Text check available to car buyers

Wanganui's community law office says there are several simple and effective ways available to buyers of second-hand cars allowing them to check a vehicle's history.
Bronwyn Rogers, of Community Legal Advice Whanganui (CLAW), said its office dealt with these sorts of cases on a "fairly regular basis".
She was responding to a Chronicle story yesterday about a Wanganui man who had bought a car only to have it repossessed nine months later because there was still money owed on the vehicle. Ms Rogers said there were simple and effective methods for checking the history of a car before purchase.
"The cheapest and quickest option to ascertain whether a vehicle is encumbered with a security interest is to text either the VIN number or registration to TxtB4ubuy," she said.
"This is a service operated by Ministry of Economic Development who also operate the Personal Property Securities Register. It costs just $1.02 and there's no cost to become a registered user."
By using their mobile phone anyone can submit a TXTB4UBUY search.
Ms Rogers said a customer should send an SMS text message containing a vehicle's registration number, VIN and/or chassis number to FIND (3463). Both the registration number and VIN are recommended.
"Enter any combination of these by separating each with a ? [question mark]. For example, ABC123?12345678901234567?123456789.
"It costs $1.02 for a TXTB4UBUY search using your mobile. Make sure your SMS message doesn't contain a text signature."
Ms Rogers said that text message would prompt an SMS response. "You should receive an SMS reply from 3463 (FIND) within minutes. That reply will indicate whether or not a security interest exists for the vehicle you searched.
"If you want to view more detailed information resulting from your search, including the details of any security interests found, you can complete your search online," she said.
"Carjam is a free online search engine for vehicles. The information they have is around the vehicle's history, such as warrants of fitness and licensing. But it doesn't give information about who the owner is or whether there is a security interest."
Ms Rogers said on many occasions CLAW was able to negotiate a "release to third party" with the creditor but sometimes this involved further cost to the buyer.
"The creditor also has obligations in regards to third parties. This is covered in section 19A through section 19H of the Credit Repossession Act 1997, particularly relating to parts and sometimes work done after purchase. Any repossession costs are added to the debtor's account and are not costs expected to be met by a subsequent purchaser."