DriveArchive FAQ

Well no... sadly probably not. I'm mean... think of the odds. Even though DriveArchive has thousands and thousands of cars, there have been millions of the blighters over the years. The ambition of the site is that one day there will be enough data in the archive so your chances of finding a car are at least reasonable. I guess the guys who started Facebook had this problem, and eventually it worked out okay, didn't it? I would ask, nay beg, therefore that you find it in yourself to contribute a vehicle or two to the archive yourself... if you're looking for a specific car then chances are you must know something about it - so why not add the details, then someone else might one day find what you wrote, and bingo!

I would hope it does for everyone after all these years. There have been cases of folks being able to register, but then not being able to use the rest of the site, adding their vehicles, searching and so on. In all these cases it has turned out to be because they were using an old browser. So, sorry if for some reason you must use older software. If that isn't the reason for any bugs that you may encounter, I would beg you to report the error as fully as possible, and I would hope to fix it ASAP.

Nothing. Zero quid. Diddly-squat. £0. F.O.C.

It just ticks over on the affiliate links you will see (hopefully unobtrusively) around the site.

Click Search on the menu above. If you know the registration of the vehicle you're after, then enter it in and click 'Search'. Alternatively you could browse through Manufacturers and Models. If the vehicle isn't there you could add the registration to your 'Wish List'. Then, when the vehicle is entered in the future, you'll receive an email suggesting you visit the site to see the record. (To use the Wish List you'll need to be registered and logged in.)

You are encouraged to enter as many vehicles as you can into the Archive. The more information you can enter, the more useful the site will become. To enter vehicles, first register and log-on, then go to click Submit on the menu above.

For your vehicle to appear in the For Sale list (free), simply enter the details as you normally would, but tick the For Sale box at the bottom of the vehicle submission form, and enter in a price. The record will appear in the For Sale section for a month. You may return and reactivate the For Sale indicator after this period, until the car is sold. (To do all this, you'll need to be registered and logged in.)

The Wish List is a list of vehicle registrations that people would like to know about. When you enter a vehicle into the Archive you have the option to create a Wish List record for it, as I am assuming that you are interested in finding out the history of vehicles you have owned. However you may also add Wish List records for vehicles you have not entered in the Archive too. Whatever, when someone else enters a record for that registration then an email will be sent to you suggesting that you visit the site to see what has been said.

There have been several requests for a facility to search for vehicles by their VIN or chassis number. Originally DriveArchive did hold these details, however it was suggested that this data could be used by the unscrupulous for concocting false vehicle documentation, so it was withdrawn. Any suggestions in this area would be welcome, if anyone has strong views on this, I'd like to hear them.

Once you have entered a vehicle into the archive, then you will be able to upload a picture of it. The picture will end up quite small, if you try and upload a huge picture, it may not work. In which case you can send an email to me with the picture attached, then I will add it to the site as soon as possible. It would really help if you followed these guidelines:

• Make the picture a JPG
• Maximum width of pictures on the site is 400 pixels, so the smaller your picture is, the less time you'll waste uploading/emailing it
• Maximum of one picture per vehicle
• If you email in a picture please tell me the registration of the vehicle! (In fact, using the registration number as the file name, e.g. "AB12XYZ.jpg" would be great!)

When you register you are asked whether you wish to have your Email Visible? - ticking this box will mean that when visitors to the site view vehicle records that you have entered, they will be able to see your email address and email you directly. If you don't tick the box (recommended), then your email address will remain invisible - however people will still be able to get in touch through DriveArchive itself. If someone wants to contact you, then DriveArchive will send you an email with their email address in it, which you can choose to respond to or not. I hope this covers the threat of spamming.

Well, there are no rules. The name of the game is for the site to build up a 'time line' of a particular vehicle. In the majority of cases, it would be ideal for the vehicle in question to have been actually owned by the contributor, as they would know the most about it. However if you happen to know about a vehicle belonging to another family member, or you know about an abandoned car somewhere, well you could add a record, every detail helps.

Easy! If you send in a great picture of a vehicle, or a picture of a great vehicle, or ideally a great picture of a great vehicle, then you're in with a chance. And if the notes you add to your vehicle record are interesting too, then all the better.

No. Well, not many, and it should work even if you block them. I do use Google Analytics to see what's going on with the site. Technically, there are a couple of places where 'Session Cookies' are used, but if you're refusing Cookies the site will pretty much work without them.