Most guides to buying a used car spend their time on the mechanical inspection, and most losses happen somewhere else entirely. A worn clutch costs you a repair. A car you cannot legally register in your name costs you the car. The second risk is far rarer and far more expensive, and almost all of it is visible before you pay — if you look at the paperwork with the same attention you gave the engine.
| Problem | What it means | What happens to you |
|---|---|---|
| Stolen | The car isn't the seller's to sell at all, and the record won't match | You lose the car and the money, and you are the one holding it |
| Encumbered — mortgaged or under seizure | The owner is real, but a claim is registered against the vehicle | Ownership cannot transfer until the claim is lifted; your money is already gone |
| Not the seller's to sell | The registered owner is a third party and the seller holds no authority | The sale is unenforceable, and the registered owner is entitled to the car |
These fail differently and are checked differently. Confirming the seller is the registered owner tells you nothing about whether the car is encumbered, and a clean record tells you nothing about whether the person in front of you is the owner.
Before any document, find the chassis number on the car itself and read it character by character against the registration. Not a glance — a comparison, out loud, digit by digit. Then find the engine number and do the same.
What you are looking for is any sign the number has been interfered with: a plate that sits differently to the metal around it, rivets that don't match the others on the car, filing marks, paint that stops at the plate edge, characters with inconsistent spacing or depth. A number that has been altered is not a paperwork problem to be resolved later. It ends the viewing. Our guide to the chassis number covers where to find it and what each section means.
| What to look at | What it should tell you |
|---|---|
| Owner's name against the seller's ID | The same person, spelled the same way |
| Chassis and engine numbers | An exact match with the car in front of you |
| Any notation of mortgage or seizure | Nothing recorded against the vehicle |
| Colour, model year and specification | Matching the car — a repaint is fine, an unrecorded change of identity is not |
| The document's own condition | No erasure, overwriting or replaced page |
| Customs paperwork, if imported | Lawful entry, with the same chassis number |
Selling on someone else's behalf is ordinary and legitimate — but only with authority you can see. Ask for the power of attorney, read what it actually permits, and check that it names the person standing in front of you and the specific vehicle. An authority to use a car is not an authority to sell it.
Treat a chain of these with real caution: a car that has passed through several hands on authorisations without the registration ever being updated is a car whose ownership history you cannot see, and each link is a place where the trail breaks.
Interference with the chassis number is visible. A registered mortgage or a seizure is not — it exists in the file, and no inspection of the car will reveal it. So the only complete check is a check against the record held by the registration authority, made before you hand over money.
The practical protection is sequence. Do the transfer through the proper channel, and make the payment part of that step rather than something that happens days earlier in a car park. A seller who is willing to complete the transfer is telling you something. A seller who wants the money first and promises the paperwork afterwards is telling you something too.
Browse cars for sale, and see our ownership transfer checklist for the documents the transfer itself needs, the step-by-step buying guide, and the common online scams worth recognising early.
Stolen, encumbered and not-theirs-to-sell are three different failures with three different checks. Compare the chassis and engine numbers character by character against the registration and look for interference. Read the document rather than holding it. Ask for written authority whenever the seller isn't the owner. And make payment part of the transfer, not something that happens before it.
Start with the metal. Find the chassis number on the car and read it character by character against the registration, then do the same with the engine number. Look for signs of interference: a plate sitting differently to the metal around it, rivets that don't match the others, filing marks, or characters with inconsistent spacing or depth.
With a mortgage or seizure the owner is real, but a registered claim against the vehicle blocks transfer until it is lifted. Not-theirs-to-sell means the registered owner is a third party and the seller holds no authority, so the sale is unenforceable. A stolen car was never the seller's at all, and the record will not match.
No inspection of the car will reveal it — it exists in the file, not on the metal. The only complete check is against the record held by the registration authority, made before you hand over money, with the transfer completed through the proper channel.
Ask for the power of attorney, read what it actually permits, and check that it names the person in front of you and the specific vehicle. An authority to use a car is not an authority to sell it. Treat a car that has passed through several hands on authorisations without the registration being updated with real caution.
If the chassis or engine number is defaced, altered or mismatched; if the registration is in another name with no authority to sell; if you are pressed for a deposit before seeing the documents; if the seller refuses to complete the transfer through the proper channel; or if the price is far below market with no explanation the car itself supports.
Make the payment part of the transfer step, not something that happens days earlier in a car park. A seller willing to complete the transfer is telling you something; so is a seller who wants the money first and promises the paperwork afterwards.
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