FAQ

A VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) is a serial number that is unique and used in the car industry to classify vehicles individually.

A VIN meets one of two standards set internationally:

- International Standards Organisation (currently ISO 3779 2009)

- US Standard FMVSS 115

There is a meaning for each character in each position that relaties to the model, make, vehicle details and year of manufacture;

17 characters is the length that a VIN must conform to;

The following characters is what a VIN must consist of: 0-9, A-Z (upper-case) prohibiting letters Q, I and O. This stops confusion with other numerals that are visually similar;

Each manufacturer of high volume is assigned a WMI, this makes up the three first characters of the VIN;

Low volumne manufacturers are assigned a character in the third position of the WMI as a 9, and characters 12-14 show the low volume ID.

A VINNER History Report is comprised of the data provided from the PPSR register and the NEVDIS database. A VINNER History Report gives you all the information you need on whether the vehicle you wish to purchase has any financial interests, has been previously written off or stolen, or had any evidence of odometer tampering or flood damage. Similar reports in the past used to be called a REVS Check.

We use Stripe for payments and accept all major credit cards and wallets, for more information see Payments

The Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) is a national government database that since the beginning of 2012 has replaced the state based registers that previously existed.

NEVDIS is an acroymn for (National Exchange of Vehicle and Driver Information System) and is the goverment body in charge of running a database that captures registrations of every vehicle’s VIN across Australia. One of the main tasks for NEVDIS is to submit new vehicle VINs as they are imported or manufactured into Australia, this ensures that the registration can be successfully completed by the appropriate Territory or State.

When a vehicle is imported, there is a VIN that is listed on the Vehicle Import Approval which is provided to NEVDIS Administration Unit (NAU) and they decode, validate, and then upload it so that registrations can be successfully completed.

NEVDIS only records VINs for vehicles that are built on or after 1 January 1989.

A VINNER REVS Check History Report is a comprehensive report of a used car's history, if you are purchasing a second hand vehicle it'll provide you piece of mind that the car, motorbike, trailer, truck or caravan you are purchasing has not been previously stolen or written off and repaired, or has no security interests against it.

Absolutely, we can provide these via our Chassis Search page.

New South Wales has introduced new written off codes for registered heavy vehicles. These codes are now included in NEVDIS details. This additional information will help users understand the location of damage on a NSW heavy vehicle (like trucks, prime movers or buses).

The new damage locations which may be displayed in the written off section of the NEVDIS details are:

42 - Battery Pack
43 - Tow Point
44 - Auxiliary Equipment
45 - Hydraulic or other Lifting Equipment
46 - Rollover Protective Structure

Not currently, however we are investigating providing this solution. Please contact us if you have this requirement.

We utilise the Stripe payment network, and we never store any of your credit card details on our servers, they are sent directly from your browser to Stripe for processing.

Certainly, please check the Stripe portal for details of your transaction and a tax receipt.

Unfortunately not. VINNER provides information to you from the PPSR who source some data from the National Exchange of Vehicle and Driver Information System (NEVDIS) maintained by Austroads, if you have concerns about the data contained within your report, please contact the PPSR directly via the contact information contained in the report.

If you've entered a VIN and made a mistake and need to start again, just enter the new VIN in the search bar and submit again. If you have fully completed a transaction then unfortunately not, so please ensure the data you enter matches your required VIN number and what is displayed on the screen.

Absolutely. As Australian's we take pride in owning and running an Australian small business, and actively try to support other Australian businesses where possible

On average you should have your report emailed to you within about 1-2 minutes, however if the PPSR system is heavily loaded then the PDF generation can take a bit longer, sometimes up to 5-7 minutes. If you haven't received your report after 15 minutes, please check your email clients spam folder to ensure our email is getting through. Please note that the PPSR has a maintenance window on Wednesday evening between 9:00pm - 11:59pm (Canberra time), if you request a report during this period it will be sent after the maintenance has completed.

If you haven't received your report after 15 minutes, please check your email clients spam folder to ensure our email is getting through. If you still haven't received it after 30 minutes, please contact us providing the email address you used, the VIN you searched on and the approximate time and we'll investigate the issue. Please note that the PPSR has a maintenance window on Wednesday evening between 9:00pm - 11:59pm (Canberra time), if you request a report during this period it will be sent after the maintenance has completed.

At this stage we only support one serial per transaction, however we looking at implementing this functionality in future, please contact us with your requirements.

Yes you can, we support any type of motor vehicle has that has a VIN or Chassis Number. For more examples and details check the Docs page

Certainly, please check the Stripe portal for details of your transaction and a tax receipt.

Absolutely, we can provide these via our Watercraft Search page

Absolutely, we can provide these via our Watercraft Search page

The VINNER PPSR certificate is a Portable Document Format (PDF) file, which is a file format used to represent documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating system. We suggest to use Adobe Reader for your operating system, it can be downloaded for free from the Adobe website.

No, however we do accept credit and debit card (Visa, MasterCard and American Express) payment and digital wallets. If you don't have a credit card no problem, sign up for a PayPal account using your debit card, it's safe, quick and easy and your details are secure with Stripe, we don't see anything other than your email address.

The VIN number can be found in different places depending on the model of car. Try checking your registration or insurance details to see if it's listed on those, it's a 17-character VIN, which does not include the letters I (i), O (o), or Q (q) (to avoid confusion with numerals 1 and 0). The other places you can check are -

On the front of the engine, usually in a location that should be easy to spot when checking under the hood.

Near the front part of the chassis under the bonnet, sometimes near the window washer fluid bottle.

In a wheel well, possible one of the rear ones

Inside the vehicle in a doorjam, usually the drivers. When opening the door, around the rim of where the door would close.

On the doorpost on the drivers side. If you open the door and look near where the door lock is located.

Under the spare tire in the boot

In the section between the bonnet and the windscreen.

Yes, our website will only accept a full 17 digit VIN number for VIN searches. Chassis or Watercraft, and Aircraft searches do not have this restriction.

Absolutely, we are a financially secure company utilising safe and secure cloud technologies, our credit card processor is Stripe, one of the largest in the world. If you have any queries or concerns about our service prior to using or afterwards, just get in contact and we are happy to address any questions or concerns you may have.