Best way to find a car with the VIN
 

I'm sure this has been discussed here before but I'm looking for opinions on the best way to track down a car with the VIN. I know there are people out there that have access to this info that occasionally go out on a limb for fellow enthusiast, which is great, but I'm figuring I need to go the PI route for the best chance to track the car down and contact the owner about purchasing the car. Is there anyone out there that has done this before that can recommend a reputable company that offers this service? Not sure if it matters but the car in question is a 1981 Z28 with a 17 digit VIN. Thank you, Chad

First thing to do is to run a carfax or autocheck report on the VIN to locate where it has most recently been registered or service - or to see if it's been totaled. IF it exists and IF it has current history it will greatly reduce your search area.

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthread.php?t=125997

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Best would be share more details here first including whole Vin and you may get lucky.
Then, anyone Googling the Vin such as a current owner would find this thread also Members who have access to any databases can "quietly" add it to their Vin search lists...which are sometimes passed on to family/friends/others who may work for these groups and have the ability to periodically run batches of Vins through their systems.
Ask your own Insurance Co. if they have it in their system and if a hit, it's surprising even in today's privacy world what info someone may verbally tell you so have pen/paper ready.

Share more details of your connection to the car also when/where/what you know as this may offer more clues/leads/trails to follow.
Not that it may help find the car but great to see you already have GM Canada paperwork w/ as built RPO & other details.
As many here know, these are available for most '77 & newer GM vehicles regardless of where built or dealer location shipped to new.

SYC Members are second to none w/ connections also willingness to help plus it's amazing what fluky circumstances happen here sometimes that add up to success.
Best of luck w/ your quest!
:beers:
~ Pete

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Thanks Chris and Pete. That was an awesome story about your IROC Chris, always love to see something like that happen with an original owner! I've got an red 90 IROC that we bought in Janesville, WI, small world I guess. I'll try a carfax or autocheck if I can't find a professional who offers some form of locating service.

The car I'm looking for was on the west coast of Canada for 30+ years and was purchased from the original owner in 2010. Since that time its supposedly been sold two more times and is in the US now, so I'm optimistic that it's still around. That's all I really know about it at this time. I got lucky and found the second owner by accident since he had another 350 4 speed Z28 for sale that I called about. I offered to buy the GM of Canada docs from him once I found out he had owned the blue car previously but he quit talking to me once he realized I wasn't interested in the other Z28 once I found out about the blue car. Then through a friend of a friend of a friend I got lucky and got enough info on the car for George to get me a Vintage Vehicle Service report for the car. I don't feel comfortable enough to post the VIN at this time. I've heard too many stories about others using the info to find a car for themselves and want to explore all my options before I get desperate enough to post the VIN. Thanks, Chad

Good call Chris, according to carfax the car is still in Canada as of May 2017. Thanks, Chad

Is it still in western Canada? Alberta you can search the VIN. British Columbia, forget it.

Thanks Tracker1, I didn't know that about BC. Fortunately the car is back in Alberta now according to the carfax so I'll try getting a title search done on it next week.

Does it narrow down to a registration city or just the province?

The carfax list the city and province Chris. There's even a phone # listed for a place that worked on it last year so I've got several leads to follow counting some facebook tips received from others. I'm going to try the title search first and go from there.

Carfax doesn’t seem to work for the 13 digit VIN’s?