How to find the legal owner of an abandoned vehicle?

There's an early 90s F-150 with a stick in the basement of an apartment building; that part of the basement is accessible by the public, residents just pass through. Been there three years. The Managers claim they have made efforts to contact the owner but that's not probable, why make an effort?

I looked in the windshield where the VIN usually is and there's an airbag sticker, no VIN. Is it posted anywhere else on the vehicle that's visible from the outside? It's locked and the hood release is inside.

Looks like this except it has that funny Ford green blue paint.

Thanks.

Are there tags on the back? Maybe call the DMV.

Did ford out the vin on the frame someplace you can see from underneath?

Check to see if the windows are etched with the VIN. Or maybe there is a sticker hidden on the side of the tailgate.

Did a little reading and about the only one that you may find is a tag or sticker on the bed some place.

Somthing is not rite the vin should be visible through the windshield unless there is something over it.

Who's property is it on? There are ways to take ownership of abandoned vehicles on private property. I have not looked in to I here in mass for maybe 20 years but it was some paperwork and fees as well as posting legal notices in the paper.

In some states, Nevada included, they will do a VIN inspection before issuing a new title. If there's no VIN tag in place, it means somebody was up to no good.

Too sketchy for me. Even if you could obtain a title, the first time you get pulled over and the cop tries to match the rego to the VIN tag, and the tag isn't there, prepare to spend a night in jail.

No tags. There's a limo parked right behind it, also appears abandoned but can't assume the two owners know each other.

The apartment complex is large and Woody may recognize them as they are all over his neck of the woods. Tried going through the office, they looked through their records as you have to register the car that you will leave on their property. No good. They claim to have sent the owner a registered letter telling him to remove the truck, but nothing happened; can assume it didn't happen.

There is a Mechanic's Lean in New York, if you work on a car, have time and money invested; you get first crack at owning it over any bank or other lien holders. I don't know if it would apply here.

Avalon Group

Is there no VIN or a faded VIN you can't read it? There should be a VIN on the sticker in the door jam as well as the top of the right side of the frame in-front of the suspension mount on top. There is also a tag on the firewall.

If it has an old tag on it, you could be nice and buy a cop a coffee and maybe he would run it for you or guy the DMV and pay them some money.

If it is locked, you could pop the lock and read the vin on the door sticker and maybe check the glove box for a registration. If it is abandoned I am not sure anyone would care if you slim-jimmed it. On those peopel would sometime for get to lock the vent making coat hangers your friend. I have never been able to get the hole in the tennis ball trick to work for me. Just make sure the property it is on knows your there. Popping an abandoned vehicle is one thing, popping one while trespassing is a way to get caught.

The easy way would be once you find the vin is run a carfax on it to see the last place it was registered and then get the VIN ran in that state.

Lots of good suggestions. You can also get a storage lien in most states. That's what tow companies operate. The apartment office will have to do it, but offer to pay any expenses and compensation. You would think they would want the space. First thing is to get a locksmith to unlock or slim jim it so you can get the VIN and run a carfax.

Where the VIN belongs on the front left dashboard is missing. There's a black tag with white letters that says Air Bag. I'm guessing the owner doesn't want it discovered, just a guess.

In reply to 914Driver:

Find out about how long the vehicle has been abandoned & as the cops if there were any crimes committed around that time with a vehicle fitting the description?

reply to pete:

Yeah, and maybe someone with the apartment complex is involved...

Is there a registration sticker on the windshield or inspection sticker, assuming it was registered in NYS.

Slim Jim to get in and read the vin on the door jam.

Once you've gone through the trouble of popping the lock to read the VIN, why not go through the glove box and look for the owner's info? Regardless, as soon as you start trying to pop the lock Murphys Law says that either the 6'8", 300lb, fresh from prison, gun toting owner will show up and be pissed that you're breaking into his truck or the police will just happen to be cruising by. :)

The police have placed bait cars. I would not pop a lock on anything.

Reference: http://m.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/394/bait-and-switch

What is your interest in the truck and relationship with the apartment management?

Good relationship with the management, interest is as a project and to save it from a slow death. OTOH it sleeps inside every night.

IceRacer, no identifiers anywhere.

Can the property owner not report it as an abandoned potentially stolen vehicle? I am guessing the cops would need to respond and satisfy themselves that it is not reported as stolen. If it is not, they would explain to property manager how they know and hopefully he ends up with the vehicle serial number before they lock it up again.

On a less responsible approach, an automatic center punch makes side-windows go away real fast.

Plot twist: the truck is loaded with 300 pounds of cocaine hidden in secret compartments. The driver parked the truck down there to let it cool off since he was supposed to deliver it but decided to steal from the dealer instead. Before he could retrieve the truck the cartel caught up with him and now he's stuffed in a hastily dug hole somewhere. Now go watch "No Country For Old Men" and see if you still want the truck.

slefain wrote: Plot twist: the truck is loaded with 300 pounds of cocaine hidden in secret compartments. The driver parked the truck down there to let it cool off since he was supposed to deliver it but decided to steal from the dealer instead. Before he could retrieve the truck the cartel caught up with him and now he's stuffed in a hastily dug hole somewhere. Now go watch "No Country For Old Men" and see if you still want the truck.

BONUS: You would EASILY be able to recoup $1008 from that truck.

In reply to 914Driver:

Foot the bill for "management" to bring in a locksmith and get into it, then proceed to research the vin on the door jamb and go from there with some form of management approval.

In reply to 914Driver:

I was going to guess Avalon!

As mentioned earlier you can look for the vin stamp on the frame. They are hard to see and usually covered in grime.

As a resident you have no grounds to seize the truck. You would have to get up to some shenanigans with an agreement to "tow" the vehicle from the premise for a fee to get the truck and then start charging "storage" for the truck. But to do that in most states you need either a signed work order or be a licensed tow or junk yard.

If it was me I would just call the police a report a possible stolen vehicle with a bogus vin tag. A scraped or defaced vin is grounds for me to seize a car.

(Im an auto theft Det in my day job)