Car Info... use before you buy one.

[Falcon_XR6]

http://www.carjam.co.nz/

This is a useful site if you are buying a car, all you need is the Numberplate or the the VIN No. and just type it in... try your own car and any reg plates from TradeMe ads.
For free it gives you quite a bit of info, when the WoF and Reg were last done and how long they have to run, when the car was imported to NZ (if an import), mileometer readings from every WoF showing any "negative mileage" that has happened (I found 2 examples of that!!) and I haven't yet tried the $12 option of a larger report.
All in all, rather useful.

It has already pointed me to a potential problem with a car I was thinking of buying that was advertised with a WoF expiring in July 2009... the car's WoF looks like it actually ran out in July 2008 and has been off the road since then and it had an slight problem with not having the full engine No. available. This wasn't a $5,000 car, it was just under $23000 worth of Skyline on TradeMe for a private sale... so I will stay clear of this one I think rather than take a chance on it.

I had often wondered why some sellers (including dealers) would remove or cover the registration plates before photographing the cars for publicaton... now I know, so, just IMHO you understand, anyone who goes to that extent to make sure you can't check up on a cars history before you contact them is in all probability trying to hide something... just MY opinion you understand and NOT undisputed fact, but unless anyone can come up with another legitimate reason to do this I will stick with my own views and act accordingly.

Hope this is useful to a few folk.

Cheers

G

[Silverwing86]

Great suggestion G, very useful when buying a car !

AA also offer a similar service called a "Lemon Check", you can find out more about it here.

Cheers,
Silver

[Falcon_XR6]

Thanks for the link to "lemon check" Silver, neat.....

Cheers

G

[IanW99]

Hi G, looks a good website.

After visiting that site, if you just want to check if there are any outstanding finances on the vehicle, it may be a good idea to check out Personal Property Securities Register - Motor Vehicles instead (IIRC, it only costs $1 for the check) instead of the $12 wanted at carjam (of course they may well be providing additional information).

If anyone is interested, this service can be used to check other personal goods that may have had a security interest registered against them e.g. household items included in the sale of a house etc.

Ian

[Falcon_XR6]

Thanks for the link Ian, $1 is better than $12..... neat.

Cheers

G