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

Victoria is the only state whose free rego check prints the full 17-character VIN. That makes the do-it-yourself route genuinely workable here, and we describe it in the free section below. If you want it done in one step, with a verdict, here is ours.

1. Enter the Victorian plate and select VIC, or paste the VIN from the Service Victoria check.
2. Confirm the make, model and year on screen before anything is charged.
3. Select the $12.95 certificate or the $27.95 report and pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
4. Open the verdict page and keep the emailed PDF. The search number on it retrieves the certificate free from the PPSR at any time.

Three things decide whether you should pay for a used car. Does a lender still have a claim on it? Is it recorded as stolen? Has it been written off? The PPSR certificate answers all three from one VIN, and names the secured party on any finance it finds.

Victoria allows repairable write-offs back on the road after a Vehicle Identity Validation inspection, called a VIV. The VIV confirms the car is the one it claims to be and was not rebuilt from stolen parts. It does not grade the repairs. A Victorian car with a repairable write-off record and a VIV certificate can be a fair buy at the right price. It should never be priced as a clean car.

Statutory write-offs cannot be registered again in Victoria or anywhere else.

Run the Service Victoria free rego check first. It confirms the registration status and expiry, the make, body type and colour, and it prints the full VIN and engine number. Compare both numbers against the car. A VIN on the compliance plate that differs from the one on the registration is a reason to leave.

The free check does not report finance or write-offs, and for those it refers you to the PPSR. For owner history, VicRoads sells a Vehicle Report for Victorian cars that lists transfer events and roadworthy history. The PPSR holds neither.

Victoria is the state where a near-free check is most realistic. Take the VIN from the Service Victoria page to ppsr.gov.au and pay $2.00. You will receive the same certificate we deliver, and you will read it yourself.

We charge $12.95 for the certificate and $27.95 for the report. What you are buying is the convenience of a plate search and a one-line verdict. The report tier decodes the write-off damage codes, and both tiers include a free re-run if a character is wrong. If no certificate arrives within 15 minutes, we refund in full. The receipt itemises the $2.00 search fee paid to the Australian Government.

Melbourne has one of the largest used-car markets in the country and busy online classifieds. Many listings show only a plate, which the PPSR cannot search. Enter the plate here and we return the VIN match, the vehicle description and the certificate in one pass.

Hail and flood events put repaired write-offs back on the Melbourne market after every bad season. The certificate records hail as its own incident code, and the $27.95 report explains it in words.

• The payout figure on any finance. Ask the seller for a letter from the secured party.
• How many Victorians have owned the car. The VicRoads Vehicle Report covers that; the PPSR does not.
• Whether VIV repairs were done properly. Get an independent inspection.
• Service history, roadworthy status or odometer accuracy.