common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Last updated on: February 11, 2019

Summary of questions

Welcome to pastdrives, we want you to know that we realise how frustrating it can be when you can't work out how to achieve something you're wanting to do. We are always looking for ways to improve our interface and user experiance and will learn and change based upon your feedback. No question is too silly and here's a short list of common questions:


What is pastdrives?

Many different things to many different people. For some it's a perpetual online car show, where you can connect with previous owners, consider their car directions and choices and most importantly 'showcase' your car for people to just view and ponder over.

Equally should the time be right you can set your car status to 'for sale' and all your followers and connections will be notified and made aware long side the browsing public. Other status changes such as 'stolen' could help alert the community to be on the look out.

For some it's an excellent way to simply document and log their life long motoring 'back catalogue' and allowing them to explore other previous and current owners at the same time. Private messages and connection requests provide a safe way of contacting others and opening up new dialogs.

As with shows, some quietly sit in the corners without giving too much away, while others pin their colours to their masts for all to see and admire, pastdrives can cater for all breeds with powerful preference settings allowing you to be completely anonymous or as transparent as you'd like.

At the end of the day we believe we've created the tools and foundations for something we believe will provide enjoyment to the classic car communities around the globe. But the secret source will be how you guys use it! As we all move forward together we're hoping to listen to all your feedback and add regular feature upgrades and bespoke functions to suit your needs.

How to remain anonymous

Yes, our privacy controls allow for a number of your application areas not to be seen by others based upon your selected preferences. Login and explore the 'my details' pages under each tab.

You equally don't need to use your actual name and instead can create a pastdrives user name / screen name should you wish. Plus your avatar image can be an icon or logo.

Have a play with the various controls and settings and see what works best for you. You can always go back and tweak them in the future should you choose to. Also if you need to view what is visible to other users, simply log-out and then browse your account.

Connecting to your previous cars

If you feel a featured car is possibly one of your previous cars, yet you're not aware of its details you can simply PM (private message) the owner with a simple explanation.

The owner can then, if appropriate provide you a number to create a formal system connection request, which once approved will allow you to post stories to your section of that cars timeline.

When owners upload their car, we ask for them to input either the cars registration, vin or chassis number. These numbers are not displayed and it's a way to help filter incorrect connection requests from those owners.

Best sizes for uploading images

Generally the larger the better providing more detail and sharpness. We would recommend your main hero car image being at least 1500 pixels in width and your gallery images a minium of 800 pixels wide.

However don't worry if the images are too large, providing you have a good internet connection when uploading the software tools will allow you to crop your image, providing the correct aspect ratio. It will also determine the correct resolutions for each image, including your avatar picture.

The tools will warn you if your images are too small. Also don't forget that your cars 'avatar' image doesn't have to be the same crop / image as your main hero picture.

Accepting connections

When you upload a new car (current or previous) you control all images and sections of the timeline for that car.

When previous owners request a connection to the car and you approve them, they'll be given access to their section of the timeline and you remain the controller. If that previous owner is a more recent owner than you, they'll inherit the cars hero and gallery pictures and then be able to add and adjust those. They will now also have control of any sections of the timeline that are waiting ownership claim.

You will remain in control of your ownership section of the timeline. The most current owner of the car always has control of the main images for that car.

Setting my car for sale

When you've uploaded your car you're given various 'status' options within your cars details page.

When logged in, either from your 'my profile' page or your cars main timeline page. Click the edit button which will take you to your cars details section. From their you have a number of options, on the 3rd tab labelled 'status' you can select 'For Sale'. Then simply complete the wizard to input price and your advertisement wording and this will build your ad page.

Once activated, a For Sale roundel (sticker) appears on your main car page displaying that it's now for sale along with the price. When a user clicks on this the ad page pops-up and from there the user can print, save a PDF or share your ad. Also as soon as you activate a change of status all connected owners or members following your car are notified. Also other users can now find your ad / car by the filters in the car explorer pages.

Deleting & changing Images

If you're the current or most recent owner of the car you can change any of the images.

Simply login and either via the 'my profile' page or your cars timeline page, click on edit. This will take you to the car details section that holds most of your cars data over it's four tab pages.

The car tab holds most of the cars text details that you can add or edit. The images tab is where you can change both the main hero and gallery pictures. Don't forget you can also change and crop a different image to represent your cars avatar (thumbnail) image in the main panel, as well as changing your cars heading and subheading text.

Connection count calculation

Your connection count increases based upon how many owners you have on shared timelines.

Perhaps the best way to increase your count is to promote your car to any previous or more recent owners if known. Also boosting you view counts can help increase connection requests therefore suggesting that people follow or check-out your car page at shows and events can really help.

Cars featured on your Home page.

Cars and posts are featured on the home page based upon various criteria.

Popular and frequently view cars tend to percolate towards the top but also cars with activate / completed timeline posts. Unusual and recently uploaded cars also have their moment in the spot light.

Connecting and contacting other owners

Yes, all members can contact one another using PM's (private messages).

It's up to the user how and if they respond, but the platform allows direct communications between members.