Vehicle Sightings Search

Austin-Based, Available Nationwide

Need to know where a vehicle has actually been? A Vehicle Sightings Search uses license plate recognition (LPR) data to show where and when a vehicle was photographed over time: locations, dates, times, and photographs of the sightings that matter. All we need to start is a license plate or VIN.

This search draws on a nationwide database of plate scans collected by fixed cameras and camera-equipped vehicles, so it can establish a pattern of movement that would be very difficult to observe in person.

Clients come to us to confirm where someone is actually spending their time, to locate a vehicle connected to a debt or a judgment, to support a family law matter, or to focus a surveillance effort before it begins.

How far back the data goes

Scan records typically reach back about three years. What exists for any particular vehicle depends on two things: when that plate or VIN entered service, and where the vehicle has been driven. We can't promise sightings on a given vehicle before we look, and we won't tell you otherwise.

A short record is not the same thing as a gap in coverage. In one recent case the search ran the full three years and returned every sighting inside an eleven-week window, because the plate had only been issued eleven weeks earlier. The report says which of the two you are looking at, because it changes what the record can support.

Where coverage is strongest

Scan density is vastly higher in urban areas. Concentrated traffic, grid infrastructure, and overlapping stationary and mobile camera deployment all contribute. In rural areas, cameras are positioned strategically at county lines, major highway intersections, and isolated arterial roads, rather than in continuous grid networks.

In practice, a vehicle driven daily through Austin will usually produce a fuller history than one that stays on back roads. Rural sightings are sparser, but they can be informative when they occur.

Pairing with surveillance

A sightings history can tell us where and when to be before we ever put an investigator in the field, which can make live surveillance shorter and more likely to capture what matters. On its own, the search can answer a narrower question: is this vehicle turning up where you expect, or somewhere else entirely?

Lawful use

You need a legitimate interest in the vehicle and a lawful purpose. That typically means you are the owner or co-owner, a lienholder or secured party, a lessor, an insurer, or a party to litigation or asset recovery involving the vehicle. We confirm this during the consultation, and the written agreement includes a certification you sign before any work begins.

We won't run a search intended to stalk, harass, threaten, or intimidate anyone, or where a protective, restraining, or no-contact order is in effect. Use of this information is also governed by federal privacy law, including the Driver's Privacy Protection Act.

What you receive

A written investigative report, not a database printout. It identifies the subject vehicle and the search period, then sets out every recorded sighting with its location, date, and time. Where a sighting is significant, the image captured at that moment is reproduced, and enlarged where the detail carries weight.

Locations that matter are examined individually rather than left as rows in a table. We routinely research the significant addresses a search returns, establishing what is actually at each one, whether that is a residence, a business, or an apartment complex, and what it suggests about why the vehicle was there. Where the records alone can't settle a question, we say so rather than guess. The report also shows how many times cameras passed each location against how many times they actually saw the vehicle there, which is what tells you whether a sighting is a pattern or a coincidence.

A full table of every location, with sighting counts and first and last seen dates, appears as an exhibit. The report closes with a plain conclusion about what the record does and does not establish. Turnaround is generally within three days, and afterwards you can call a real person and talk it through.

Frequently asked questions