Stolen car check: NEVDIS stolen vehicle, plate and engine records

Police in each state and territory record stolen vehicles with their transport authority. Those records are pooled in NEVDIS, the national vehicle database run by Austroads. When you search a VIN on the PPSR, the certificate includes a NEVDIS block alongside the finance result. That block states whether the vehicle has been reported stolen, and the PPSR notes the stolen indicators cover the "engine, vehicle and/or plate".

Three separate flags matter because thieves separate the parts. A stolen engine can end up in a legitimate shell. Stolen plates can be fitted to a similar car to pass a roadside check. The record tells you which element is flagged.

The PPSR states that it reports vehicles stolen "other than in Tasmania". Real certificates print the line "Tasmanian stolen vehicle information is currently unavailable from this service". For a car registered or stolen in Tasmania, the certificate still shows finance and write-off records, but it cannot confirm the car is not stolen.

If you are buying a Tasmanian car, treat the stolen section of any PPSR-based check, ours included, as silent rather than clear. Check the VIN with Tasmania Police before you pay.

1. Get the VIN from the compliance plate or the chassis stamping on the car itself, not only from the advertisement or the papers.
2. Enter the rego and state, or the VIN, in the search box above. We look up the plate and show the make, model and year so you can confirm it matches the car.
3. Pay $12.95 for the certificate or $27.95 for the full report. The official PPSR certificate is attached to both.
4. Read the NEVDIS block. It shows the stolen status, the registration plate and expiry held for the VIN, and the make, model and colour on record.
5. Compare the plate, make, model and colour on the certificate with the car in front of you. A mismatch is as serious as a stolen flag.

A clear stolen result means NEVDIS held no stolen record for that VIN at the moment of the search. The PPSR itself warns that NEVDIS data "is not always available or up-to-date". A car stolen this week may not be recorded yet. A car with swapped plates will come back clear if you searched the plate the thief fitted.

That is why the physical check matters. The VIN on the compliance plate, the VIN stamped into the body, the engine number and the papers should all agree. They should also match the certificate. Our report page prints the NEVDIS plate, make, model and colour next to the result so the comparison takes a minute.

Do not buy it, and do not pay a deposit to "hold" it while you sort things out. Do not confront the seller or try to recover the vehicle yourself. Contact your local police or the Police Assistance Line on 131 444 and give them the VIN, the plate, the seller's details and the certificate's search number. The certificate can be retrieved free from the PPSR with that number, so police can see exactly what you saw.

If only the plates are flagged, the car itself may be legitimate but the plates are not. If only the engine is flagged, the car has had an engine fitted that was reported stolen. Either way, the police are the right call, not the seller.

The PPSR search is national, so one check covers a car registered in any state. The free state rego checks are not stolen checks. Most show only status and expiry. Only South Australia's EzyReg shows a general warning if a car is recorded stolen or written off, without details. The exception to national coverage is Tasmania, above.