Finding cars in Calif

["Watry, Andrew (LNG-SFR)" <Andrew.Watry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I sent this to Brad who was looking for his old Spider, and decided to
forward it to the Digest too for those who may not know about this handy
state-provided feature:

If you know the VIN or the car's current license plate, you can at least
find out legally where and when its most recent smog check done was by going
to the DMV site at
http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/vehtests/pubtstqry.aspx and typing in the VIN or
license and clicking the appropriate box.  I tried Brad's "alfissi" plate
but it didn't come up with anything.   Even if you can find the smog shop, a
reputable mechanic should not tell you who owns the car now, but at least
you'll be on the trail, if there is one.

I've done this with a number of cars I've been thinking about buying, to
corroborate (or not) whether they'd been recently smogged. It's also a good
way to cross reference VINs and license plates, if you're interested in
that.  I just tried it and it doesn't seem to be working at the moment...

Andrew Watry
Berkeley, CA
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