PPSR check Queensland: $2 government certificate included, from $12.95

The PPSR is national, so a certificate for a Queensland car looks exactly like one for a car in Perth. It lists any security interest registered against the VIN and the secured party holding it. It carries the NEVDIS block: stolen status, and write-off status with the statutory or repairable classification and the incident codes. It also shows the plate, expiry, make, model and colour held nationally for that VIN.

What is specific to Queensland is how to read the write-off line. Queensland lets repaired cars back on the road after inspection, so a repairable entry on a Queensland-plated car is common and not by itself a reason to walk away. A statutory entry is.

Every certificate has a 16-digit search number. With it you can retrieve the same certificate free from the PPSR at any time, and so can anyone you forward it to.

You can search the PPSR yourself for $2.00 at ppsr.gov.au. The register only accepts a VIN. The TMR free rego check often prints the full VIN for Queensland cars, so the do-it-yourself path is open to many Queensland buyers. The certificate you get that way is the same one we deliver.

We charge $12.95 for the certificate and $27.95 for the report. The $12.95 buys a plate search when the VIN is not to hand, a plain-English verdict, and a free re-run if a character was mistyped. The $27.95 report decodes the write-off incident, location and severity codes and adds build and identity data for 2021-onward cars. It lists open safety recalls for the make, model and year, and includes a free finance re-check within 14 days.

Each receipt reads: $12.95 = $2.00 PPSR search fee paid to the Australian Government plus $10.95 CarVerify fee including GST.

Queensland distinguishes statutory from repairable write-offs in the usual national way. A statutory write-off is too badly damaged to be registered again anywhere in Australia. A repairable write-off can be repaired, inspected and registered in Queensland. The inspection is the Written-Off Vehicle Inspection, or WOVI, run through Queensland Transport and Main Roads.

The WOVI confirms the vehicle’s identity and that it has been repaired to a registrable standard. It is not a warranty on the repair work. The PPSR entry remains for the life of the car, which is why a seller sometimes says "it passed the inspection, so the write-off doesn’t count". It still counts for resale value, and it should still count for your price.

If the car was written off in another state and is now on Queensland plates, the certificate shows which state recorded it. The classification travels with the VIN.

Private buyers are the largest group searching by hand, usually from a classifieds listing with a plate and a photo. Licensed dealers must sell cars free of encumbrances, so they search stock before it goes on the yard and again before delivery. Lenders search before financing a used car and then register their own interest, which is where most of the entries come from.

Auction houses commonly attach a PPSR certificate to each lot so bidders can see finance and write-off status before the hammer falls. Insurers and assessors feed the write-off side of the register rather than searching it; in Queensland they must notify a write-off assessment within a set period.

1. Enter the Queensland plate and choose QLD, or enter the 17-character VIN.
2. Confirm the make, model and year we return from the plate lookup. Nothing is charged until you do.
3. Pick the $12.95 certificate or the $27.95 report and pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
4. Read the verdict page. The certificate PDF, with its search number, is emailed within minutes.

• The balance owing to a lender. The register records that an interest exists, not the amount.
• How many owners the car has had. Queensland sells historic registration information only through limited channels, and the PPSR holds none.
• Whether WOVI repairs were done well. Get an independent mechanical inspection.
• Service history, odometer accuracy or accident damage that was never insured.