It is not very difficult to get the details of a person by using a number plate. Searching a person is necessary if someone has fled after hitting your car and you want to find him with the plate number you have written down. Tracking such information will be easy if you know the state where the number plate has originated. You should gather all information about the number plate as it will not be possible for you to find the person with incomplete information or only with the description of the car.
You will find only a few instances where you could find the vehicle owners with their vehicle registrations for free. Such cases are mostly related to judicial action or police. However, it needs the right leg work on your part. In some states a simple request made to the Department of Motor Vehicle could provide you the details of a person you are looking for, if his plate number is registered. Several websites claim that they could produce such information in exchange of a fee. But most often the information provided by the websites is either incomplete or inaccurate.
The state of California has prohibited the practice of allowing access to find the vehicle owner along with his address after the stalking death of the actress Rebecca Schaeffer in 1989. The murderer of the actress collected her home address through her registration number. In 1990, California puts an end to the public access to registration information by passing an anti-stalking law.
Nevertheless, if you are looking for free ways of finding number plates, check out the few instances discussed below:
Doubtful Act
You could find a free way of searching plate number, if you report a doubtful or dangerous act of a vehicle to the police. The police will investigate the matter and will file a report of such incident. While filing the report, the police notes down the registration number of the car involved in the doubtful act along with the name of the car owner, his address and a description of the investigation. So here you do not have to pay any fee as the police report is a public record regardless of the fact whether any criminal charge is filed or not.
Legal Interference
You will be able to determine the vehicle owner and his home address without any fee if there is legal intervention of the vehicle. If the vehicle owner or its occupants are charged with an offence or the vehicle caused an accident, the police will file a report from which you could get the details of the vehicle owner and his home address. It is an essential part of filing a criminal charge report to include the details of the vehicle owner. This information becomes a part of the public record and so you do not have to pay any fee for getting the contact details of the vehicle owner.
Stalking
This is another way of obtaining the address of the car owner free of cost with the help of the license plate. If you think you are being stalked or followed by a vehicle constantly, report the case to the police. Give all the details to the police about the vehicle that you think is following you. The police will help you to find the person without taking any fees from you as this constitutes a part of the criminal investigation process.
These instances will surely help you to search for the vehicle owner free of cost with the help of the licensed number plate. However, before reporting any case to the police, you could contact with the motor vehicle department of your state for finding the vehicle owner. Kent Charlie is associated with a vehicle registration agency that also deals with the designs of personalised number plates. He has also been writing for many online publications on a freelance basis. Kent loves travelling and adventure riding, which he often does alone. Collecting heritage number plates is one of his favourites and he takes pride of that.