DMV contact, please help

m5extc · #1 (**permalink**) 06-05-2009, 12:47 AM

Hi Group,

Does anyone out there have a California DMV contact? I am trying to track down who has my old personalized plated (which I still have in blue & yellow) so I can contact them. It may actually be one of my realitive unknowingly, but DMV will not give me any information whatsoever. Please im me or mail me if you thin you can help. Thanks.

Andrei Fenner

Rick Parker · #2 (**permalink**) 06-05-2009, 06:17 AM

I am assuming you did not retain registration priority on the plate? By that I mean you have the front plate and sold the car with the back plate? With privacy laws being what they are this is real touchy situation. You will be able to determine if the plate is still in use but I doubt you will find who actually has it, at least not through official channels.

Ron61 · #3 (**permalink**) 06-05-2009, 08:03 AM

One possibility. If you know a CHP officer you might ask him or her to run the plate for you and they can find out if it is still in use and if you want to give it to the person they could possibly help you with that without you having to know who has it. As Rick said, in this day of stolen identities, this is a very touchy thing. I still have the old black plates on my 65 Comet and called the DMV to see if it was legal to have them touched up as one of them has been bent some. I had to give them a ton of identification before they would even answer that question.

Ron

m5extc · #4 (**permalink**) 06-05-2009, 09:22 AM

Rick & Ron,

Thanks for the ideas. The story is I had them on a car that I traded in on a truck. They automatically transfered it to the truck. I asked them to issue new plates as I wanted to keep these for a project. They said no problem and I was able to keep both. I then many years later, found out that I was supposed to fill out another form and pay a yearly retention fee. Well I have not. I checked with DMV to see if it is still in use and they said it was. So I am assuming that someone else came up with the same plate and ordered it. The other clue to the puzzle is that I think at the time, this previous car was registered in my mothers name for insurance reasons.

Andrei Fenner

tkb289 · #5 (**permalink**) 06-05-2009, 09:36 AM

Andrei,

This is probably not the case, but could it be that the DMV said the palates are in use, because they are still in your name?

You might have done this already, but perhaps you can ask the DMV if the plates are still in your name.

It's a long shot, but you never know.

Just a thought.

- Tim

tcrist · #6 (**permalink**) 06-05-2009, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkb289

Andrei,

This is probably not the case, but could it be that the DMV said the palates are in use, because they are still in your name?

You might have done this already, but perhaps you can ask the DMV if the plates are still in your name.

It's a long shot, but you never know.

Just a thought.

- Tim

You can do the same thing at your local police departmant. It worked for me.

Terry

Rick Parker · #7 (**permalink**) 06-05-2009, 10:14 AM

If you did not pay the retention fee you lost the plates. If they were still in your name you would be getting notification for renewal or non-operation status. You can also go on a .gov website to check availability. If someone else has use of them it will be pretty difficult to find out who it is regardless of your intentions.