WOVR check: is the car on the Written-Off Vehicle Register?

The Written-Off Vehicle Register (WOVR) is the national record of vehicles assessed as write-offs. Each state and territory collects notifications from insurers, loss assessors, dealers, dismantlers and auction houses. Those records flow into NEVDIS, the national vehicle database run by Austroads. The PPSR draws on NEVDIS, so every PPSR vehicle certificate shows whether the VIN you searched is on the register.

A write-off entry does not mean the car is a wreck today. It means that at some point a notifier decided the damage made repair uneconomic or unsafe. Many repaired write-offs are back on the road legally. The register exists so the next buyer knows, and so a damaged car's identity cannot be quietly transferred to a stolen one.

The register records two categories. In the PPSR's own words, a statutory write-off "isn't safe to drive". A repairable write-off "may be able to be repaired, re-registered and driven if it passes a safety and identity check", depending on state and territory law.

• Statutory write-off: damage severe enough that the vehicle can never be registered again anywhere in Australia. It can only be sold for parts or scrap.
• Repairable write-off: the insurer chose not to repair it, usually on cost. It can be repaired and, in most states, re-registered after an identity inspection and a safety or roadworthy check.

Each write-off record carries codes describing the incident. The PPSR publishes the code tables, but the certificate prints the letters and numbers without explaining them. There are three parts.

• Incident type: a letter for what happened. D is dismantled, F is fire, H is hail, I is impact and M is malicious damage. W is water, which the PPSR describes as "storm, river or flood".
• Damage location: a number from 1 to 46 for where on the vehicle the damage sits. Codes 42 to 46 apply to NSW heavy vehicles only.
• Severity: a letter from A to P. Among them, E means unrepairable, L means salt water and M means fresh water.

A record might read "I" with a location number and a severity letter: an impact to a named area at a stated level. A "W" with an "L" is a salt-water inundation, the kind of damage that corrodes wiring and airbag modules long after the carpets dry. Hail (H) is often cosmetic, which is why some states treat hail write-offs differently.

Our $12.95 certificate shows whether the car is a statutory or repairable write-off. The $27.95 report decodes every code on the record into plain English, using the PPSR's published tables.

1. Find the number plate and state, or the 17-character VIN from the compliance plate, the driver's door pillar or the registration papers.
2. Enter it in the search box above. We look up the plate, show you the make, model and year, and you confirm before paying.
3. Pay $12.95 for the certificate or $27.95 for the decoded report, by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
4. Open the report page. The write-off section shows whether the VIN is on the register, statutory or repairable, and on the report tier what each damage code means.
5. Already have the VIN? You can run the search yourself at ppsr.gov.au for $2. The write-off status is on that certificate too, with the codes left undecoded.

Write-off rules are state law, and they differ. The short version:

• NSW: repairable write-offs have not been re-registrable since 2011. The narrow exceptions include hail damage, inheritance and cars owned for 28 days or more before the incident. A NSW car on the register is almost always a statutory write-off.
• Victoria: a repairable write-off needs a Vehicle Identity Validation (VIV) inspection plus a roadworthy certificate before it goes back on the road.
• Queensland: a repairable write-off needs a safety certificate and a Written-off Vehicle Inspection (WOVI).
• WA: expect to show repair receipts and photos and pass a written-off vehicle inspection before relicensing.
• SA, ACT and NT: an identity inspection, and in the ACT a repair inspection, before re-registration.
• Tasmania: a repairable write-off's registration is suspended until a Transport Inspector clears it. Tasmania keeps its own written-off register alongside the national one.

• Damage that was never claimed on insurance. A car repaired privately after a crash never reaches the register.
• The quality of the repair. The register records the incident, not who fixed it or how well.
• Write-offs from before the records begin. Service NSW states its own history report covers write-offs anywhere in Australia from 2004.
• Whether the car in front of you is the car on the paperwork. Check that the VIN on the compliance plate, the chassis stamping and the certificate all match.
• Tasmanian stolen records, which NEVDIS does not supply to the PPSR. Tasmanian write-off records are included.