Millions of Australians run a PPSR check and feel confident. But the PPSR was never designed to tell you what a car is worth, or whether you're overpaying by thousands.
Get the Full Report for $34 →The PPSR (Personal Property Securities Register) is run by the Australian government. It's a legitimate and necessary check — we're not here to dismiss it. Here's what it covers:
These are the foundational checks. You should always run a PPSR. But for a $10,000 to $40,000 private purchase, it's the floor, not the ceiling.
Once the PPSR confirms the car is clean on paper, most buyers feel reassured and proceed. But the questions that actually determine whether you're getting a fair deal are nowhere in the PPSR database.
The PPSR has no pricing data. It can't tell you whether the seller's asking price is fair, inflated, or a genuine bargain. Without benchmarks, you're negotiating blind.
There's a difference between listed prices and sold prices. Cars sit on the market for weeks at inflated asking prices. Our report pulls from real delisted vehicle logs, showing actual transaction prices, not wishes.
A 2018 car with 180,000km might seem fine until you see that comparable 2018 cars average 95,000km. The PPSR doesn't give you that context, we do.
If this model sells within 2 weeks, the seller holds the power. If it's been sitting for 60+ days, you do. The PPSR has no concept of market demand, our demand indicator does.
Every model has its quirks. Some have rust issues at 100,000km. Some have known gearbox failures. Some have persistent electrical gremlins. The PPSR knows nothing about mechanical history, we give you a pre-inspection cheat sheet specific to the exact car you're checking.
You find a 2019 Toyota RAV4 for $29,500. You run the PPSR: finance clear, not stolen, not written off. You feel good. You pay $29,500.
Three weeks later, a friend checks the same model on a car marketplace. Similar year, similar kilometres, recently sold: $25,800. You overpaid by $3,700.
The PPSR told you the car was clean. It didn't tell you what to pay for it.
The full report costs $34. That's less than 1% of the difference in the scenario above. For any private purchase over $10,000, the market intelligence data alone justifies the cost.
| What you get | Basic PPSR | Full Report ($34) |
|---|---|---|
| Standard history checks | ||
| Finance / encumbrance check + PPSR certificate | ✓ | ✓ |
| Written-off status check | ✓ | ✓ |
| Stolen vehicle check | ✓ | ✓ |
| Registration check — all states | ✓ | ✓ |
| Vehicle recall check | — | ✓ |
| ⭐ Market intelligence | ||
| Dealer buying price vs retail price Unique | — | ✓ |
| Actual sold prices of similar cars Unique | — | ✓ |
| Odometer vs market range Unique | — | ✓ |
| Demand indicator — days to sell Unique | — | ✓ |
| Known issues for this make & model Unique | — | ✓ |
A PPSR check is a necessary starting point but not sufficient on its own. It tells you about finance owing, write-off status and whether the car is stolen, but it tells you nothing about market value, whether the price is fair, how the odometer compares to similar cars, or known faults for that make and model. For any significant private purchase, you need more information than the PPSR provides.
A PPSR check does not show: the car's market value or what similar cars have sold for, whether the odometer reading is higher or lower than average for the age and model, how quickly this model sells (your negotiating leverage), known mechanical or safety issues specific to the make and model, or vehicle recall information. All of these are included in a full car history report.
Absolutely. A clear PPSR means the car has no finance registered against it and isn't recorded as written off or stolen. But you can still overpay significantly if you don't know what the car is worth. The PPSR protects you from legal risk, it doesn't protect you from overpaying. That's what the market intelligence data in the full report is for.
A basic PPSR check covers the legal baseline: finance, write-off, stolen and rego. A full car history report adds recall checks, dealer vs retail price ranges built from real transactions, actual sold prices of comparable cars, odometer benchmarking against the market, demand indicators and known model-specific issues, all in one instant report for $34.
The market intelligence data comes from Cars24 Australia's transaction database, one of the largest active buyers and sellers of used cars in the country. Unlike modelled estimates, this data reflects real daily transactions, giving you pricing benchmarks that dealers use and that private buyers rarely have access to.
The full report is $34. The market intelligence alone could save you thousands.
Get My Full Car Report for $34 →