Car identificationI don’t know if there is any kind of privacy or security problem here but I have discovered that many tyre retailer web sites have a system of identifying your car (make, model and colour) from its registration number. For example Kwik Fit or Tyre Shopper tell me that mine is a red Renault Laguna X74 5-door hatchback. I am sure that there must be a use for this.
Update:
I took a look at the DVLA website which gave a link to Release of information from DVLA records and this doesn’t mention this usage of data supplied but seems to be only datasets where the owner/keeper information is included. Following links further I found the DVLA Vehicle Online Services which gives a Vehicle Enquiry service. This requires the registration number and the manufacturer (I can’t see why) but gives quite a lot more information—date of liability (when the tax disk expires I think), first registration, year of manufacture, engine capacity, CO2 emisions, fuel and a few other bits and pieces.
Update 2:
The Motor Insurance Database ASKMID is another route. It tells you the make and model and also, usefully, if it is insured. You are only supposed to use it if you own the vehicle but that is unenforceable except, perhaps, in the extreme case of bulk enquiries.
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Try putting in the registration of a really old vehicle: I tried my Mother’s mark 1 cavalier (circa 1980) and it is still able to identify colour and type (although not the tyres as the car was registered before 1983).
I have had mixed results finding older vehicles; checking some of the old wrecks that park down my road for instance, some pop up but others don’t.
I will update the main post with some further information I have discovered.
my 2001 laguna petrol,just cut out in traffic,i tried starting the car the engine turns but does not start,on my dash the red light stays on now is this because the immobiliser is still on?
That comment is a bit off topic for this post but from memory (I have lost my handbook) the immobiliser light is yellow so I don’t know which red light you mean.
Looks like all the tyre retailers do this. Here’s another I found http://www.blackcircles.com/tyres
Modern technology eh?