The sequence
Seven steps, in order
Get the serial number
For a motor vehicle, the most common search is by serial number, such as the VIN. The protection described below depends on searching against the correct serial number, so copy it from the car itself, not from an advertisement.
Time it to the sale
For a motor vehicle, the search that counts is one done on the actual day of the sale, or the day before. The PPSR puts it as doing a search immediately before you buy.
Run the search
Online it costs $2.00 as at October 2026; through the PPSR’s contact centre it is $7.00. A search certificate, new or a copy, has no fee. The register is available online at all hours, apart from maintenance each Wednesday night and any outage.
Read the security interest section
A registration against the car means a lender may hold security over it, and could take the car back if the debt behind it goes unpaid. The PPSR warns that a buyer in that position can end up without the car and without the money paid for it, even after buying honestly.
Read the vehicle details
When the National Exchange of Vehicle and Driver Information System (NEVDIS) is reachable at the time of the search, the certificate adds vehicle information, such as any report of the car being written off or stolen (stolen reports don’t cover Tasmania). The states’ and territories’ road agencies and police supply that information, and it can be missing or out of date.
Search the seller too
The PPSR describes a second kind of search, by the seller’s details: usually an ACN for a company, or a sole trader’s name and date of birth as on their driver’s licence. It says doing both can give you greater confidence.
Keep the certificate
If the car becomes a business asset, file the certificate with its line in your register, next to the invoice and the date it was first used. It is the record of what you checked, and when.
Write-offs
Two kinds of write-off
A certificate may show one of two kinds of write-off recorded in NEVDIS.
| Type | What the PPSR says |
|---|---|
| Statutory write-off | Usually a car judged unsafe to fix. It can be used for parts only and can never be registered for the road again, repaired or not. |
| Repairable write-off | Usually a car whose repair bill would likely exceed its market value. Some states and territories let it be fixed to a set standard, inspected and registered again. |
Because registering or insuring a repairable write-off can be difficult, the PPSR points buyers to their local road transport authority to learn its approach first.
Protection
When a clear search protects you
In general, a clear search lets a buyer take the car free of claimed security interests, provided the search used the correct serial number and was made on the day of the sale or the day before. That protection has limits. In the PPSR’s explanation it may not help a buyer who knew of the interest, a buyer acquiring the car as inventory, or a buyer whose seller is also the secured party, as can happen when the seller arranges the finance. Nor does it reach an interest made effective by some means other than registration.
Private seller or dealer
From a private seller, skipping the search means no protection: a valid registered interest could still be enforced and the car repossessed. From a motor vehicle dealer, a buyer generally takes the car clear of security interests, though not in every case, for example when the dealer is unlicensed.
The same idea reaches beyond cars. The PPSR suggests a search before buying second-hand business equipment such as vehicles or machinery, which might still have money owing on it. AR-0004 explains the register itself.