Motorists can check for written-off cars on new VIN-Lookup website

South African motorists have access to an online VIN-Lookup facility to check whether a vehicle they are interested in buying has been in a serious collision and rebuilt.

The South African Insurance Association (Saia) has agreed to make the formerly hidden information public after lobbying by the South African Motor Body Repairers’ Association (Sambra).

Sambra took up the cause to prevent the practice of written-off or seriously damaged cars being rebuilt and put back into circulation by unscrupulous repairers to be purchased by unsuspecting consumers.

There were several cases of consumers buying second-hand cars they didn’t know had been previously written off. Some of these vehicles were poorly repaired, rendering them unsafe and dangerous to drive. Without a register to refer to, there was no way of stopping the cars from re-entering the system, said Sambra.

The association said insurers routinely write off crashed vehicles which are sold to auction yards. The problem comes when the vehicles, still registered as code 2 (the description for a used car), were bought by dubious repairers and sold back into the system. 

The VIN-Lookup facility will provide private buyers and car dealers the opportunity to make informed decisions. Access for members of the public will be free on www.vinlookupsa.co.za, though the VSD only applies to the estimated 30% of vehicles in the country that have been insured.

Saia CEO Viviene Pearson said of the 14-million registered vehicles in South Africa, less than 5-million are insured. “This means access to this small database against the population of registered vehicles in South Africa is not the silver bullet mentioned in some reports on this topic,” she said. 

Initially the VIN-Lookup facility will offer the following vehicle salvage records:

• Rebuilt (code 3);
• Spare parts only (code 3A); and
• Scrap – permanently demolished (code 4). 

The second phase of VIN-Lookup, to be available by the end of 2023 at the earliest, will consider inclusion of written-off code 2 vehicles.

Zakes Sondiyazi, Saia manager: insurance risks, said: “The launch of VIN-Lookup is a contribution of the non-life insurers to helpg address the problem of purchasing unsafe repaired cars from vehicle salvage houses.

“Saia urges consumers to use VIN-Lookup as part of thorough research when buying a used car rather than treating it as a single solution to understanding the history of a vehicle.”

Sondiyazi said that beyond use of VIN-Lookup, buyers of used or damaged vehicles should refer to expert service providers such as roadworthy test facilities. Physical inspection of a salvage vehicle by a trained professional remains the best option, he said. 

He said the vehicle salvage database from which information is drawn for VIN-Lookup contains records that show how insurance companies have designated previously insured vehicles. The database does not contain a comprehensive record of all vehicles and their status. Full records of all vehicles, insured or not, are held on the NaTIS system that falls under the Road Traffic Management Corporation, an agency of the transport department.