Terms of Service

1. Who we are

This website is operated by Digital Services International Pty Ltd, ABN 86 677 513 334 ("we", "us", "our"). We are a commercial search agent. We source information from the Personal Property Securities Register ("PPSR") to provide reports to you.

We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an agent of the Australian Government, the Australian Financial Security Authority ("AFSA") or the PPSR. You can search the register directly with AFSA if you prefer.

2. What you are buying

A single search of the PPSR against one vehicle, and delivery of the results to you. The results comprise:

• a summary we prepare, in plain English;
• the search certificate issued by the PPSR, which we pass on unaltered; and
• a report link, valid for 30 days; and
• where finance is recorded against the vehicle at your search, free finance-change alerts for 14 days (clause 8).

You are not buying a vehicle inspection, a valuation, a title guarantee, or advice about whether to buy a vehicle.

3. Price and payment

Prices are shown on the site and at checkout before you pay, and are set out on our Pricing page. A search by number plate costs more than a search by VIN, the difference being the cost of matching the plate to a vehicle. SMS delivery is an optional extra; the price, which may be nil, is shown at checkout before you pay (clause 7).

Prices are in Australian dollars and include GST where applicable. Payment is taken at the time of order through our payment provider. We do not receive or store your card details.

4. The vehicle check, and what you are agreeing to

We check the vehicle after you pay, not before. Checking an identifier against the National Exchange of Vehicle and Driver Information ("NEVDIS") costs us money on every attempt, so that check sits behind payment. Before you pay we validate only the format of what you have typed — that a VIN is seventeen characters, that a plate and state are well formed — which costs nothing and catches most mistakes.

Once your payment is confirmed we run the NEVDIS check and tell you what it found. One of four things happens:

• The vehicle is recognised. The PPSR search is lodged immediately. Where a plate matches more than one vehicle we stop and ask which is yours first — see clause 5.
• The vehicle is not recognised. We tell you so and ask you to confirm, by ticking a box, that you have checked the number and want to continue. That statement includes an acknowledgement that no refund is available for a search lodged on an incorrect or unrecognised identifier. We record the exact words you agreed to, with the time you agreed to them. The PPSR search is lodged only if you tick it.
• A plate matches more than one vehicle. We show you each one and you choose. The search is lodged only once you have chosen.
• Nothing is found at all. No PPSR search is lodged. You may try another identifier on the same payment, within the limits at clause 5.

If you tick the acknowledgement box, you accept that the PPSR search may return no vehicle details, and that the fee is not refundable on that basis.

5. Number plate searches, and trying again

The PPSR has no number plate search. Where you order by plate we match the plate and state to a vehicle first, after payment, and the PPSR search runs on the vehicle that match identifies.

Where the plate matches more than one vehicle, we stop and show you the list. Nothing is lodged, and no part of the fee is spent on the register, until you pick one. Where the plate matches exactly one vehicle, the search runs on that vehicle without stopping — the vehicle lookup returns no description in that case, so there is nothing we could show you to check. If a plate has been transferred to another vehicle since you saw it, a search by plate will find the vehicle it is registered to now; if that matters to you, search by VIN instead.

A plate registered in one state will not be found under another, and that is the most common reason a check finds nothing. If that happens you may try again on the same payment — a different state, or a VIN or chassis number — up to three attempts in total per order, after which please contact us. A plate search cannot be changed into a different kind of search that costs more.

6. Delivery

Reports are issued within minutes while the PPSR is available.

The register has a routine maintenance window. The PPSR is published as unavailable for scheduled maintenance each Wednesday between 9:00 pm and 11:59 pm Canberra time. No report can be issued during that window. If you order then, your search is lodged and queued, and it runs automatically as soon as the register returns.

Maintenance also happens outside that window. The register is operated by the Australian Financial Security Authority, not by us, and unscheduled outages and extended maintenance are not something we can reasonably predict at the time you run your search or make your payment. In any event your search proceeds, and your report is issued, once the register can process the request.

Because the PPSR is the single national register, an outage affects every provider of PPSR searches, not only this site. While it is down, no one can supply a PPSR report. If you would rather not wait, your report page lets you cancel the check and request a refund under clause 9. Where your search has already been lodged with the register we cannot withdraw it, and it may still complete; if it does and your report is delivered, it is not refunded.

Delivery is to the email address, and where chosen the mobile number, you give us. It is your responsibility to supply correct contact details. We will resend your report to a corrected address at no charge, up to five times per order. Pressing send again for the same address within a few minutes does not use one. Sending to a corrected address does not change your order on its own. If you want that address used from then on, so the finance-change alerts reach you, you can say so when you send it, and we will change it.

Your report is also available on this site for 30 days from the date of the search, from the link we email you and from the Find my report page.

7. SMS

If you choose SMS, we send one text when your result is ready, containing the headline outcome and your report link, and, where finance-change alerts apply (clause 8), a further text if the finance recorded against the vehicle changes during the 14-day alert period.

You may only give an Australian mobile number, and only one you are entitled to receive messages on.

8. Free finance-change alerts

Finance-change alerts apply only where finance (a security interest) is recorded against the vehicle at your search. Where it is, for 14 days from the date of your search we will check with the PPSR, at no charge, whether the security interest details recorded against the searched vehicle have changed, and notify you if they have, by email and, if you chose SMS, by text. The PPSR tells us only whether those details have changed, not what the changes are; to see the current details you will need to order a new search, at the price then current. Alerts cover security interests only; they do not cover stolen or written-off records. An alert is not a new search: it does not give you a new search certificate or the protection a search certificate gives. Alerts depend on the PPSR being available and may be delayed during its maintenance windows. Where no finance is recorded at your search, no alerts are provided; to see whether that has changed, order a new search.

9. Refunds

Our Refund Policy forms part of these terms. We refund the fee you paid where, because of PPSR maintenance or an outage, or a technical issue that we are made aware of, your report has not been delivered — including where you cancel a check that is waiting on the register during maintenance (clause 6). We do not refund an order once its report has been delivered, whatever the result, and including where the PPSR returned no records. Nor do we refund where an identifier you gave was wrong or found no vehicle (you may try again under clause 5), or because you changed your mind. This clause is subject to clause 12.

10. Accuracy, and the limits of a search

We report what the PPSR and NEVDIS return at the moment of the search. We do not verify, supplement or correct that data. We are not responsible for errors or omissions in it.

A search reflects the register at a point in time. An interest registered after your search will not appear in it. A search is not an inspection: it says nothing about the mechanical condition, service history or odometer accuracy of a vehicle.

11. Your use of the results

Results are provided for your own use in connection with a vehicle you are considering acquiring or dealing with. You must not resell them, republish them, or extract them systematically. You must not use this service to search a vehicle in which you have no legitimate interest.

12. Australian Consumer Law

Our services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law, including that they will be provided with due care and skill and be fit for their purpose. Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies those guarantees.

13. Our liability

Subject to clause 12, and to the extent permitted by law, our liability for any claim arising out of a search is limited, at our option, to resupplying the search or refunding the fee you paid for it.

Subject to clause 12, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, including loss of profit or loss of opportunity, however caused.

You are responsible for your decision to buy a vehicle. Subject to clause 12, we are not liable for any loss arising from a decision to buy, pay a deposit on, or otherwise commit to a vehicle before you have received and read your report, including where your report is delayed by PPSR maintenance or an outage, or by a technical error, or where no report is produced.

Nothing in this clause limits liability that cannot be limited at law, including for fraud.

14. Acceptable use

You must not attempt to interfere with this website, search it automatically or in bulk, or use it to harass any person. We may refuse or cancel an order where we reasonably suspect fraud, card testing, or use contrary to these terms, and refund it.

15. Cookies

When you start a check we store a cookie of our own on your device. It holds nothing but an opaque reference to your order, and it is what allows the browser holding it to see that order's progress, result and certificate without signing in. It lasts 30 days, the same period your report link stays viewable.

By using this site you consent to that cookie being stored and used in that way. If you block it, or clear it, or open your report in another browser, you can still retrieve your report using the Find my report form. Your reference on its own will open the report in your browser. So will the VIN or plate you searched together with the email address you used. Either way the report opens here, in the browser you are using, and we give that browser the cookie again so the report stays available for the rest of its 30 days. The order is yours: you chose the identifier, you gave us the email address, and the report is about a vehicle rather than about another person. Both routes are rate limited and sit behind a bot check, so the form cannot be used to guess at orders.

We also use Google Analytics, which sets its own cookies to measure how the site is used; our Privacy Policy explains them, how to block them, and what else we store. We do not use advertising cookies.

16. Privacy

We handle personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

17. Changes

We may change these terms. The version published when you place an order is the version that applies to that order.

18. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of Queensland, Australia, and you and we submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of its courts.

19. Contact

Digital Services International Pty Ltd, ABN 86 677 513 334. Use our contact form — we answer most messages within two (2) business days.