About the Personal Property Securities Register
Understanding Australia's national register for security interests in personal property
What is the PPSR?
The Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) is a national online register administered by AFSA (Australian Financial Security Authority) which can provide information to help protect consumers when they are buying personal property such as cars, boats or artworks.
PPSR replaced state registers such as REVS, VSR and WOVR in 2012.
The PPSR is of particular use to used (second-hand) vehicle buyers who wish to check there are no financial encumbrances on a vehicle they intend to purchase. These checks are commonly known as REVS Checks, VSR Checks or WOVR Checks due to the names of the old state registers.
Queensland Requirements
In the state of Queensland (QLD), it is required that sellers purchase and provide a PPSR certificate to the buyer before money changes hands.
Who would use the PPSR?
Consumers who are about to purchase personal property, such as valuable second goods, to make sure the property is free of a security interest.
Businesses who sell personal property on credit, consignment, or on a retention of title arrangement.
Financial institutions such as banks and finance companies providing loans where they receive a security interest in an item of personal property.
Examples of Personal Property
Vehicles
Boats & Caravans
Aircraft
Artwork
Machinery
Shares & Investments
Personal property can also include non-material items such as:
- Accounts
- Intellectual property
- Investment instruments
- Licences
What is the PPSR used for?
The register is used to determine priority for secured creditors in the case of debtor default or liquidation.
Secured parties and potential secured parties are able to use it to search for and register security interests in personal property. The PPSR is web based, available in real time and accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.
What happened to REVS / VSR / WOVR?
All the above registers were state-based databases which contained significant vehicle history but would not provide information on vehicles registered or previously registered in another state. PPSR is a combined national register which replaced the state registers in 2012.
MotorRegistry Advantage
MotorRegistry's Vehicle History Report provides information from the national PPSR and NEVDIS databases, which includes vehicle history from all states. This is important as the vehicle you are buying may have been stolen or written off in a different state to where it is offered for sale. Our reports give you peace of mind that you have the vehicle history no matter where the vehicle is in Australia.
What the PPSR doesn't record
The PPSR is a register of legal interests. A PPSR search on a vehicle answers three questions: is there a security interest such as a loan registered against it, has it been recorded as written off, and has it been reported stolen. Those are the right questions to start with.
It holds nothing else. The PPSR has no odometer readings, no damage or repair assessments, no service history and no recall information. A car can carry every one of those problems and still return a certificate with three clear results, because the register was never asked about them.
What that looks like in practice
In August 2026, nearly 1 in 4 cars that came back clear on the PPSR still had a damage assessment, an odometer rollback or a repair record in their MotorRegistry Comprehensive Plus report. Every MotorRegistry report includes the official PPSR certificate and then adds the history the register doesn't hold. Read what the PPSR doesn't check.
