Getting a name from a license plate

[molotov in the mornin]

I want to find out if someone owns this car or not, what's the best way to get a name from a provincial license plate? I was thinking calling the DMV and saying I took a pic with my phone after a small fender bender and haven't been able to reach the person so I need their name, would this work?

If I get this figured out a much more interesting thread will result

[ysr2096]

I too would like to know this.

[Valkyr]

That would be in a roads and traffics authority database. A DMV woulnt be able topull that info. Perhaps if you brime someone?

[molotov in the mornin]

so nobody knows how to get this info? Oh thats right you'll all 12 years old and have no use for transportation that isn't provided by yo mamas. There's a juicy bar of rep for anyone with an idea of how to run a plate in canada

[stdismas]

*snort* I love that you're mocking out people for not knowing something you don't know, either.

And I don't know about Canada, but anybody in the US can visit www.publicdata.com and look up license plates at $9.95 for 400 lookups per month, (or $29.95 for 600 lookups a year, and I've never used that many) in 16 different states. If you want to see if they offer a state you can use, visit their demo page here. (http://demosrch.publicdata.com/PDquery.php?o=grp_dmv_plate&dlnumber=DEMO&dlstate=DEMO&id=DEMO) You also get access to driver's license files, criminal records, voting records (that often contain maiden names, useful for password bypassing and so on), and other useful stuff. I've used them for about 10 years, and except for people who don't update their own info with the DMV, the databases have always been pretty accurate.

[freeRadical]

1. Go to the DMV
2. Give plate number; ask for name and address
3. ?!?!?!?!?
4. Profit!!!!

Come on guys, it isn't rocket science. You can go to any DMV and give them the plate and (for a fee) they'll give you their name and address.

[enkrypt0r]

Haxx0ring teh interwebz always helps.

[kracker]

Molotov, there is no way to search a Canadian plate unless you are a police officer, a worker at the provincial MTO, ICBC, etc. with the password or an employee at the Ontario Highway 407/ETR Billing Office. Canada is by no means like the USA, since there is little to no public access of private information, and gov't. records are generally only on gov't. intranet servers, rather than on the internet.

[totse]

I have no idea how vehicle records work in canada. In the US you look up a plate through the local police intranet, NCIC, or the DMV database.

[kracker]

How 'bout some rep. molotov; I believe this above is the most honest answer yet, and the most comprehensive.

[stdismas]

I have no idea how vehicle records work in canada. In the US you look up a plate through the local police intranet, NCIC, or the DMV database.

Can you provide details of how you would use the police or NCIC to lookup someone's plate?

It looks like the DMV rules vary pretty widely state by state...if you go to:
http://www.dmv.org/driving-records.php

It gives you specifics for each state on how to request your or someone else's vehicle record. Like, California seems pretty easy about it, New York only lets you request your own, and Kansas requires a letter of consent from the other party if you want their record, so on.

Still, there are a lot of online brokers that can look up plates all over the US for a small fee, just google "license plate lookup". Just watch out for the scam sites that aren't selling information, just "access to research tools" that you then have to pay again for because it's really just a collection of links to other people's sites.

[AsianSurprize]

Is you know what the plate is and if it is parked regularly at a place I suggest going to those places and just watching. If it was a one time thing where you just wrote it down... you pretty much hooped. You might be able to pose as someone who hit their car and ask for their information.