Selling guide

Build buyer trust to sell your car

In a competitive car selling market, giving buyers confidence and trust in their purchase is increasingly important.

In a competitive car selling market, giving buyers a sense of confidence and trust in their purchase is increasingly important. The more secure they feel about what they’re buying, the higher the chance of a fast, successful sale. Thankfully there’s a new way for you to show buyers transparency in the car buying experience – it’s called Background Check, and it’s fantastic news for those wanting to sell their car.

What is Background Check?

A Background Check displays information from government and private databases to let buyers know whether a car is reported stolen, a damaged import or has been re-registered. All car listings on Trade Me now come with a Background Check – at no additional cost to you.

Doesn’t this only benefit buyers?

Definitely not! Easily displaying this information makes buyers more interested and keen to view your car. The more you can show buyers that your car is trustworthy, the more you stand out.

What’s included in a Background Check?

If you have a Basic listing, the first three checks are included but you have the option to upgrade and get the fourth check for only $4 – maximising the trust and appeal of your listing. If your car is listed as a Standard or Premium listing, the additional feature (money owing check) is automatically added to the listing.

Stolen vehicle check

This checks whether or not a car has been reported stolen to the New Zealand police.

The stolen car information displayed is a snapshot of data from the ‘Police car of interest’ database.

Damaged import check

This checks if the car was flagged as a damaged import by the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA).

The NZTA records whether or not inspectors identified any obvious damage or deterioration on imported used cars at the time of importation.

Re-registered check

This checks the NZTA Motor Vehicle Register to see if a car has been de-registered and then registered again.

The most common reasons for a registration being cancelled are a car being ‘written off’ by an insurance company, a car being destroyed or rendered useless, or a car being unlicensed for more than a year.

Add the money owing check feature

This feature, available on all Standard or Premium listings or by purchasing an upgrade to a Basic listing, checks whether the car has a security interest recorded on the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR).

We understand that lots of cars have money owing and it’s not necessarily a bad thing, but transparency on the money owing status of the car gives buyers confidence in the vehicle – helping to close a secure sale.

What does Background Check look like?

On all car listings, the Background Check information is visible underneath the ‘Key details’ section of the listing and above the vehicle description. A Basic listing will show three checks and have ‘Money owing check’ as a purchase option for the buyer via a Vehicle Information Report from MotorWeb.

If you accidentally put in the wrong rego or VIN and the Background Check fails, data is shown as ‘Unavailable’. To build buyer trust you should add the correct rego as soon as possible.

The more trustworthy and transparent your car listing is, the more you’re going to attract buyers and get a great price for your vehicle. Background Check helps you entice buyers and close the sale by giving them confidence and security in your listing - everyone wins!