Have just done this for my recently acquired 130i and if you like doing a bit of research its quite interesting. I like to know as much as possible about my car and if there are bits missing in its history when I buy it then a bit of digging around can often reveal what you need.
For a fee of £5 and completing form V888 the DVLA will provide you with details of the previous registered keepers of your vehicle. You get the name and address of each registered keeper and the date they acquired the vehicle and the date they disposed of it.
As long as you are clear on the form why you want the information you will get it - in my case I stated that it was for personal interest (not commercial use) and to complete the ownership history of my car. I've got all the stamps in the service book but I'm missing a service history invoice so I indicated I hoped to get hold of this by contacting the previous keeper. Those sorts of purposes are fine with the DVLA.
Yes that service history invoice one is a long shot but its worked for me in the past, in particular, when I owned an MG Midget in the late 1990s - by then it was a 25 year old car and restoration work had been done on it. I got the previous keeper details from the DVLA and contacted a previous keeper who had clearly never cleared his cupboards out. He sent me paperwork/invoices, etc. and lots of photos of the car before and during its restoration. That's invaluable stuff when you come to sell a classic car like that and want to be able to tell the whole story of the car and what's gone on with it.
Anyway with my 130i I found out that the 1st registered keeper was BMW in Nottingham so it was clearly a demonstrator car for the 1st 6 months of its life - I had suspected this given the spec of the car and the low miles. After that it went to London but was clearly not a daily driver given the still low annual mileages.
I've searched the electoral roll (open register) which is available free on-line to search if you have a name + address. Luckily the previous keepers had registered to vote so the roll confirms for me that the previous registered keepers still live at the same addresses in London. If you want to double check you can then search one of the web sites which give sold house prices (Zoopla, Rightmove, Land Registry,etc) - search on the address and you will find the last date the property was sold. Obviously only works if they are home owners - luckily my registered keepers still are.
So next step is to write to them and see if they have any other paperwork relating to my car other than that which I have already. The service history invoice I'm missing is from a BMW main dealer in London. I've contacted BMW about this and the only other way I can get my hands on this is to turn up in person with all the paperwork for the car at that main dealer in London. Same story from my local BMW main dealer as well. Oh well for the price of a stamp and the time to draft a quick letter I'll write to previous keepers 1st.
For a fee of £5 and completing form V888 the DVLA will provide you with details of the previous registered keepers of your vehicle. You get the name and address of each registered keeper and the date they acquired the vehicle and the date they disposed of it.
As long as you are clear on the form why you want the information you will get it - in my case I stated that it was for personal interest (not commercial use) and to complete the ownership history of my car. I've got all the stamps in the service book but I'm missing a service history invoice so I indicated I hoped to get hold of this by contacting the previous keeper. Those sorts of purposes are fine with the DVLA.
Yes that service history invoice one is a long shot but its worked for me in the past, in particular, when I owned an MG Midget in the late 1990s - by then it was a 25 year old car and restoration work had been done on it. I got the previous keeper details from the DVLA and contacted a previous keeper who had clearly never cleared his cupboards out. He sent me paperwork/invoices, etc. and lots of photos of the car before and during its restoration. That's invaluable stuff when you come to sell a classic car like that and want to be able to tell the whole story of the car and what's gone on with it.
Anyway with my 130i I found out that the 1st registered keeper was BMW in Nottingham so it was clearly a demonstrator car for the 1st 6 months of its life - I had suspected this given the spec of the car and the low miles. After that it went to London but was clearly not a daily driver given the still low annual mileages.
I've searched the electoral roll (open register) which is available free on-line to search if you have a name + address. Luckily the previous keepers had registered to vote so the roll confirms for me that the previous registered keepers still live at the same addresses in London. If you want to double check you can then search one of the web sites which give sold house prices (Zoopla, Rightmove, Land Registry,etc) - search on the address and you will find the last date the property was sold. Obviously only works if they are home owners - luckily my registered keepers still are.
So next step is to write to them and see if they have any other paperwork relating to my car other than that which I have already. The service history invoice I'm missing is from a BMW main dealer in London. I've contacted BMW about this and the only other way I can get my hands on this is to turn up in person with all the paperwork for the car at that main dealer in London. Same story from my local BMW main dealer as well. Oh well for the price of a stamp and the time to draft a quick letter I'll write to previous keepers 1st.