Does it have a UK reg plate or is it reg in Belgium? IF UK is it possible to make the enquiry from a friend or relatives house? Is there not a time limit on driving cars in another country so would you not have to register it in Belgium if not returning here?

I can tell you that DVLA won't tell you anything if you're resident in Belgium. I am a British citizen living in Austria. We took our Austrian registered car to the UK last Christmas, and were subject to a hit and run incident at Dover by a UK registered car. I had a witness and the registration number. I filled in the relevant form on the DVLA website, supplied all the information they asked for and even sent them a cheque for the outrageous sum of £2.50. Despite the damage being caused by a UK registered car on British soil, and me being a British citizen, they wouldn't release the driver's details to me because I lived in Europe, even with a UK contact address. Grossly unfair but just another Brexit benefit.

As an aside, it tells you what century the DVLA are living in when the only method of payment is a cheque :-)

I strongly doubt that there would have been a conformity certificate when an E38 was new but you could try BMW in Munich.

Edit: looks like it may have been introduced by a 2007 directive, 2007/46/EC.

Edited by Brit_in_Germany on 13/07/2023 at 19:46