anyone here ever run their v.i.n. to find out the history of their van ?

anyone here ever run their v.i.n. to find out the history of their van ? been trying to track down the history of my van and previous owners. do these v.i.n. site on the web work ?

Unfortunately our old vans are not listed under Car Fax. And most states enforce a Driver's Privacy Protection Act "DPPA".
http://www.iowaccess.net/iowadlr/Privacy_Act_Agreement.pdf
http://www.accessreports.com/statutes/DPPA1.htm
The only people that can access this information legally are law officials and towing companys or any body with an governmental approved reason.

a guy i know paid $25 to do a history report on his classic car. when he got the report all it says is his name as present owner. this was about 10 years ago. hopeing thier was a better info site

If it is a Ford Econoline from 1961-1967, you can enter the VIN and other door-plate information at the following website to decipher it. Do a search on the site first in case your data has already been entered.

http://econolineid.com/

That website does not show previous owners. I have done that on a few Econolines. In North Carolina if you buy an old vehicle without a title, and want to title it, you have to contact the previous owner, or show that you have tried to contact. I have bought a few from folks who were not the titled owner, so I could not easily contact the registered owner. When I went to our state Department of Motor Vehicles, they had me pay something like $35 to get someone to look up the current owner. What I got for each vehicle was a photocopy of every title issued, registration cards, and even a document that only the dealer sees before the first title is issued. Score!

They will not give this information out to the average person, but do it for folks like me trying to title a vehicle without a title and no knowledge of the previous owner. The rest of the process was very involved including purchasing a three-year bond, paperwork, and lots of red tape.

Look up "Decoding my VIN" under G-Van General discussion.

When it comes to the government, there is so much red tape and FEES!!!

i have a title or registration - just want to verify history. the guy i bought it from says he the 3rd owner his uncle the 2nd and U.S. navy the 1st- he also claims it has over 300,000 mi.

I found some old photos of people in my ashtray when I bought mine, they're very cool (young couple in the 60's or 70's and a dog) but would really like to know where they are and how to get these to them or their family...I really wish there was a way to find this info, too!
(yes, I also opened up those body pillar cavities where the walls meet the floor- just in case they left "more" behind!)