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Car finance check

Find out whether money is still owed on a used car before you pay for it. A$9.00, by rego or VIN.

Is there finance owing on this car?

A car loan is secured against the car. If the loan is not paid out when the car is sold, the lender’s claim does not disappear with the seller. It can follow the vehicle to whoever owns it next.

Lenders record that claim on the Personal Property Securities Register, the national register that replaced the old state REVS checks. A search of it returns an official certificate listing any security interest against the vehicle, and it is the one check that answers this question.

Run a PPSR check

$9.00 for one certificate. No account needed — emailed to you the moment it is ready.

Which state is it registered in?

Your card is only charged if the search returns a certificate.

One certificate covers finance owing, written-off and stolen records together.

On the certificate

What a finance check actually shows

When there is nothing registered, the certificate says so in one sentence: there is no security interest or other registration kind registered on the PPSR against the vehicle. That sentence is what most buyers are hoping to read.

When there is something registered, each one is listed with:

  • The secured party: who the money is owed to. Usually a bank or a finance company, sometimes a private lender.
  • When the registration started and when it ends. The end date is when the registration lapses unless it is renewed, not when the loan finishes.
  • What kind of interest it is, including whether it was finance used to buy this vehicle.
  • A registration number, which is what the lender will ask for.

It does not show how much is owed. Only the lender can tell you that, which is what the payout letter is for.

If it finds something

What to do when finance shows up

  1. Tell the seller what the certificate shows and ask for a current payout letter from the lender named on it.
  2. Agree that the payout amount is paid to the lender as part of the sale, with the seller receiving only what is left.
  3. Once the lender confirms the registration has been removed, run the search again. The new certificate should show no interest.

A seller who is surprised by the finding, or who would rather you did not contact the lender, has told you something worth knowing. This is general information, not legal advice; for a large purchase, a conveyancer or solicitor can handle the payout for you.

Why an inspection will not find it

A mechanic can tell you about the engine. Nobody can see a loan by looking at a car. The seller is often not the person who borrowed the money, and the papers that come with a vehicle do not mention it. The register is the only place it is written down.

If you only have the number plate, that is enough: the search runs from the rego and state. To confirm what the vehicle is before you check it, start with a rego-to-VIN lookup.

FAQ

Finance check questions

How do I check if a car has finance owing?
Search the Personal Property Securities Register by the car's registration number and state, or by its VIN. The certificate that comes back lists any security interest registered against that vehicle. It costs A$9.00 here and needs no account.
What happens if I buy a car with finance owing?
The debt is secured against the car, not the person who took out the loan. If it is not paid out, the lender can have a claim on the vehicle even though you have paid the seller in full. That is why the check is done before money changes hands, not after.
The certificate shows a security interest. Should I walk away?
Not necessarily. Plenty of cars for sale still have a loan on them. What matters is that the loan is paid out as part of the sale. Ask the seller for a payout letter from the lender named on the certificate, and arrange for that amount to go to the lender rather than to the seller.
The seller says the loan is paid off, but an interest still shows. Why?
A registration stays on the register until the lender removes it or it reaches its end date, and lenders are not always quick. The seller can ask the lender to discharge it. Search again afterwards: a fresh certificate with no interest on it is the proof.
Does a rego check show finance owing?
No. A registration check, including the free ones run by each state, tells you about the registration. Finance is recorded on a separate national register, the PPSR, and only a PPSR search shows it.
How close to buying should I run the check?
As close as you can. A certificate is true for the moment of the search, and a security interest can be registered at any time. A check from last month says nothing about today.

The same certificate also answers

Everything a certificate covers is on the PPSR check page. If you need to know what the vehicle is rather than what is attached to it, that is a VIN check.

Check for finance before you pay

A$9.00 for the official certificate, by rego or VIN. You are only charged if the search returns one.

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