REVS check ACT: finance, stolen and written-off, from $12.95

The ACT never had a separate REVS; Canberra cars were covered through the national arrangements that became the PPSR in 2012. The search is the same one every other state uses. Four steps.

1. Enter the ACT plate and select ACT. If you already have the VIN from the registration papers, enter that instead.
2. Confirm the make, model and year returned by the plate lookup.
3. Choose the certificate at $12.95 or the report at $27.95 and pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
4. Read the verdict on screen; the certificate PDF and its search number arrive by email within minutes.

The certificate reports registered security interests and the party holding each one. It shows the stolen status recorded nationally against the VIN, and any write-off entry with its statutory or repairable classification. The registration details held against the VIN are printed as well, so you can match the plate, make and colour to the car in the driveway.

The ACT permits a repairable write-off to be registered again after it passes an identity and repair inspection. That makes the ACT slightly stricter than Queensland or Victoria, where the inspection is about identity only, and far more permissive than NSW next door. Because so many Canberra cars are bought and sold across the Queanbeyan border, the state that recorded a write-off matters as much as the classification.

The Access Canberra free rego check confirms the registration status and expiry, gives a basic vehicle description and shows the next inspection date. Many Canberra cars need periodic inspections, so that date is a useful clue to when the car was last looked at.

It reports nothing about finance, theft or write-offs, and it prints no VIN. That means it cannot feed a do-it-yourself PPSR search. You will need the seller to show you the VIN, or let our plate lookup find it.

The honest answer is $2.00. That is what the Australian Government charges at ppsr.gov.au for a search by VIN, and the certificate it issues is the one inside our reports. If the seller sends you a photo of the compliance plate, you can do it yourself.

We charge $12.95 for the certificate and $27.95 for the report. The price covers the plate-to-VIN lookup that Canberra buyers particularly need and a verdict written for people who are not lenders. The report tier adds decoded write-off codes and recall checks. Both tiers include a free re-run if the plate or VIN was mistyped. Every receipt shows the $2.00 search fee separately from our fee.

• The amount owing on any registered interest. Ask the secured party for a payout letter.
• How many owners the car has had in the ACT. No public ACT report lists owner counts.
• Whether an inspected repair was done to a good standard. Pay for an independent inspection.
• Service history, odometer accuracy or unreported accidents.