radshark

Anyone know of a site where people can look up a license plate number to find the registered owner?

Cheers,

UberGeek

Doesn't exist, unless you are a select segment of the population (licensed PI's, repo people, LEO, etc).

CB HI

Check you government judiciary web-site to see what they have.

Recently in Hawaii, the state provides public information for traffic infractions and on a separate site criminal/protection order cases. No address, but if the plate # has an associated ticket, you can get a name.
https://jimspss1.courts.state.hi.us:8...3000F869ECD381
https://hoohiki1.courts.state.hi.us/jud/Hoohiki/main.htm

Other than that, there are pay sites that will give a bunch of info including addresses and phone #s (google search and they will pop up).

ak08820

Why is that information confidential?
Anyone can lookup my home address from property tax records, at least in NJ and how much I paid for the house and what are the taxes, etc.
Why is the linkage of a license plate to a name so privileged?

enigmaT120

How can they look up your property tax records without your address?

AltheCyclist

This web site claims to do it, however, didn't seem to work for me
https://www.licenseplateslookup.com/

AltheCyclist

There are quite a few web sites that claim to be able to so so, most seem to require a subscription.

To OP: Why do you want the license tag? Hopefully, you saw a courteous driver and want to send them flowers as opposed to being mad at a bad driver and are planning vigilance.

eja_ bottecchia

Because stalkers and *******, and all sorts of bad people, could then get someone's plate, get their home information and then follow them home to ****, atack or kill the person.

Do you really want to have some yahoo out on the road get your license plate number, then find out where you live, and follow you home?

Think about it.

What if you have a wife? Or daughters? Do you want some unhinged person to find out where they live?

AltheCyclist

Well, one could follow you home regardless, to find out where you live; it's not really a safety net to make plates confidential.
A phone book has many names, addresses; i.e. there are plenty of ways to find someone.

I saw a car driving around my yard one night, revving the motor, spinning donuts. Called cops, who caught him, turned out it was a teenager, was trying to revenge an ex-girlfriend but got the wrong address!
I didn't press charges but the cops took him in anyway for driving drunk.

SteamingAlong

1.) Stalkers - No need to follow you home, just look up your license number.
2.) Burglars - Expensive car = Potential for expense toys, no need to follow you home, just look up your license.
3.) Undercover Cop/Agent - Self explanatory.

AltheCyclist

I still don't think it would help much
#1 - Stalker implies the person follows you, how would having no plate/address really make difference?
#2 - Sure, nice car can mean riches await, but it's almost as easy to follow, or just go to nice neighborhood to rob. Still not much of a deterrent to have confidential tags.
#3 - I don't get that - if a cop wants your address, he'll get it. Having confidential address on plates would then require a warrant? So, State DMV agents wouldn't have your access to your address either? Think the lines are long now...

I-Like-To-Bike

Please explain the legitimate reason why you or some other non law enforcement person needs/wants the owner information associated with a license plate; besides curiosity?

What is the connection to vehicular cycling? To facilitate acting out road rage retaliation like other vehicle drivers?

AltheCyclist

Let's not get too deep here; just because there's no legit reason to do something doesn't mean that it requires a major change in the system. For instance, if plates were made confidential, then folks such as state-employed DMV agents wouldn't be able to see them. Talk about a hassle trying to register a car. You want to get a secret password and security to register a vehicle and have your state pay the money to make them truly secure when the risk without is very minimal?

Re: the OP asking about this, I had similar notion. But, (hopefully) maybe he saw a really nice driver and wanted to send them flowers. Who knows?

eja_ bottecchia

Foillowing you home is a more "active" behavior. You can always check your mirrors (which I do and have rraised my daughters to do).

Getting a plate number and later an address is a more subtle way to get to someone.

And telephone books? Really? Number one, who still uses telephone books? And number two, do you know many people with listed numbers/address?

There is already way too much confidentail information floating out there, why add to it?

eja_ bottecchia

This is the reason why license plate - address information should not be available to the general public:

(From Wikipedia)

On July 18, 1989, actress Rebecca Schaeffer was murdered by Robert John Bardo, an obsessed fan who had been stalking her for three years.[SUP][4][/SUP] Bardo had become fixated on Schaeffer after his previous fixation, child peace activist Samantha Smith, died in an airplane crash in 1985.[SUP][5][/SUP] Bardo wrote several letters to Schaeffer, one of which was answered by an employee from Schaeffer's fan service. In 1987, Bardo traveled to Los Angeles in an attempt to see Schaeffer at the My Sister Sam set, but was turned away by CBS Television City security. Angry, he returned a month later armed with a knife but again security guards prevented him from gaining access to the actress. Bardo returned to his native Tucson and forgot about Schaeffer for a while; he became preoccupied by pop singers Debbie Gibson and Tiffany.[SUP][6]
[/SUP]
In 1989, after viewing Schaeffer's film Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills, in which she appeared in bed with a male actor, Bardo became enraged and decided that Schaeffer should be punished for becoming "another Hollywood *****."[SUP][7][/SUP] Having read that Theresa Saldana's stalker, Arthur Richard Jackson, had obtained Saldana's address through a private investigator, Bardo approached a Tucson detective agency and paid them $250 to get Schaeffer's home address through California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) records.[SUP][8][/SUP][SUP][9][/SUP] Bardo's brother helped him get a handgun because he was underage (Bardo was then 19).[SUP][10][/SUP]

Following Schaeffer's murder and Saldana's assault, California laws regarding the release of personal information through the DMV were drastically changed. The Driver's Privacy Protection Act was enacted in 1994, which prevents the DMV from releasing private addresses.[SUP][17][18][/SUP]

Now, do you still really think that it is such a great idea to have this information avaialble to anyone with $250.00 to pay to a PI?

AltheCyclist

Yeah, but let's be real here, how often has this ever happened? That is, someone recorded a tag, found the owner of the vehicle (who may or may not have been actually driving) and then something bad happened? Way more likely to be followed, and even then, a rare event.
Fact is, it's pretty easy to get your info, if someone wants, my only point is: why be concerned about secret auto registration?

Any hey, I still receive a phone book, are you calling me old?
Well, you should, I am old. And somehow, DEX still delivers a phone book to my door every year.
And, you called it a "telephone book" so you might be older than me.

But, I was just making a statement, phone book term being generic for any search method. If you think about privacy, think about this: With some basic data about you and around $3.95, one could find just everything they want about you (previous addresses, spouses, employers, credit history, criminal record, etc.).
Again, point is, it's pretty easy to get the data, so being concerned about private car tags is petty concern.

That said, I'd favor confidential auto registration, but it would be low on the priority list of items I'd want to be confidential.

dougmc

Just for the record, I'm not saying that this information should be available to "anyone with $250.00 to pay to a PI", but that said ...

Just because some information was used to commit a murder 23 years ago does not automatically mean that said information should not be made available. (I'm also not saying that there aren't other incidents that didn't involve celebrities.)

For example, I'll bet a lot more murders have been committed using information from the phone book. Street numbers can be used for people to find their victims. Tax rolls have been used. Sex offender registries. Google searches, etc.

(And some of these things have been scrutinized as being too open. For example, in Texas they now remove certain people from the property tax rolls -- as if that would keep people from knowing where GWB's place is, for example.)

ak08820

You can find a name from an address or an address from a name. In case of a car, the lic. plate is equivalent to an address. I could take a walk in a neighborhood and note an address and find the name of the owner but I can't find the owner from the lic. plate.

ak08820

Did not work for my own lic plate in NJ. Have sent a message via the web site, will see what they say.

ak08820

If Bardo approached a Tucson detective agency and paid them $250 to get Schaeffer's home address through California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) records
then the argument is dead right there. The info was already private and the murderer had to hire a detective to get to it. Keeping the info private did not prevent the murder.

DX-MAN

I think it's really pretty simple; personal information, IMO, is on a "need to know" basis. Until I decide otherwise, YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW it. And, I don't need a reason for it. THE reason is: none of your business.

dougmc

Good luck with that.

You can decide what you feel that people do and don't need to know, and that's of course fine. And they'll just look it up anyways -- some will be easy to do, some might be a bit harder. Some might be difficult, and some might be impossible. But a lot of information is available without your "consent".

I-Like-To-Bike

Still waiting for anyone to post a legitimate reason why a cyclist needs to look up a license plate number to find the registered owner.

DX-MAN

I DO have good luck with that.

What's a matter of public record, no, I can't help. None of that is a big deal. But any info I deem of VALUE is controlled. (And don't tell me about hackers, they are the exception that proves the rule.)

mtbikerinpa

The LEOs around here don't need names and I choose not to pursue the names of the persons behind the plate. I score the plates, descriptors and time/date, then hand it to the cops who gladly recieve. Once it is in their hands it is what it is. I move on. For me to find names and pursue the person directly is a fine line from harassment.