HistoryEmailed within 60 minutes
Car history check for any used vehicle, before you buy.
Get finance owing, write-offs, stolen status and odometer checks emailed to you within 60 minutes, before you hand over a cent.
- Official register data
- Emailed within 60 minutes
- Secure payment
- Australia-wide
national registers
secure checkout
- Helping Australian buyers
- 16 years
- Reports delivered
- 250,000+
- Average delivery time
- 38 min
- Average customer rating
- 4.9/5
- States & territories covered
- 8
What a report checks
What could a used car be hiding?
Most used vehicles are exactly what the seller says. These are the problems you can’t spot from the kerb.
Money owing
If a previous owner still owes on a car loan, the lender can repossess the vehicle from you, even after you’ve paid.
Written off
A repairable write-off can be fixed and re-registered. A statutory write-off can never be registered again, only used for parts.
Stolen
A vehicle reported stolen can be seized by police. We check the vehicle and its number plates against police records.
Odometer rollback
Winding back the kilometres makes a car look younger and worth more. We compare past readings to spot gaps.
Wrong identity
If the make, model, colour or rego on record don’t match the car in front of you, it could be a cloned or re-identified vehicle.
How it works
Three steps. Report in your inbox within the hour.
Enter the VIN or chassis number
Type the 17-character VIN from the windscreen, door pillar or rego papers, or the chassis number for an older vehicle. Not sure where it is? Double-check each character before you continue.
Choose your report
Pick the Essential Report, add an odometer check with Plus, or get everything, including safety and emissions ratings, with Complete History.
Pay securely, get it by email
Add your name and email at checkout. Your PDF report arrives in your inbox within 60 minutes.
Reports & pricing
Pick the check that suits the purchase
Every CarCheck History Report checks finance owing, write-offs and theft, with an official certificate number. One-off payment, no account or subscription.
CarCheck Essential
The must-have checks for any private sale.
$39.99inc. GST
- Vehicle details, including rego number
- Finance owing
- Write-off status
- Stolen status, Australia-wide
- Not included: Odometer tampering check
- Not included: ANCAP safety & emissions ratings
CarCheck Plus
Everything in Essential, plus a check for wound-back kilometres.
$49.99inc. GST
- Everything in Essential
- Odometer tampering check
- Not included: ANCAP safety & emissions ratings
CarCheck Complete History
Our most complete report: everything in Plus, plus the car’s ANCAP safety and emissions ratings.
$69.99inc. GST
- Everything in Plus
- Odometer tampering check
- ANCAP safety rating
- Emissions ratings
Compare reports
| What’s included | Essential | Plus | Complete History |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vehicle detailsMake, model, colour, body shape, year, rego number | Included | Included | Included |
| Finance owingIs money still owing on the vehicle? | Included | Included | Included |
| Write-off statusHas it ever been written off? | Included | Included | Included |
| Stolen statusReported stolen anywhere in Australia? | Included | Included | Included |
| Odometer tampering checkWhen odometer data is available | Not included | Included | Included |
| ANCAP safety rating | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Emissions ratings | Not included | Not included | Included |
| PDF report by emailDelivered within 60 minutes | Included | Included | Included |
The odometer check is only offered when odometer data is available for your VIN. If it isn’t, the option won’t appear at checkout.
Which report is right for you? Worried the kilometres have been wound back? CarCheck Plus adds an odometer tampering check. Want everything? Complete History includes the odometer check plus ANCAP safety and emissions ratings, ideal when comparing models or buying for a new driver.
Reviews
Trusted by Australian car buyers
First car I’ve bought on my own. The report landed in my inbox while I was still chatting with the seller, and it matched everything the seller told me. I paid feeling sure of it.
Buying our daughter’s first car was nerve-wracking. The odometer check lined up with the logbook, and the safety ratings helped us choose between two hatchbacks.
The report showed finance still owing on a ute advertised as “owned outright”. I walked away and found a clean one the next weekend. Best money I’ve spent.
Didn’t know you could check caravans. Found the VIN plate on the A-frame, typed it in on my phone and had the certificate by email before we’d hitched up.
Quick and clear. Checked the bike in the seller’s garage and the report was in my inbox before the test ride.
We check every trade-in. Having a time-stamped certificate on file for each car gives us and our buyers peace of mind.
Buyer’s checklist
Buying privately? Protect yourself.
Private sales don’t come with dealer guarantees. Work through this before any money changes hands.
- Run a history check on the day you pay, not the week before. Finance can be added at any time.
- Match the VIN on the car to the papers. Check the windscreen, door pillar and build plate against the rego.
- Check the seller’s ID matches the name and address on the registration.
- Read the service logbook and compare the last recorded kilometres to the odometer.
- Test drive from a cold start, on a mix of streets and highway.
- Book an independent inspection for anything worth more than a few thousand dollars.
- Pay by bank transfer and get a signed receipt, then lodge the transfer with your state road authority.
Coverage
Vehicles we cover
If it has a VIN, chassis number or HIN and is registered in Australia, we can check it.
- Cars
- Utes & SUVs
- Motorbikes
- Caravans & campervans
- Trucks & buses
- Trailers & horse floats
- Boats & jet skis
- Tractors & machinery
What is a car history report?
A CarCheck History Report shows what official records say about a used vehicle before you buy it: whether money is owed on it, and whether it’s been written off or reported stolen. CarCheck Plus adds an odometer tampering check, and Complete History includes that plus ANCAP safety and emissions ratings. More about car history checks.
What’s the difference between the reports?
CarCheck Essential covers vehicle details (make, model, colour, body shape, year and rego number), finance owing, write-off status and stolen status. CarCheck Plus adds an odometer tampering check. CarCheck Complete History includes everything in Plus and adds ANCAP safety and emissions ratings. The comparison table above shows everything side by side.
When should I run the check?
On the day you buy. Reports are emailed within 60 minutes, so order yours before you meet the seller. Finance can be registered against a vehicle at any time, so a check from last week may already be out of date. Your certificate is dated and time-stamped to the second.
What does the report NOT show?
For privacy reasons, reports don’t include owner names or addresses, how much money is owing, or unpaid fines and tolls. A report also can’t tell you about mechanical condition, so a pre-purchase inspection is still worth doing.
What if my VIN is under 17 characters?
Vehicles built before 1989, and some imports, trailers and machinery, have a shorter chassis number. Enter it as it appears and we’ll guide you through a chassis-number search. Chassis-number searches are available with the Essential Report; odometer and history data may not be available.
Can I get a refund if I enter the wrong VIN?
Please double-check the VIN against the vehicle before you pay. If something still goes wrong, contact us within 7 days and we’ll sort it out. Our Refund Policy has the details.
Is my payment secure?
Yes. Payments are processed on Stripe’s secure checkout, which is PCI DSS certified and supports card, Apple Pay and Google Pay. We never see or store your card details.
Do you check boats?
Yes. Choose the Boat tab and enter the 12-character Hull Identification Number (HIN), usually found on the top right of the transom. Boats and jet skis are checked for finance owing and stolen status. More about boat HIN checks.