Stolen vehicle check in South Africa: how to check a car before you buy it

Is there a free stolen vehicle check?

Yes, in person. In December 2020 the AA wrote that “the SAPS or the Metro Police will be able to check whether a vehicle has been stolen”, for free. Go with the car’s year, make and model, its engine number, its VIN or chassis number, the registration number, the colour and the mileage.¹

We found no official free check you can do online. The AA’s 2020 article also mentioned paid online checks, but we couldn’t confirm that any of them still searches the stolen list today, so we don’t name them.¹ The station check costs nothing.

Check the VIN and engine number yourself

The VIN is the car’s identity: 17 characters, capital letters and digits, and the AA says the easiest place to find it is from outside the car on the driver’s side. Check it against the registration certificate and the roadworthy, and look for signs that it has been tampered with. The engine number “should be stamped on the engine”. If either number doesn’t match the papers, the car may have been tampered with “or contains stolen parts”.¹

PSG Insure gave the same advice in 2022: “The VIN should be consistent across all roadworthy and owner registration documents”, and the engine and chassis numbers should match the papers. It also suggested checking for microdots, which it called “highly recommended as a personal risk management strategy”.³ Their codes are registered on the transport department’s eNaTIS system.⁴

The papers that must come with the car

The law puts this on the buyer as well as the seller. Regulation 53 says no one may “acquire or take delivery of a motor vehicle” unless it is “registered and licensed” and its registration certificate, and licence where one is needed, “accompanies the motor vehicle concerned”. The seller fills in the change-of-ownership form, the NCO, and sends it to the registering authority “forthwith”.²

You then have 21 days to register and license the car in your name. You’ll need your ID, proof of address, “the vehicle registration certificate in the seller’s name”, proof of purchase, a valid licence, and a roadworthy certificate if the current one is more than 60 days old; you complete form RLV.⁵ A seller who can’t produce the registration certificate is a reason to walk away.

What happens if you buy a stolen car?

You can lose it, and if its numbers have been tampered with, the law presumes you knew. Section 68 of the National Road Traffic Act makes it an offence to be “without lawful cause” in possession of a vehicle whose engine or chassis number has been falsified, replaced, altered or tampered with. Anyone found with one “shall, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, be presumed” to have known, “with intent to deceive”.⁶

A High Court case from July 2025 shows how it plays out. Police in Komani took a minibus whose number plates belonged to another vehicle, after the finance house that owned it opened a theft case. The driver went to court to get it back and lost: the judge found “no indication whatsoever that his possession of the vehicle was with the consent of the registered title holder”, and ordered him to pay the costs.⁷

Buying a car advertised online

Police warn about two risks. The first is a car that doesn’t exist: in February 2026 Dawn Park police warned of fake listings on Facebook and advised buyers to “request the vehicle identification number (VIN)”, to “not send money before seeing the car in person”, and to “meet in safe, public locations”.⁸

The second is losing the car straight away. In November 2025 a man who bought a bakkie at a Gauteng garage had it taken at gunpoint the same day, after he had driven it home. Vosman police advised buyers to visit the garage “to see if it is a legit dealership”, and to “avoid going alone, as that could make you an easy target”.⁹

After you buy: the tracker

Ask the seller whether the car has a tracker, and whether its subscription is in their name; our guide to checking whether your car already has a tracker shows how to find out. If your insurer requires one, don’t wait: Naked, for example, gives you 14 days from the start of your cover to have it installed and active, and after that won’t pay a theft or hijacking claim without it.¹⁰

Our deals start from R99pm for a wireless recovery unit, or R149pm for a full insurance-approved tracker. Free installation, 36-month contract.

Choose the car you’ve bought in the form to see the deals for it.

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