If you wanted to put some information in the vehicle that the next owner would eventually discover, but the deal wouldn’t, where would be a good place? It seem the dealers like to take the owner’s manual out and also remove any traces of previous ownership from a vehicle.
What about the air filter box? Does the dealer look in there?
What kind of information would you want to hide ? Dealers remove all the stuff that might show the previous owners personal info for legal reasons. As for them removing the owners manual I doubt that is a real practice .
Think like a drug smuggler. Inside the spare tire. But then likely any place the dealer does not look is not likely to be found by a new owner.
I can think of nothing I’d want to ‘pass on’ to the next owner.
Write it in the owner’s manual (maintenance section, on the inside of the covers, whatever). I don’t think they’ll tear the pages out of it to get rid of that info.
Sorry, read your post again and you said the dealer takes out the owner’s manual. Did not know that.
That’s what I heard. I’m not saying every dealer does it but I think they want you ask for it or come to them to buy it separately or something.
I have usually tried to have a copy of the pages in my journal to show what work has been done when trading a car. To say they are disinterested in the information would be an exaggeration. No interest at all. I’m sure it just hit file 13 as soon as I left. I guess they just like to pretend that all the cars on their lot were well cared for.
Seems to me the next owner would want to know oil changes, transmission service. tire replacement, and so on. I know I would like that information instead of guessing. On one car, they had gone to the work of a new timing belt and kit under warranty that I’m sure would have been of interest to the next owner. I don’t know if they throw the manuals out but they sure like to keep any service records a mystery except what maybe they have on their computers. I have only bought two used cars at a dealer though and come to think of it they both had the manuals.
Owner’s manuals are expensive, they are usually kept in a store room until the time of sale to avoid theft. To try to sell an owners manual to the buyer after the sale would be foolish.
+1
I have offered my meticulous maintenance charts (plus maintenance invoices) to the salesmen when I traded-in my cars, and they had no interest whatsoever–even though those documents proved that the cars had been maintained better than the mfr specfied.
If you are really invested in sharing this info, I think you could wait a couple months then use carfax to look up the current owner with the VIN number. Then drop them a line.
Now I understand. As soon as a potential buyer sees a car at the dealer with documentation showing service records going way back, the illusion that all the vehicles have been well maintained is now shattered and they will no longer be interested in any of the other vehicles unless they have service records too.
This is why it is usually a bad idea to buy a used car from a dealer in my opinion.
You really want people to buy from private parties who may be curb stoners ( If you don’t know what that is Google it ) . Some of the worst buys have been from private party sellers .
I will not supply my maintenance records, info on those I don’t want made public.
It’s not like I’m selling a classic car. It’ll be traded, or sold outright to Carmax, etc.
You could share a doc on google and sharpy inside the glove box the link! Maintenance records …@…
Ownership information is private data. You cannot get this information from Carfax. (From my experience anyway.) You have to go to the DMV and need authorization to get it. Law enforcement can get it but they cannot access the system unless it entails a legit investigation. The penalties are severe. 30 years ago, I could just give a plate number to a guy in blue and he could easily get the info. Not anymore though. Of course they do sell this information but with restrictions.
One thing , if it was a good hiding place then how could it be found ? Next , if I found a link in a used vehicle there is no way I am going to use it.
I did trade in a vehicle that had the timing belt replaced . The salesman cut out our name and address from the receipt and stapled to the owners manual .
Yup!
Several years ago, I got an email from a friend stating something like…
If you go to this website, and enter a license plate #, you can find out who owns any car.
To myself, I said… I thought that was illegal 
,
but I clicked on the link anyway because it came from a trusted source.
When I went to the linked site, the message was something along the lines of…
Are you stupid? You can’t legally do this!
Or go to the Allstate Insurance website and do an electronic quote. Enter the full name and address and it shows all the vehicles registered to that address or name. Companies pay for this information.
There was a guy who got access to it for money and then would go to funerals and look up the Illinois plates of the people at the funeral and then go burglarize a house during the funeral.
Back to hiding places. I read with some amusement somewhere, something like 20 good hiding places in the home that would fool thieves. Ha ha ha. Not the ordinary like freezers or in outlet boxes but real good places. Like crooks don’t look at tips plastered all over the internet.
A few years ago I had a substantial amount of cash to pay my tree guys. I had to go out of state for a week and didn’t want to take it with me. I think I found the perfect place but I’m not telling. I did tell my son so he would know in case of my demise.
This is why they quit announcing this stuff in the paper including addresses of kids in the paper. In fact we did have a friend that house sat for us during a funeral. While people lose faith in humanity, you have to keep in mind it is a very small percentage of the people, like 3% that commit like 50% of the crimes. A little herd culling could have a big impact.