How to find out the credit history of a car when buying

How to check before purchasing whether a car is creditable or not in 2019

Buying a used car always involves various risks. These are not always hidden defects that were not reported by the previous owner. With the growing popularity of car loans, another problem has emerged - the risk of buying a car that is pledged to the bank. Before turning to the secondary vehicle market, it is useful to ask how to check whether a car is creditable or not in 2019. This will help avoid its confiscation by the mortgage holder.

Credit (collateral) car

When applying for a car loan, the purchased vehicle becomes collateral in favor of the bank that issued the loan for its purchase, and serves as security for repayment of the debt. The buyer can fully use the machine and carry out its maintenance, but this is where his options end.

Cars pledged to the bank cannot be sold until the entire loan amount is paid off.

There is a high probability of purchasing a credit car if its age is less than 5 years. Applying for a car loan for a longer period occurs less frequently, but you should not neglect checking for encumbrance, even if the subject of the transaction is 7-8 years old.

It doesn't hurt to be vigilant when purchasing expensive models. If the previous owner of the car purchased it at full price, this does not mean that it did not become encumbered in the future. To obtain a large loan amount, banks usually require expensive property as collateral - a car, especially a new one or no older than 5-8 years, can be used as collateral.

When problems arise with loan repayment, some unscrupulous owners try to get rid of their cars before the bank manages to seize them through the court. If this is successful, the lender has claims against the buyer, who risks being left without a vehicle and money.

Methods for checking vehicles for encumbrances

It is unreasonable to take the seller’s word that there is no encumbrance, so the buyer should find out in advance where to check the car for collateral and credit obligations. You can expose an unscrupulous seller at the stage of visually checking the documents for the car. If you don’t notice anything strange here, you should additionally check the subject of the transaction using special online services.

Using PTS

Before purchasing a used car from the previous owner, only ask for the original title with which it once left the dealership. This document will help you find out whether you have a car loan or not. Important: when a car is pledged, the bank seizes the original registration certificate from the borrower and gives him a copy. Transactions with such a seller should be avoided.

Some owners of pledged cars manage to obtain a duplicate PTS from the traffic police, declaring the loss of the original. A seller with a restored registration certificate should also be treated with caution. If the PTS is marked “DUPLICATE”, you should check the car for all available services before concluding a contract.

In the National Catalog of Credit Histories

To protect the interests of bona fide buyers in the secondary market, since 2011, the database of credit cars that have become the subject of collateral to secure loan obligations has been placed with the National Credit History Bureau (NCBI). This organization does not directly provide information to individuals, so to check the machine you must contact intermediaries who have an agreement with it to provide information services.

One of the official partners and agents of NKBI is the Credit Information Agency. On its official website in the “Checking a car for collateral” section online, you can check any vehicle for encumbrance in a few minutes. However, the service is paid - 300 rubles per request. To carry out the verification, you first need to register a personal account, top up your account with the required amount and order the service, indicating the VIN code of the vehicle being checked.

The VIN code combination must be taken from the vehicle title or looked at on the car body in the engine compartment.

Through the Register of notifications of pledge of movable property

To check a car for a loan using the VIN code for free, you should use the Register of Notifications of Pledge of Movable Property of the Federal Notary Chamber. On the official website of the service:

Go to the "Search in the registry" section.
Open the “By information about the subject of collateral” and “Vehicle” tabs one by one.
Enter the VIN code of the vehicle you are checking and click the “Find” button.

And if they are trying to sell you collateral movable property, information about the encumbrance will appear on the monitor.

On the traffic police website

A free car credit check using the VIN code is also available on the official website of the traffic police. To use this service on the main page:

Click the "Vehicle Check" button.

Enter the complete VIN code combination.

Scroll down to “Check for restrictions” and click “Request a review.”

If there are any restrictions on registration actions, the system will display them on the monitor.

At the car showroom

Before purchasing a car on the secondary market, to check its history, feel free to ask the seller for the agreement under which he purchased the vehicle at the dealership. The document must specify all the circumstances of the transaction, and when applying for a car loan, you will be able to find the amount of the down payment and information about the bank, which subsequently became the mortgage holder.

In the absence of this agreement, you can visit the car dealership where the car was once purchased. The name of the dealership and telephone number can be found on the branded license plate frame, which car dealerships place on the cars they sell as advertising. However, you cannot be sure that all the information will be provided here. Few car dealerships will meet you halfway, since information on contracts with clients is confidential or trade secret.

Let's sum it up

You learned how to check a car for credit when purchasing to avoid claims from the bank. To protect yourself as much as possible, it is better to check the purchased vehicle through several services and carefully study its documents. If the seller does not hide the fact that he purchased the car on credit, he should make sure that he has paid the creditor in full. To do this, request a certificate from the bank confirming full repayment of the debt.

Even at the stage of negotiations with the seller, you should be wary of the following points:

A new car is put up for sale a few months after being purchased at a car dealership. This may indicate that the owner has problems repaying the loan, so he is trying to get rid of his vehicle and return the money spent. Without serious reasons, no one will sell a new car that they have driven for less than a year.
The seller has set a price much lower than the market price and is in a hurry to conclude the deal.
The owner of the car is reluctant to talk about it.

If you still cannot avoid a deal with an unscrupulous seller, it is important to contact a good lawyer. It is useless to sue the bank with which your purchase is pledged, since everything was done legally on their part. You can only file a claim against the seller who deceived you during the transaction. However, it will take a long time to get your money back. However, no one can guarantee that you will be able to receive the full amount.

Credit cars. How not to buy and what to do if you buy: video

Specialist in lending to individuals and small and medium-sized businesses. Experience in the banking sector - more than 15 years.

Checking a car for credit

In 2016, according to the National Credit Bureau, the number of cars purchased on credit increased by 40%. Today this figure continues to grow. The owner does not have the right to sell a car on credit, but “the law is not written to scammers.” In order not to run into problems when buying a credit car, check the selected options on Autocode!

Signs of a credit car

Documents will tell you that cars are being sold dishonestly. For example, if a car was purchased on credit, you will see the name of the creditor organization in the CASCO policy. It is indicated there until the borrower pays off the debt.

What suggests a catch:

The technical passport has been issued for the second time, and the mileage of the car is minimal;
Lack of original PTS;
Low cost of the car for no apparent reason;
The car is less than three years old. The car loan is repaid for a maximum of three years;
The machine is equipped as “exclusively from the factory”.

If the above points are noticeable when purchasing, then there is reason to think about it. But personal observation can be deceiving. Therefore, to find out for sure whether the car is on credit, use the Autocode online service for checking by vin and state number.

Why do you need a car credit check?

Loans are not as scary as lenders.

Denis Lukin, auto expert, Remontista company

“When buying a credit car, a person purchases a bank item. And if the credit institution is not paid, it will find ways to get its money back. In this case, “yours” is precisely the car. One day the collectors will come and just take the car. And it will take a long time to prove in court that you are a bona fide buyer.

If the fraudster who sold the car is not found, the chances of compensating your costs for purchasing the vehicle will be halved. It is difficult to take collateral from the bank. This is another reason to use the website avtocod.ru in advance, where a quick check by vin and state number is possible. It’s a shame to give money for a car, and after a while be left without money and without a car.”

What happens if you don't check the car before buying?

On Forgiveness Sunday I called the bank. The loan was not forgiven.

Evgeniy, bought a car as collateral from the bank

“About five years ago, a letter suddenly arrived from the bailiffs. I started looking into it and it turns out that a criminal case has been opened against my property. Namely a car. I purchased the car three years earlier from a private individual. The original PTS was handed over to us. When the traffic police did an inspection, the inspector verbally said that the car’s history was “clean.” It turned out that the previous owner of the car took out a cash loan from Rusfinance Bank, indicating the vehicle as collateral. After the deal with me, she successfully disappeared. He sued her. The fraudster was never found, the car was recovered.”

Anna, bought a car as collateral from the bank

“In 2014, I was choosing a car for myself and found an attractive option on one of the websites. The salesman and the young girl played the young couple perfectly and made a very pleasant impression. The presence of a duplicate title was explained by the fact that the original was lost during the move. But supposedly despite this, there is a long queue for cars. Overall, the car was in good condition and I made a deal. It later turned out that the former owner took out a bank loan secured by the car. It’s good that the contract included a condition on the sale being free from the rights of third parties. A criminal case was opened, and it took a long time to win back the car.”

Why is verification via Autocode necessary?

Within 5 minutes the site provides all the information about the car online. This includes PTS data, registration history, mileage, participation in an accident, restrictions, whether the car is listed as a loan, pledge, stolen or wanted, whether it has been seized and until what date the insurance is valid.

What are the advantages of checking through Autocode:

Possibility to check a car only by state number;
Possibility to check the car for credit by VIN;
Data for the report is taken from official sources - the register of pledges in the Federal Notary Chamber, the traffic police database, the vehicle registration database, etc.;
The check takes only 5 minutes;
The mobile application allows you to find out the history of the car directly during the transaction.

If you don’t find out anything about the car you are purchasing in advance, then the purchase can turn out to be the worst - the loss of the car and money. You will have to attend trials and prove your good faith. Autocode will check the desired car online in a timely manner, preventing an unwanted transaction and saving you from bad consequences.

How to find out when buying a credit car or not

Buying a used car is always a risk. And the point is not only that you can become the owner of a technically faulty vehicle, but that more and more often there are situations where a credit car becomes the property. Moreover, the newly minted owners do not know this themselves. Under this concept lies encumbrance, that is, the presence of a car as collateral or an outstanding loan.

How dangerous is the situation when a car loan

Before you find out whether the car is encumbered or not, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the restrictions that are imposed on the vehicle under certain circumstances.

The most common situation is when a car acts as collateral when buying it on credit. In order to suppress fraudulent schemes and ensure loan payments, the banking organization most often retains the title for the car. And it returns it to the owner only if the debt is fully repaid. However, for the most sophisticated scammers, this circumstance is not an obstacle to carrying out fraud - they often manage to slip copies of documents to inexperienced buyers instead of the original ones.

If the car was purchased through a shady scheme, then the transaction is considered illegal and void. As a result: the money is spent, but you do not become the true owner, and at any moment (namely, when the bank finds out about the existence of a new owner), the vehicle is used to repay the loan.

Here is the entire list of troubles typical for the illegal purchase of a credit car:

The court does not take into account hidden transactions, and therefore a vehicle without proper registration and participation of a credit institution is recognized as the property of the previous owner.
It is very difficult to prove the illegality of a transaction, which means it is almost impossible to receive monetary compensation. Since the buyer is not recognized as an injured person, he is not entitled to financial compensation.
If the vehicle is under hidden arrest, the bank can take it away at any moment.

All this can be avoided if you complete the purchase of an encumbered vehicle according to the rules, that is, through a bank. This will be discussed further.

Signs of credit cars

You should immediately please potential buyers of used cars - there is nothing super complicated in this process. The main thing is attentiveness and meticulousness. So, how to quickly check whether a car is credited or not? The first and main sign that you need to pay attention to is the note about the lending bank in the CASCO insurance policy. This inscription means that the car has been financed, but the debt on it has not yet been repaid.

There are additional signs:

Lack of original vehicle registration certificate. Obtaining a duplicate is a simple and quick procedure. Therefore, make sure that the original is presented to you. If the seller hides the purchase and sale agreement and cannot show the receipt for the purchase of the car, this is also very suspicious.
Purchase of a car by the previous owner under a commission agreement. Transactions of this kind are often part of fraudulent schemes.
A short period (less than three years) from the date of purchase of the vehicle by the first owner. As a rule, car loans are issued for 3 years. Therefore, the fact of sale after the specified period is not a guarantee, but a clear sign of the security of the transaction.
Very low price. In any case, the undervaluation of the vehicle is suspicious. Most likely, a car with problems - be it in terms of monetary encumbrances or problems with technical condition.

The absence of all these signs does not guarantee the “cleanliness” of the purchased car. After all, it can be pawned by an individual or in a private pawnshop. In these cases, it is impossible to determine the credit history of the vehicle with a 100% guarantee. This can only be done if you buy a car from a bank.

Check by VIN number

How to find out in advance whether a credit machine is available or not? Due to the increasing number of cases of sales of pledged cars, special resources have been created to check the legal “purity” of vehicles. All of them are based on one principle - checking the vehicle by VIN number. Here are examples of sites where you can use this service completely free of charge:

On the last resource, you can check the presence of car collateral for both legal entities and individuals.

The operating principle of such services is very simple: you enter the VIN number of the vehicle being checked in the appropriate column. If you find a vehicle number in the list of any such service, it means it is under encumbrance.

To get the relevant document in hand, you will have to contact a notary. For just 100 rubles, he will provide you with written proof that the car is on credit or secured.

Additional tips when buying a car

Before concluding a transaction, be sure to complete the following steps:

Compare the name of the seller (for this you will need his passport) and the name of the owner of the vehicle indicated in the documents. If the seller is not the owner, but a trusted representative, this is another “bell” to think about the “purity” of the seller’s intentions.
Check the number of owners. If in a short period of time more than one owner of the car has changed, then with a high degree of probability, this is an accomplice of a fraudster or his victim who is trying to get rid of the credit vehicle as quickly as possible. None of these options bode well for you.
Carefully examine the car itself. Often, scammers increase the mileage to artificially “age” a vehicle. In order to convince the buyer that the car was used regularly. The absence of various types of additional equipment (radio, navigator, etc.) is also an indirect sign that the car was purchased for fraudulent purposes.
Contact the car dealership or dealer who sold the vehicle. It is there that they can provide complete information about the method of payment for the car.
If you know a bank employee, ask him to check the car against the database of collateral. It is the same for all credit institutions.
Use the service of obtaining information from the Central Catalog of Credit Histories. You can do this once a year absolutely free.
In the contract, insist on indicating the full price you will pay for the car. Do not agree to any persuasion from the seller. In the future, if the case goes to court, this is the amount the defendant will be required to pay you. Provided, of course, that you can prove that you are right. In practice, no more than a quarter of all buyers affected by such schemes receive at least some kind of financial compensation.

Proper purchase of a credit car

The purchase of an encumbered car is not always a surprise for the buyer. In certain cases, car owners purposefully seek to buy a credit car. The main reason for this desire is low cost.

If you find an advantageous offer or the seller is an acquaintance whom you completely trust, then you can conduct a legal transaction to purchase a car with a lien. But for this, the participation of a banking organization is required.

Here are common schemes for legally purchasing a credit car:

The car owner finds funds to fully repay the debt. The buyer, in turn, undertakes to immediately buy the vehicle after being convinced of its legal purity.
The car loan is reissued in your name. You pay the agreed upon amount to the seller and continue making monthly loan payments. The car will be yours only after final settlement with the bank. This path is quite complicated - you need to be able to negotiate with bank employees. But with a good set of circumstances, the situation may turn out to be the most profitable.
You yourself pay off the balance of the debt to the bank, receive all the documents for the car, including those indicating that there are no claims against you. Then you pay the agreed amount to the original owner of the car.

That's all the information on how to check when buying a credit car or not. But even strict adherence to all the recommendations listed is not a 100% guarantee that you will not come across hidden sales schemes. Although you can minimize the risk by being patient and applying the knowledge you have gained. In such matters you cannot trust anyone - neither a relative nor an acquaintance. Only a competent lawyer who will undertake to support the transaction for the purchase of a used car can help you.

How to check: is it a credit car or not?

Not everyone can afford to buy a new car. With a car loan it’s a little simpler - you need to pay a certain amount every month for several years. But unforeseen situations happen when a person does not have money to repay the loan.

Sometimes people indicate that the car is on credit and sell it at a reduced price. But there are also frequent cases of fraud: the owner knowingly sells a pledged car. That is why before purchasing it is important to carefully check whether the car is a credit car or not.

What are the risks of buying a credit car?

When purchasing a vehicle (vehicle) on credit, collateral documents for the property are drawn up between the borrower and the bank. They act as a guarantee of compliance with all requirements of the lender - i.e. If the borrower is unable for any reason to pay the money stipulated by the contract, the financial institution has the right to seize the property as compensation.

At the same time, there is one unpleasant moment for those car owners who unknowingly bought a credit car. The vehicle is the subject of collateral, so if payments do not arrive to the lender’s account, according to the law, the financial institution has every right to confiscate the car from the real owner, even if he was not the one who took the loan.

There is no point in proving that you are not a borrower. Even through the court this is unlikely to happen - in most cases it takes the side of the financial institution, since non-payment is obvious, and you cannot argue with the facts. Therefore, we want to tell you how to check your car for credit and not fall for the scammers.

How to determine credit vehicles?

Several signs that indicate that the car was taken out on credit that has not yet been repaid:

Reduced price - most often, the owners of such vehicles try to sell it quickly, so they reduce its real market value by 10-15% (sometimes more) under various pretexts (I’m leaving, urgently need money, etc.).
PTS - with a loan, the passport for the vehicle, as a rule, remains as collateral with the lender. If a person sells a car as a duplicate, it is better to refuse such a purchase - in addition to the great risk of buying a credit car, it will bring you many other troubles. But a duplicate is also issued in cases where the original document is lost.
Purchase and sale agreement - when purchasing a car on credit, this is reflected in the document, and if it was purchased less than 2-3 years ago, there is a high probability that the entire amount has not yet been repaid.
Equipment - few people will decide to improve anything if the loan for the vehicle has not yet been paid off.

There are several ways to check whether a car is credited or not:

Through the central catalog of credit histories.
At the official dealership.
Using the online service "AutoHistory".

Checking through the central directory

The Central Credit History Directory works with all credit history bureaus. You can make a request to this organization once a year. But for this you need to know the passport details of the real owner of the vehicle. You will not be provided with detailed information here, but you will be able to find out that the person has a loan, the collateral for which is the car he is selling.

The information in this directory is publicly available, and only lenders have the right to change or delete data. In most cases, a response to your request will be sent by email within 24 hours.

But when checking a car for credit using this method, consider the following:

There are cases when the owner is not shown in the credit history directory.
A person may have a second loan that has nothing to do with vehicles.

The most important thing is to keep in mind that if the vehicle seller refuses to provide his data to the credit center, this is clear evidence of the existence of collateral.

Determining a credit car through a dealership

You can try to check the car for credit through the dealership where it was purchased. But this is not easy to do, since all data is confidential and is not provided to outsiders. The only way out is to negotiate with one of the employees, who will check the information about the method of selling the vehicle.

Also, some car services do not sell cars on credit, but there are practically none left today. Therefore, this method can be considered irrelevant.

Online check by VIN code

The easiest, fastest and least expensive way to find out whether a car is on credit or not is to check by VIN code via the Internet. To check using the AutoHistory online service, the participation of the current owner of the vehicle, his passport data or any other information is not required. All you need is your vehicle identification (VIN) or registration number and a few minutes of time.

Enter the VIN code and click “Check” - the system will issue a short report from which you will learn about the availability of information on a specific car in our database.
To receive a full report, you need to pay for the service (it is inexpensive) and provide an email.
Within 1-15 minutes, the most informative and reliable report with the operating history of the vehicle will be sent to your email address.

Example from the report:

In addition to the credit history, the report reflects data on restrictions, participation in road accidents, work in a taxi, actual mileage, equipment and much other information useful for choosing a used car.

The verification is carried out using official, unofficial and commercial sources, which guarantees the receipt of the most complete information on the vehicle.

The database contains information on more than 30 million cars registered in the Russian Federation.

Check cars for credit quickly using a computer or any gadget with Internet access through the AutoHistory online service. Enlist the support of used vehicle professionals and you are guaranteed to buy the car of your dreams without hidden problems and any restrictions!

How to check a car for credit or collateral in 2019?

Buying a used car is a lottery. You may find an honest and responsible seller. Or maybe he’s a fraudster who bought a car on credit and is trying to transfer his debts to the new owner. Therefore, in addition to the technical condition of the car, pay attention to the legal side of the transaction. It is necessary to check the car for arrest, theft and whether it is in collateral before purchasing. Additionally, you can check whether the car has ever been involved in accidents on the road.

How to find out whether a car is on credit or not?

There are a number of signs that should immediately alert a future car buyer:

The owner of the car cannot provide the original technical passport of the car. The fact is that when buying a car on credit and registering a pledge, the original of this document remains with the bank. The vehicle passport is returned only after the debt has been fully repaid. Moreover, it is easy to obtain a copy of the document. You need to contact the traffic police and declare that the original was lost.
Reluctance to show the CASCO policy before purchasing. To find out whether the loan has been paid off and whether the car is pledged, just see the insurance sheet. One of the lines may contain a mark from the bank that issued the loan.
Another alarming fact is that the car was previously purchased under a commission agreement. Information about the type of contract is in the car passport.
Ask to see the previous sales agreement. It contains exact information about the previous owner of the car. If a salon is indicated, you can call there and clarify the information. This data is not confidential, so salon employees must provide it.

There are also uncharacteristic signs that do not one hundred percent confirm the theory of collateral. For example, a low cost may indicate a desire to quickly get rid of transport due to a loan. But there are many other reasons - the need to quickly get money, the need to move to another country, etc.

Another uncharacteristic indirect sign is the sale of the car within three years after purchase. The average term of a car loan is exactly three years.

Such signs can be attributed to low mileage and lack of components for the car.

You can protect yourself with an additional clause in the purchase and sale agreement. It is necessary to write that the seller guarantees that the car is not encumbered. Then there will be a chance to challenge the deposit in court if it does appear after the purchase.

But all these signs cannot accurately determine whether the car is in collateral. Let's get down to specifics.

How to check a car for credit or collateral?

In addition to the listed signs, you need to check the transport in the collateral property register. But even the official database may have glitches and errors. Therefore, this method also does not guarantee an accurate answer.

It is better to make requests to several sites at once:

www.reestr-zalogov.ru This is the portal of the Federal Notary Chamber, created in 2014. Go to the “find in the registry” tab, and then select the “by information about the collateral” section. The search is carried out by vin number. This is a 17-character code that contains information about the manufacturer and year of manufacture. You can find it in the car's passport. It is also engraved on parts of the car: on the engine, on the driver's door frame and on other parts. The request can be made free of charge.
There are other databases: vin.avto.ru, ruvin.ru. They all search using the specified 17-digit code. It is impossible to check a car for collateral using its license plate number. Search sites usually indicate which banks the information comes from. That is, the search coverage is only a few credit institutions.

The traffic police will not be able to find out whether the car is pledged. But information about the ban on registration is stored there. That is, you can check the car for theft using the vin number. This can be done online on the official website of the traffic police. There you can also find out the history of registrations and participation in road accidents. You can check a car for theft using its license plate number on third-party websites, but this is unofficial information.

To make sure that the car is not stolen, check the data from the registration certificate with the body number. The same needs to be done with the seller’s passport data. They must be the same in both the personal passport and the car passport.

If the car is registered as collateral in a pawnshop or with an individual, then there is no way to check this.

To avoid problems for the new owner, the purchase and sale agreement must include the following information:

passport details of both the buyer and the seller;
date of signing the contract;
the real price of the car (underestimated may raise questions in court if the case comes to it);
transport data.

What to do if you bought a pawned car?

It would seem: the loan is issued to another person, what does the new owner have to do with it? But according to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a pledged car is sold by the bank if the debt is not repaid on time. And the deposit is retained when the car is sold or donated.

In other words, the bank doesn’t care who owns the car or who paid for it. If the debt is not repaid, the car will be seized, and then it will be put up for auction.

The car can be sold for more than the bank debt. The remainder in this case will go to other creditors of the debtor.

But there is a clause in the Civil Code (Article 352): if a person did not know about the presence of the pledge, then the pledge is terminated.

In any case, you will have to go to court. If it was impossible to determine whether it was in collateral based on the signs, and the car was not in the collateral database, then it would be possible to win the case. If the bank proves that the pledge was known, the car will be sold.