Money owing check

A person or company has a financial interest in this vehicle, i.e. they have registered a security against it. It’s very likely that money is owing on the vehicle. Reasons could include:

• The vehicle was purchased on finance or with a loan.
• The vehicle may have been used as collateral for other purposes.
• The vehicle has an outstanding repair bill.
• This is an old security interest that hasn’t been removed from the registry.

If the money owed isn’t repaid, the vehicle could be legally repossessed by the secured party. They are likely to sell the vehicle to recover the money.

What you can do

1. Find out who has registered the security. The people or companies are listed as 'secured parties' in the more detailed report you can buy at motorweb.co.nz.
2. Match the details of the security (e.g. vehicle make, model, year, plate and VIN) with the vehicle description on the VIR, and against the actual vehicle. It’s common for the VIN to differ by one or two digits because these long numbers are easily mistyped.
3. Call the secured party listed on the VIR to see if money is still owing on the vehicle. If the secured party says the security has been discharged and is no longer valid, be sure to ask that the security be removed from the registry immediately, and confirmation of this be sent to you. If the secured party confirms that the security is valid, then ask them how you should proceed with the vehicle purchase. They might want the seller and the buyer to conduct the purchase at their offices so the secured party can obtain payment for the loan directly from the buyer.

If you purchase a vehicle with a valid security registered against it, you run the risk of having the vehicle repossessed without any compensation to you whatsoever.