How to find anything
Step-by-step guides to finding people, numbers, vehicles, property, businesses, records, images and lost things. Each one starts with the free, official route and tells you when the law says no.
Free methods come first. Every rule or fee is linked to the official source and was checked on October 12, 2026. Where a paid service could help, it sits in a labelled box marked as an ad. Every guide is written and checked by editor Greg Parsons; see our editorial standards.
People
Find a person you've lost touch with, or check that someone is who they say they are.
- How to Find Someone: Free Ways to Track Down a Person
- How to Find Someone's Address (Legally)
- How to find an old friend or classmate (coming)
Contact info (email/phone)
Work out who's behind a number or address, or find a proper way to reach someone.
- How to Find Out Who Owns a Phone Number
- How to Find Someone's Email Address
- How to check if an email address is real (coming)
Vehicles (VIN/plates)
Check a car's history and recalls, and learn when the law lets you identify its owner.
- How to Find Out Who Owns a Car (VIN & Plate Lookup)
- How to Check If a Used Car Is Stolen or Written Off
- How to decode a VIN, character by character (coming)
Property & owners
Find who owns a house or a piece of land, using the land registries that hold the answer.
- How to Find Out Who Owns a Property
- How to look up what a house sold for (coming)
Businesses & domains
Check that a company is real, see who runs it, and find who registered a website.
- How to Look Up a Business and Who Runs It
- How to Find Out Who Owns a Domain Name
- How to check a contractor's licence (coming)
Records (public/court)
Search court cases and order birth, marriage and death records from the offices that keep them.
- How to Search Court Records and Check a Criminal Record
- How to Find Birth, Marriage and Death Records
- How to search for an obituary (coming)
Images & files
Find where a photo came from, and see what a web page used to say.
- How to Reverse Image Search a Photo
- How to Find an Old Version of a Website
- How to find a PDF on a specific site (coming)
Lost items/accounts
Get back what's yours: forgotten money, and a phone you've misplaced.
- How to Find Unclaimed Money in Your Name
- How to Find a Lost or Stolen Phone
- How to recover a locked email account (coming)
What people search for
We pick topics from what people type into search boxes. See the search demand section for the autocomplete data behind this library.