Tracing my old cars

My first car was a red 1989 Mitsubishi Lancer GLXi. I learned to drive using this car. It was then replaced by a white 1997 Honda Civic VTi. This was the car I used to court my wife and the car I used to bring my wife to the hospital to give birth to our daughter.

Both of them have long been sold to others and for a long time now I've been wondering what happened to them.

• Are they still driving along happily somewhere?
• Are they now sporting funky looks with outrageous paint color like electric pink, yellow green, banana yellow or one of those fancy paints that change color depending on how the light hits them and the angle of the observer?
• Did they fell victim to car crash, then chopped up to be sold as surplus parts?
• Were they used in action movies to be blown up to bits in stunt scenes?

I always look at the plates of similar cars that I come across while driving, hoping to someday see my old friend Lancer and Civic. But I haven't seen any of them so far.

Then LTO introduced their new SMS/text messaging service that gives you an instant status check of a car's registration and a person's driver's license. It gave me a means to know how my previous cars are doing. Well, this is what I discovered.

They are still both alive and driving along somewhere in the Philippines. Yehey!
My old red Lancer is still red and had just acquired it's 2008 LTO registration last February 22, 2008. This car is almost 20 years old and still working.
My old white Civic is still white and still has a valid 2007 LTO registration that was acquired last August 13, 2007. Both cars have no LTO apprehension record and are not on LTO's alarm list.
Good for them.

Here's how you avail of LTO's SMS service.

To get the status of a vehicle, text LTO VEHICLE xxxyyy to 2600 where xxxyyy is the vehicle's plate number without any space or dash.

To get the status of a driver's license, text LTO LICENSE zzzzzzzzzzz to 2600 where zzzzzzzzzzz is the driver's license number.

You can use this service to instantly check if the second hand car you plan to buy is in LTO's alarm list or if you have an outstanding LTO record that would hinder you from renewing your driver's license. Each text will cost you 2.50 pesos.
How are your previous cars doing?