one track down a car when armed with nothing but the VIN?
My family sold our long-time family minivan back in mid-2012, a gold 2003 Honda Odyssey with a failing transmission, a dented-in door, and a lot of memories. We assumed, considering the transmission, it’d likely be junked soon after we sold it to CarMax.
However, on a random streak of inspiration, I punched the VIN in a free VIN checker today and found that the last odometer reading on it was from about a month ago with roughly 140,000 miles on it (roughly 54k more than it had when we sold it). There were others from after we sold it as well. Someone, at somepoint, likely replaced the transmission and kept it going. And now it’s keeping me up that somewhere, the minivan I practically grew up in is still puttering around somewhere, likely being held together by duct tape and hope.
Coincidentally, I’m currently in the market for buying a car. While I’d prefer something a bit more interesting, it would be absolutely awesome for me to bring back our first real family car.
So, oppo. How do I find this car? Are there any ways to track where it is now other than paying for one of those detailed vehicle history reports?
"pip bip - choose Corrour" (hhgttg69)
09/21/2017 at 21:42, STARS: 0
With a lot of luck?
Does the vin check give any clue of location for a business the car has been to?
"Phyrxes once again has a wagon!" (phyrxes)
09/21/2017 at 21:54, STARS: 0
Carfax will show registration renewals and other service that makes its way to the database.
"SpeedSix" (speedsix)
09/21/2017 at 23:33, STARS: 0
I can’t really help, but I still have my first family minivan, a ‘98 Sienna, though it’s currently non-op in the backyard. My parents didn’t quite understand why I wanted to keep it around (they treat cars as appliances, consequently I have little practical mechanical experience), but it carried us on many childhood road trips, so I don’t think I can part with it.
Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to get much pre-storage preparation done, and there’ll be quite a lot of deferred maintenance to take care of, plus passing the emission tests will cost a bit.