Register of Encumbered Vehicles check worth the money???

[tomriddlepotter]

Hi,
I recently became fortunate enough to call Australia my new home and am in the process of buying my first used car down under. I was advised by some of my new friends to do a REVscheck. Coming from Europe, I don’t really know what this entails. Are there any disadvantages to doing a REVscheck and what does it actually check for besides accidents? Which kind of information would I need to enter in order to do this. What if the owner of the car tries to keep me from performing such a check?
Sorry lots of stupid questions, but would appreciate some brief advice from locals here.

 

[benabrahams]

Hi,
If it is anything like the one in the UK then you don't need the owners permission to perform the check. You just need the registration or VIN number of the car and it will tell you if it has been stolen, written off, has outstanding finance against it etc. An essential check to perform against any new purchase, especially when its so cheap and could save a great deal of pain in the future.
Personally, if the owner won't give me the reg number to do the check it would be ringing serious alarm bells with me!

Ben

 

[IndischRot]

You might be better off posting this question in an Australian forum - not sure many people with experience of buying cars in Australia frequent the PCGB Carrera 3.2 forum...
That said appropriate due diligence is almost always money well spent; just make sure you understand what it covers and, perhaps more importantly, what it doesn't cover.