Sorry Chris, I seem to have missed your reply for some unknown reason.
The question is a bit academic now, but I was trying to find out if a car I was intending to purchase from Germany had been involved in an insurance claim. Obviously over here we can do a credit/insurance check on the interweb on the registration number, but in Germany the plates do not always transfer with the car.
Don’t worry too much about it, but if anyone knows for future reference it might help someone later!