Trying to Locate a Missing Fiat X19 Reg RZW275

Dempo1

Please no Smart Arses

OK, the situation, I put the above car into storage with a Mechanic based in clonsilla, Dublin 15. I moved abroad for a number of years on my return purchased a house outside Dublin. A number of years passed. On trying to locate the mechanic who operated from a private house, he had since moved by the time I returned to Ireland, indeed the house had been sold, replaced with two new houses (remember the good times?). No one local knows were he had moved too, I can not recall his name but there was a mention of Meath as a possible place he had moved too.

I should state, the car whilst having been restored had been let go a little, there is a real chance the car was scrapped and I am not suggesting any dishonesty on the part of the mechanic, I am as much to fault for leaving this go for nearly 15 years now.

Recently, I came across the log book, I remain the legal owner of the car and too my shock, I discovered the car is still registered. I am reluctant to report the car stolen and the Motor Tax office are not obliging when I inquired if the car is currently taxed or on the road.

I don't know what other course of action to take, I am reluctant to report this to the Gardai and wondered if anyone on this forum can advise me on what to do next.

I can be PM if this is a preferred method of contact. I am anxious to get the car back or at the very least confirm its were abouts. It is yellow in color and is a 1979 model.

Thanks in advance if anyone can help locate the car or advise.

Kind regards

no1beemerfan

Why won't you go to the Guards? Do you know if the mechanic ever tried to get in contact with you in the 15 year period?

If it was me and I wanted the car back I'd be going to a Garda station and seeing what (if) they can do.

Silvera

If you write to the 'authorised officer' at the relevant motor tax office (incl a colour photocopy of the tax books - and perhaps also of your driving licence..for id purposes) and explain fully your situation, they may be able to help. They cannot give out such details over the phone.

carchaeologist

Still registered or still taxed?
There is a difference.
If it was taxed by you or anyone for that matter after 1993 it will show up as registered.
Maybe try paying for a Cartell check, that will tell you the date of liability, which is a much better indicator.

Grimreaper666

I think the mechanic may have been entitled to sell the car to defray storage costs, to be fair, leaving a car on someones premises for 15 years and expecting it to be still there when you get back is a bit unrealistic to say the least.

bbsrs

Grimreaper666 wrote: »

I think the mechanic may have been entitled to sell the car to defray storage costs, to be fair, leaving a car on someones premises for 15 years and expecting it to be still there when you get back is a bit unrealistic to say the least.

Ya like on storage wars

Dempo1

Grimreaper666 wrote: »

I think the mechanic may have been entitled to sell the car to defray storage costs, to be fair, leaving a car on someones premises for 15 years and expecting it to be still there when you get back is a bit unrealistic to say the least.

Thanks GrimReaper, its not quite that black and white, this was an unofficial arrangement, he did work for me over a number of years, Private Mechanic and not much storage taken up, it's the fact he moved albeit him being entitled to do so. I mentioned 15 years, this is the entire time the car has been missing but I originally began my search about two years after he moved, work brought me abroad, i moved to the midlands then, quite complicated i know but believe me the search began quite some time ago.

Dempo1

carchaeologist wrote: »

Still registered or still taxed?
There is a difference.
If it was taxed by you or anyone for that matter after 1993 it will show up as registered.
Maybe try paying for a Cartell check, that will tell you the date of liability, which is a much better indicator.

thanks for that, yes, i actually purchased the car around 1997,it was by pure chance i stumbled across the log book after a number of years, i entered the reg on some sites and hey presto it showed up, this got me thinking and i commenced the search again. I am unsure what you mean re date of liability on cartell if you could explain?

carchaeologist

The tax book is probably worth a few quid.....:P

carchaeologist

Date of liability is when the last tax disc expired. Cartell should show that if you pay for a search.

MagicRon

Have you €35 to spend?
https://www.motorcheck.ie/free-car-check/RZW275

Dempo1

carchaeologist wrote: »

The tax book is probably worth a few quid.....:P

LOL, it probably is, its one of the old brown books, quite amusing!

Dempo1

carchaeologist wrote: »

Date of liability is when the last tax disc expired. Cartell should show that if you pay for a search.

Ahh, I understand! Yes I think cartell is probably going to be the way foward on this, it is sadly likely the car was scrapped, my suspicions are however that it has not been given the car still shows up as being registered on the system.

Dempo1

Pleasantly surprised there was no Fix It Again Tony Jokes

I bought this car for 650 punts, only 50k on the clock, it did need a lot of body work however, Same car today with more milage and in good nick = 7K

Will try to attach a photo, my only one and when the Car was fully restored, admitidly it was not looking this good when I put it into storage.

allthedoyles

Is this the '88 model - Maybe the owner of a similar car may have bought parts etc from someone with your car .

Dempo1

allthedoyles wrote: »

Is this the '88 model - Maybe the owner of a similar car may have bought parts etc from someone with your car .

Gosh, well spotted but sadly no, my car is 1979 model, its uncanny the resemblance of both cars. I never had the reg plates to the new system, also the alloys on this car are not originals, mine had the real thing, amazing likeness all the same, my car was also Burgundy originally (but in shocking condition), before the respray to yellow, this was partly the reason I got a replacement log book. Well spotted!

Bigus

He'd be entitled to charge you for storage,

at say a token €1 per day

which works out at €5475

plus any work done

plus interest ,

sorry for being a smart arse, but i think your being unrealistic and naive.

Dempo1

Bigus wrote: »

He'd be entitled to charge you for storage,

at say a token €1 per day

which works out at €5475

plus any work done

plus interest ,

sorry for being a smart arse, but i think your being unrealistic and naive.

Lets go back to the beginning, the mechanic and I had an excellent relationship and he worked on the car over a couple of years and was handsomely paid, he operated from his house but had ample storage, in fact the car was mostly parked outside his house and not taking up any room. The situation is that despite him having my contact details, knowing I remained close friends with his neighbors etc, he sold up completely and moved to another county without so much as a phone call or notice.

My primary concern is that the car may have been sold and it is still registered. The notion he would be entitled to charge me storage costs + interest in the circumstances pointed out is naive. I should point out not a single old neighbour of the mechanics (and there were many as it was a housing estate) have a clue were he moved to which in itself is a little strange. I began the search for this car years ago but circumstances took me abroad, it was my finding of the log book recently and discovering the car is still registered that encouraged me to search again.

unfit2006

And you cannot remember his name ?

TRNIALL

How do you know that the Car is still Registered??

Capri

1)Check Eircom phonebook online - his name but no county ( Business or Home )
eg Murphy (Business listing ) http://www.eircomphonebook.ie/q/name/who/Murphy/?customerType=BUSINESS&contentErrorLinkEnabled=true

Both of the next moves could potentially create hassle for your 'friend' the mechanic if the possibility of 'unlawfully forging a signature' arose with charges processed :eek:

2) if no joy above then I'd go to the local Garda station and point out your situation (with a written version of events ) to the Sarge or Super - you are/were the regd owner and DID NOT sign over the car to anyone else. It was entrusted to the care of the mech who , if you had not kept in regular contact, may have believed you had disappeared in the same way he has now disappeared off the radar


3) Write to your local Motor Tax office as the LAST REGISTERED OWNER requesting a replacment log book - then they will have to 'fess up over changing owners without your signature

Dempo1

unfit2006 wrote: »

And you cannot remember his name ?

First Name, not surname which makes a search impossible, he also traded privately so its unlikely he has a business name!

Dempo1

TRNIALL wrote: »

How do you know that the Car is still Registered??

I'm not entirely sure if the car is actually on the road as such but it appears to be still registered, it shows up on various motoring websites. Had the car been officially scrapped or perhaps sold for parts, the scrappage should have been recorded. My suspicions were raised when I discovered by chance the car is still officially registered!

Dempo1

Capri wrote: »

1)Check Eircom phonebook online - his name but no county ( Business or Home )
eg Murphy (Business listing ) http://www.eircomphonebook.ie/q/name/who/Murphy/?customerType=BUSINESS&contentErrorLinkEnabled=true

Both of the next moves could potentially create hassle for your 'friend' the mechanic if the possibility of 'unlawfully forging a signature' arose with charges processed :eek:

It is sadly looking like I will have little choice but to make a statement to the Gardai, I was concerned about causing grief for the mechanic but it seems there may be no alternative to report this to the Gardai. Hopefully I could persuade them even to confirm the current status of the car (Is is currently taxed and registered), if so, then the car may have been sold without my permission and my sympaties will diminish somewhat.

Silvera

Have you been in contact with the Irish X/19 Owners Club?
Somebody in the club may know of your car being in storage somewhere, or may now even own your old car and have it tucked away awaiting restortation someday. The club may let you put a photo ad in the their newsletter/website seeking info...

(I dont have contact details of the club. I recall reading about the club being started in the last year or two.)

Silvera

allthedoyles wrote: »

Slightly off topic...

Where was this pic taken?
I'm curious about the red Opel Kadett Coupe in the pic...havent seen it before (I'm a member of 'TotalOpel.com')

f4fay

Dempo1 wrote: »

Gosh, well spotted but sadly no, my car is 1979 model, its uncanny the resemblance of both cars. I never had the reg plates to the new system, also the alloys on this car are not originals, mine had the real thing, amazing likeness all the same, my car was also Burgundy originally (but in shocking condition), before the respray to yellow, this was partly the reason I got a replacement log book. Well spotted!

The alloys on this car are the originals for the year of this bertone X19 !!!

Sids Not

unfit2006 wrote: »

And you cannot remember his name ?

Thats the first thing that came into my mind too......he did work fo you, but you dont remember his name... smart arse..? guilty...
You bought the car 15 years ago..immediately left it in to your mechanic...
Why did you only start looking for the car again after finding the log book...are we to assume if you'd not found it that you would have just fogotten about the car (€7k) ..again....

Dempo1

Silvera wrote: »

Have you been in contact with the Irish X/19 Owners Club?
Somebody in the club may know of your car being in storage somewhere, or may now even own your old car and have it tucked away awaiting restortation someday. The club may let you put a photo ad in the their newsletter/website seeking info...

(I dont have contact details of the club. I recall reading about the club being started in the last year or two.)

Hi there and thank you, yes indeed I am a member of the xi9 club on facebook and the search has commenced on there also!

Dempo1

Sids Not wrote: »

Thats the first thing that came into my mind too......he did work fo you, but you dont remember his name... smart arse..? guilty...
You bought the car 15 years ago..immediately left it in to your mechanic...
Why did you only start looking for the car again after finding the log book...are we to assume if you'd not found it that you would have just fogotten about the car (€7k) ..again....

Jesus the smart arses do seem to come out on Sunday, as explained, I can not recall his surname, he did not have a registered business name, I purchased the car in 1997, over a three year period I had various jobs done on the car, the search for the car commenced in 2002 when I returned from the states to discover the mechanic has up sticks, sold his house (actually replaced by 2 new ones by the time I came back), a number of his neighbours whom I also knew had also moved and just remind those who wish to be unhelpful! not a single attempt was made by the mechanic to contact me prior to moving. This is not an a typical situation, I have admitted I am as much at fault, however on giving up the search in the early 2000's, it was only recently on finding the log book and also checking the reg online to discover the car was still on the system, I felt it worth another attempt to locate the car, finally the car at time of being put into storage had a rough value of 2k, its only in the past five to six years these cars have increased in value.

Dempo1

f4fay wrote: »

The alloys on this car are the originals for the year of this bertone X19 !!!

Yes, sorry your correct, meant to say the alloys on mine were original to the model i had, pre bertone, apologies, as an aside, the door mirrors on this model are also original to the model, pre Bertone Models seem to have had the door mirrors on the door as opposed to the side window.

TRNIALL

Dempo1 wrote: »

I'm not entirely sure if the car is actually on the road as such but it appears to be still registered, it shows up on various motoring websites. Had the car been officially scrapped or perhaps sold for parts, the scrappage should have been recorded. My suspicions were raised when I discovered by chance the car is still officially registered!

If the Car is still Registered and you go to the Local Cop Shop explain to them the situation they should be able to tell you who the Registered Owner is,Maybe its still Yourself,Happy Hunting.

Carazy

Ok so can we have the mans: 1st name, location of this old garage etc. etc which would make it much earier to locate the old mechanic who you were very friendly with during the restoration of the car, so much so that you agreed to leave the car with him. So friendly that you forget his 2nd name and when you went to find him when you returned and asked locals they ALL did not know his name???!!! Would that not have been the first thing to find out all those years ago (Sorry to be a Captain Hindsight)

Dempo1

Carazy wrote: »

Ok so can we have the mans: 1st name, location of this old garage etc. etc which would make it much earier to locate the old mechanic who you were very friendly with during the restoration of the car, so much so that you agreed to leave the car with him. So friendly that you forget his 2nd name and when you went to find him when you returned and asked locals they ALL did not know his name???!!! Would that not have been the first thing to find out all those years ago (Sorry to be a Captain Hindsight)

Captain Hindsight, the reason I started this thread was to seek advice on how best to track down were my car is, as explained from the outset, this is an unusual situation going back a number of years. I accepted from the outset that i am as much at fault as the mechanic for letting this go so long, to be honest i had long forget about this until finding the log book recently.

Whilst the search began about two years after i initially departed to the states, i let it go, moved to the midlands, have worked in 10 countries since, now settled in my humble abode in the midlands and a lot has happened since this situation began. I was also reluctant to name names as such for obvious reasons, I was not initially looking for the mechanics name, date of birth, marraige statue etc etc, just some way of researching were my car might be, is it registered, taxed currently etc, it is most likely the mechanic no longer has the car after all these years anyway.

But just to clarify, the mechanic was based in Pinebrook Close, Hunstown, clonsilla, Dublin 15, he has long since sold the house and neighbors previously advised he has moved to Meath. Finally, the purpose of this thread is to assertain how best i can determine if the car is currently taxed, in other words if my car was sold without permission, not to locate the mechanic as such. I do appreciate all the advice recieved on this thread and I may have an update later in the week.

corktina

just do a carcheck or similar...if you were serious surely you would have done this already and would know if it was still taxed.

if it is still around it probably legimately belongs to the current owner, possibly they bought it when acquiring the storage site and have made a statutory declaration years ago changing its ownership.

Dempo1

corktina wrote: »

just do a carcheck or similar...if you were serious surely you would have done this already and would know if it was still taxed.

if it is still around it probably legimately belongs to the current owner, possibly they bought it when acquiring the storage site and have made a statutory declaration years ago changing its ownership.

There was no storage site, this was a private mechanic, worked from his house etc, the house was sold and he moved everything, in fact the house was knocked and replaced with two new smaller houses. Plan to do a car check later in the week! Thanks!

corktina

well any items at a premises when the premises are sold , become the property of the new owner if the seller doesn't remove them. Thus I imagine the new owner of the site would become the owner if the car was not removed or excluded from the sale in the contract. Anyone acquirng a site with an old car "abandioned" there would probably just call Hammond Lane...

Do you know if the car was moved when the house was sold?

Dempo1

corktina wrote: »

well any items at a premises when the premises are sold , become the property of the new owner if the seller doesn't remove them. Thus I imagine the new owner of the site would become the owner if the car was not removed or excluded from the sale in the contract. Anyone acquirng a site with an old car "abandioned" there would probably just call Hammond Lane...

Do you know if the car was moved when the house was sold?

Yes his neighbors informed me at the time, he moved lock, stock and barrell when the house was sold to a developer who then built two new, smaller houses on what was once a corner site.

corktina

thats hopeful then. Do the check thing is the next move, only takes a few moments and costs about €35

allthedoyles

Silvera wrote: »

Slightly off topic...

Where was this pic taken?
I'm curious about the red Opel Kadett Coupe in the pic...havent seen it before (I'm a member of 'TotalOpel.com')

taken in New Ross at the Three Sisters Challenge :

http://www.rally.ie/stories/120219-190806

BowWow

OP look at Thoms Directory for 1999 for the Clonsilla address - that should give you the surname.

kell1

Hi Dempo1,It can be very quickly resolved without any cost.Call to your local Garda Station,bring your log book and explain that you were out of the country and that you are trying to locate your car,do NOT go into a big long winded story etc.Tell the Guard that you are NOT making a complaint against anybody and that all you want is to find your car.One click of a mouse will provide Guard with current owner,if currently insured,taxed,NCT'd,if involved in any incidents,who was stopped driving it etc.If you giv e your mechanics name,Guard would most likely be able to instantly bring up any telephone contact number and maybe ring him on your behalf.I wish to emphasise that this is all above board.Good Luck

Dempo1

kell1 wrote: »

Hi Dempo1,It can be very quickly resolved without any cost.Call to your local Garda Station,bring your log book and explain that you were out of the country and that you are trying to locate your car,do NOT go into a big long winded story etc.Tell the Guard that you are NOT making a complaint against anybody and that all you want is to find your car.One click of a mouse will provide Guard with current owner,if currently insured,taxed,NCT'd,if involved in any incidents,who was stopped driving it etc.If you giv e your mechanics name,Guard would most likely be able to instantly bring up any telephone contact number and maybe ring him on your behalf.I wish to emphasise that this is all above board.Good Luck

Thanks Kell1, I finally got confirmation the Car is still registered in my name with no reported incidents etc. It is likely the car was kept in storage and probably a rust bucket at this stage. Unfortunately a previous address going back many years is the address registered on the log book. I have now reluctantly reported the car as stolen, this was on the advice of the Gardai albeit doubtful the car is road worthy etc. Officially the mechanic should have reported the car scrapped (there is a likely hood that parts may have been sold at this stage.

Thanks to one and all for their help!

TigerTim

If it was me, I'd suggest calling to a few local motor factors or a few local main dealers. Some of the older guys might remember Joe Bloggs, Mechanic who worked from the location you remember. It would be worth a shot. I'd also try the local motor club or classic car club, lot of mechanics involved in that in my area & would be familiar with other mechanics who operated about.

My tuppence worth,

T.

Bigus

I'd say the mechanic left it behind gladly when he eloped with the developers money .:D

Most likely that the pesky builders then crushed the crispy wreck with the JCB or hymac and dumped it in a tipper truck illegally, the cheek of them !:eek:

perhaps you could sue the builder if he hasn't gone into liquidation/receivership or emigrated, or worse !;)

It might be no harm to put a tracker on the next one, so it doesn't happen the next time.

Andrew33

Bigus wrote: »

I'd say the mechanic left it behind gladly when he eloped with the developers money .:D

Well if it became the developers property, you should give NAMA a ring and see if they've any X/19's on their books;)

okistag

well at Mondello classic this year, they are gathering a number of X19's celebrate its 40th is it? maybe pop down who knows, who will be there or what they know...

The Aussie

Bigus wrote: »

It might be no harm to put a tracker on the next one, so it doesn't happen the next time.

galwaytt

Dempo1 wrote: »

.........not a single attempt was made by the mechanic to contact me prior to moving. ......

...er, says who ? How do you know that ? You fupped off around the globe for 10+ years..... As far as you know he spent 10 years looking for you, tried everything he could think of to find you......... and in a moment of mercy, put the car out of it's misery. Maybe he had no greater success at finding you, as you are of him ..?

Bigus wrote: »

It might be no harm to put a tracker on the next one, so it doesn't happen the next time.

LOL, so, you think the battery in the tracker will still work, in parked car, in 15 years time ? I'd like the name of that battery co, btw........

kev1.3s

I've followed this thread with interest since the start and I had a fair degree of sympathy for you when some posters were giving you stick, but I'm absolutely flabbergasted that you could leave a car with someone more than 10 years ago and then go to the police and report it stolen! What did you expect the man to do with it when he moved if you were not contactable? Bring it on at his own expense and store it at his new property? I know what I would have done with it! I think it's time to face the unfortunate reality that your car is scrapped now or the developer most probably swept it up when he was developing the site!

carchaeologist

My bet is that this car is long since scrapped.