- Why check your car for theft?
- Verification methods
- When should you check your car?
Buying a car second-hand is always a dangerous transaction. Having bought a problem car out of ignorance, the new owner will most likely be left without property and without money. A basic check will help you avoid losses.
The buyer can entrust the study of the legal purity of the transaction to a specialist or a notary who certifies the purchase and sale agreement. But it’s easy to do it yourself using online services. Checking a car for theft via the Internet is simple, fast and reliable.
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How to determine if a car is stolen based on its VIN code?
The most reliable vehicle identifier is the VIN code. Experts recommend “punching” the vehicle through it. The code is a unique number of 17 characters containing information about the manufacturer, characteristics and year of production of the machine.
The VIN code can be located on the following body elements:
- under the hood;
- on the windshield (in the window intended for it);
- on the floor;
- on the door threshold;
- on the counter;
- inside the wheel arch.
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It is important to evaluate the number from the point of view of its condition and the presence of traces of adjustments (interruptions). Most often, similar numbers are affected, for example, three and eight.
Experts advise paying special attention to the 10th character, which encrypts the year of production.
You can check your vehicle for theft using its VIN online. It is recommended to use the following services:
- State traffic inspectorate base . The traffic police online resource (gibdd.ru) began operating in 2016. The system is integrated with a database that includes information about vehicle characteristics, registration, participation in road accidents, restrictions, and theft.
- Autocode (avtokod.mos.ru). In addition to the VIN code, the user will need license plates and registration on the State Services Portal. Unfortunately, the portal cannot be used outside of Moscow and the region. The advantages of Autocode include the completeness of the information provided.
- Register of pledges (reestr-zalogov.ru). The main task of the site is to provide data on vehicles that are pledged.
- FSSP website (fssprus.ru). This resource of the bailiff service contains information about the seizure of a car. The search is carried out using the owner’s full name and date of birth (it will be difficult to find out on your own).
- Autobot (avtobot.net) – provides a potential buyer with the opportunity to find out the owner of the vehicle. The resource contains graphic materials and all data about the machines that were posted on the Internet.
Methods for checking a car for legal purity using databases are discussed in this video:
Online services of the traffic police
The official website of the traffic police allows you to get the maximum necessary information on a specific car. The information within this resource covers data on the presence of possible fines and restrictions, and also allows you to find out whether the vehicle is stolen or not. This method allows you to quickly obtain all the required data related to any vehicle.
The site's search system is built in such a way that to provide information you can enter the vehicle identification code, and, in the absence of it, which is typical for Japanese cars and outdated modifications of domestic cars, the chassis or body number.
After this, the system will require you to enter a phone number to which a confirmation code will be sent. After entering the digital combination, the system, after some time, will provide all the necessary information.
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The emergence of such a service is due to the fact that previously, before its implementation, checking a vehicle using the traffic police database required a lot of effort and was accompanied by an unjustified waste of time. The buyer had to personally appear at the traffic police department, write a corresponding statement and wait for the result of the check within several hours. The online service greatly simplifies this procedure.
It should be remembered that all sorts of pirate clones can operate under the guise of the presented resource. They are almost identical to the official version of the program, but all the databases and information materials presented on them are not credible.
The official website of the traffic police is located at: https://gibdd.rf .
How to determine during inspection whether a car is stolen?
A stolen vehicle can be recognized by indirect evidence during direct inspection of the vehicle. To do this, experienced buyers are advised to have a detailed conversation with the seller about the vehicle.
If the car’s passport indicates that it belongs to the owner for a long period of time, the latter must know all the details about the circumstances of the damage to the car, its maintenance, and mileage. If the answers to these questions are uncertain, then it is better to refuse the purchase.
The documents will also tell you a lot. A copy of the PTS should immediately arouse distrust in the interlocutor. There are cases when the original vehicle passport contains obvious traces of corrections, which only increases doubts about the sincerity of the opponent.
The next step is to inspect the car itself. It should start with the side windows. In the process of theft, they are the ones who most often suffer. If there is no standard marking, you need to ask the owner why the replacement was made.
It is also important to pay attention to the ignition switch. It should not show any damage or signs indicating replacement. If there are no signs of impact, you should ask the seller about the completeness of the keys. There should be several of them.
The next indirect sign of theft is traces of foreign influence on the car body. It is necessary to note extraneous marks on the inside of the body, the presence of welding, as well as the uneven thickness of the marks. The engine ID must be compared with the data presented in the documents for the vehicle.
Proper re-registration of the car is the best check for all problems
Several years ago, the lengthy procedure and high cost of a full re-registration of a car with deregistration scared away buyers and sellers. People found faster and simpler methods for solving this problem. There were various kinds of powers of attorney, and then you could drive with someone else’s registration certificate. But today such re-registration options have become irrelevant.
The fact is that for more than a year a simplified system for re-registration of vehicle ownership has been in effect, which allows you to even keep your old license plates and not pay a fee for their production. This procedure is the best way to buy a used car, and also provides the buyer with the following important advantages:
- the re-registration procedure lasts no longer than one hour, sometimes you can get new documents even faster;
- the cost of re-registration of ownership of a vehicle without obtaining new license plates is very low;
- As the car is removed and registered with the traffic police, they check not only whether the car has been stolen, but also other statuses in the legal field;
- you get a completely clean car that is ready for use on Russian roads without surprises;
- the buyer has the right to order his own license plate, which will be assigned to him until the next sale of the car.
The procedure is quite simple and quick, but it allows you not to worry about possible legal problems at all. Many sellers believe that if they give away their car with license plates, fines from surveillance cameras can still be sent to their address. But this is impossible, because during the re-registration process the data about the owner of the number changes completely.
Such re-registration will actually be an important process that will determine the legal purity of the car and save you money on various checks. During re-registration, you must provide the car itself for inspection, which will ensure that all unit numbers correspond to the numbers specified in the documents. Don’t risk your money and nerves - choose the safest verification methods.
Checking the engine ID at the State Traffic Inspectorate
You can also check if a car is stolen using the engine number. In order not to buy a pig in a poke, the buyer needs to go to the traffic police department that deals with vehicle registration, together with the seller.
During the inspection, the inspector will easily find out about changes to the license plate and will refuse to register the vehicle. If the fact of theft is established, a criminal case is initiated against the seller and the car is sent for examination. If there are no problems with the State Traffic Inspectorate, you can safely buy a car.
The location of the unit varies for different brands. In most cases the number is located at:
- cylinder block;
- belt casing;
- base of the oil dipstick;
- the junction of the engine and gearbox;
- air intake;
- engine mounting eye;
- intake manifold;
- radiator pipe.
Why check your car for theft?
It is worth clarifying whether the car you are purchasing is listed as stolen or not for many reasons:
- Such a vehicle cannot be registered. The car will be immediately confiscated, and the new owner will quite possibly become a suspect or witness in a criminal case;
- Even if the failed buyer avoids problems with the police, he will lose money. He will have to collect them from the seller or prove his good faith in court.
All online services check cars for search, and not just for theft. Wanted cars are those whose drivers fled the scene of the accident and committed a crime.
Check by vehicle registration number
Checking a car by license plate is difficult due to the ease of counterfeiting. The only option is to contact the inspection staff. The request execution time can be several days, but in most cases it is limited to a couple of minutes.
To check the car for theft and obtain other information, you need to go to the nearest post together with the seller. The car should be parked so that the inspector can clearly distinguish the license plates. Next, you need to contact the employee with a request to provide data. The procedure is absolutely free and safe for the buyer.
If you have any doubts, you can go to the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is engaged in expert and forensic activities. Ordering a certificate of authenticity of vehicle identifiers is a paid service. The act is provided to the customer after he has paid the state duty. Despite the fact that this procedure is not free, the buyer will be able to verify the authenticity of the car’s history and safely purchase it.
Let's sum it up
If you decide to get the maximum benefits from buying a car, remember such subtleties as the legal health of the vehicle. The more potential problems a machine has, the more difficult it will be to operate. Sometimes it is better to give preference to more expensive options on the secondary market or even completely protect yourself from problems by buying a new car from a dealership, but of a lower class.
Be as careful as possible when buying a car on the secondary market. Use all verification options available to you and prefer official re-registration. Otherwise, an unpleasant surprise may occur, which will cause the loss of a considerable amount of money. If you have had situations with the purchase of problematic cars, be sure to tell us about them in the comments.
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Advantages of online checking on our portal
Realizing how important it is for our clients to know everything about their future purchase, we constantly update our databases using only official and verified sources. The key advantages of our service are:
- ease of use - to start a search in the database, you only need to enter the VIN code or state number (you can find them out both when inspecting the car and from the technical documentation) and click on the words “Check car”;
- quick information about the history of operation and ownership of the car - an automated mechanism for sorting materials allows you to prepare reports in record time;
- convenient form of information reflection - we made sure that the data is presented in an accessible form and in a logical sequence;
- affordable prices and various payment options;
- provision of an electronic copy of the report.
Definition from documents
It is not difficult for experienced buyers and automobile businessmen to determine the status of a used vehicle after a short conversation with the seller, as well as a quick study of the documents, without having to visit a State Traffic Inspectorate office. If the car is stolen, the papers provided by the owner may not be genuine, and falsification is not difficult to identify if you carefully read the government requirements.
The manner of dialogue (evasive, non-specific answers) and scant knowledge about the vehicle for sale also give away the attackers.
At the stage of discussing the details of the transaction, it is necessary to take into account a number of factors:
- the car registration certificate differs in appearance from the established sample and has signs of counterfeit;
- the seller avoids unexpected questions or answers vaguely, for example, cannot name the cost of the vehicle at the time of purchase, established by the dealership;
- the owner provides contradictory, incoherent information regarding mileage, conditions of use, places where service repairs were carried out, maintenance;
- The buyer is presented with a duplicate of the car's passport, and not the original document.
Checking for theft is a mandatory procedure if, during communication, the slightest doubts arise about the purity of the transaction and the legal status of the property being sold, or any shortcomings in the papers are discovered.
Car from showroom:
If, when purchasing a car, the seller claims that the car was purchased at a dealership, you need to make sure that it was not purchased on credit. Unfortunately, at present there is no consolidated database that allows you to verify the “non-credit past and present” of the car you are purchasing. However, you can call the car dealership where the car you are purchasing was purchased, provide the VIN number to the manager and ask him to provide the information you are interested in. (In this case, the manager must be “asked”, since he is not obliged to provide this kind of information).
Unfortunately, this is where the official options for checking a car for theft end. Next we will talk about “folk methods” that a self-respecting motorist should undoubtedly know and be able to put into practice.
Before purchasing a car, we recommend that you:
1. Carefully inspect all car windows - they should bear the manufacturer's markings. If it is missing on at least one glass (except for the windshield), there is a possibility that this glass has been replaced, check the reason for the replacement.
2. Ignition switch - must be in perfect condition, the presence of dents or scratches is a sign of external mechanical influence. Check the number of keys included.
3. Compare the VIN identification number - this number is usually indicated under the car window; it must be compared with the VIN number indicated in the documents for the car.
4. Pay attention to the engine number and body number - these numbers should be, if not perfectly clean, then easily readable; the presence of paint particles, welding, uneven thickness of welding should cause you reasonable doubts about purchasing this car. The body number must be compared with the number indicated in the vehicle documents.
We also recommend that you carefully study the seller’s documents. Ask him to present an identification document (passport). If technically possible, check its authenticity on publicly available resources on the Internet.
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Author:
Mikhail Lebedev, especially for the site zakon-auto.ru
Buying a car second hand is a process often associated with a discrepancy between expectations and the real picture. The condition of the vehicle may differ greatly from what was declared, the seller’s pricing policy may change dramatically, and the property being sold may not belong to him at all. Therefore, in order to protect yourself from a dubious transaction, it is important to know what points give away a fraudster and how to check a car for theft.
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