How to Guide
What Is a Statutory Write-Off, and What Are Your Options?
When a vehicle is deemed "written off", it means it is too costly to repair. There are a couple of types of write-off, including repairable or statuto...
Instant
WOVR Check
Enter a rego plate or VIN and see whether the car sits on the Written-Off Vehicle Register, whether the write-off was statutory or repairable, and what damage was recorded against it.
Your WOVR Check Report Includes:
Every Carify Report comes with an official
PPSR certificate from the Australian government.
PPSR certificate from the Australian government.
The "PPSR Logo" is the trade mark of Australian Financial Security Authority (Commonwealth of Australia) and the "Powered by PPSR" brand is used under licence. The "Powered by PPSR" logo is not an endorsement of any service provided.
A WOVR check tells you whether a car is listed on Australia's Written-Off Vehicle Register, and whether it was written off as a statutory write-off, which can never legally return to the road, or a repairable write-off, which can once it has been repaired and passed a written-off vehicle inspection.
- The rego is enough. You do not need the VIN. A plate search resolves the VIN first, then checks the register against it.
- One search covers the country. A car written off in Queensland still shows up when you check it in Victoria.
- A free rego check will not tell you. Those return registration status and basic details. Write-off status comes from the PPSR.
- Light vehicles up to 4.5 tonnes GVM and up to 15 years old from manufacture are covered by the register.
Last updated 11 September 2026. We review this page when a state changes its written-off vehicle rules.
What is the WOVR?
WOVR stands for Written-Off Vehicle Register. It is the national record of every light vehicle an insurer or assessor has declared a total loss, set up by the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council to stop damaged cars being quietly re-identified and sold on as clean.
Records sit against the VIN rather than the plate, and they are shared between every state and territory. Interstate resale is one of the oldest ways a damaged car gets a fresh start, and a national register is exactly what catches it.
How many used cars have been written off?
More than people expect. Of the cars Carify customers checked between October 2019 and July 2026, 13.4% carried a written-off record. Better than one in eight, and almost none of them were advertised that way.
13.4%
of checked cars had a written-off record
93%
of those were repairable, not statutory
86%
had been in a collision, 7% hail, 3% flood
The repairable share is the one that matters. Those cars are legally back on the road in most states, they look fine in photos, and the only thing separating them from an identical clean car is a line on a register. Method and full figures are in our written-off car data report.
Statutory or repairable write-off?
Every entry on the register is one or the other, and they are nothing like the same thing.
Statutory write-off
Never legal to drive again, anywhere in Australia.
Damage bad enough that the car cannot be repaired and re-registered: structural failure, a serious fire, salt-water immersion. It can be used for parts or scrapped, and the restriction follows the VIN into every state and territory.
If someone is selling you a registered car and the register says statutory, the paperwork is wrong. Check the VIN on the compliance plate against the one you were given, then walk away.
Repairable write-off
Can go back on the road once it passes a written-off vehicle inspection.
A total loss on the insurer's books, usually because the repair bill got close to the car's value, but not damaged badly enough to be ruled out for good.
Buying one is a decision, not a mistake. Just make it with the resale hit, the insurance questions and the repair quality in front of you. Our guide to a statutory write-off and your options covers both categories.
Can a statutory write off be registered?
No. Not in any state or territory, no matter where it was written off.
The rule is deliberately absolute, so a car that failed it in one state cannot be trucked over a border and registered in the next. The record sits against the VIN, and every registry reads the same national list. A statutory write off can legally be used for parts or scrapped, and that is the end of it.
A repairable write off is the one that can go back on the road, once it has been repaired and has passed that state's written-off vehicle inspection. If a seller tells you a statutory write off is only paperwork and the right mechanic can register it, that is the moment to walk.
What the written-off damage codes mean
A write-off record is not just a yes or a no. The register stores the incident type, where the car was hit and how badly, as short codes that mean nothing on a raw extract. Carify translates them.
Impact
A collision. By far the most common reason a car ends up on the register.
Hail
Storm damage. Often cosmetic, but it still leaves a permanent write-off record.
Water damage
Flood or immersion. Recorded as fresh or salt water, and salt is the one that keeps corroding.
Fire
Burnt, blistered, or smoke and heat damage.
Malicious damage
Vandalism or a car that was stripped for parts.
Dismantled
The vehicle was pulled apart rather than repaired.
Severity is recorded separately, from light panel damage through to heavy structural and unrepairable. Two cars can both read "written off" and be nothing alike. Carify plots every recorded damage point onto a diagram of the car, the visual written-off report, so you can see at a glance whether the hit was cosmetic or went through the chassis.
How to do a WOVR check
1
Grab the rego, or the VIN if you have it
The plate is enough. If the car is in front of you, the VIN is 17 characters at the base of the windscreen, in the driver’s door frame or on the compliance plate.
2
Run the search
Enter it above with the state the car is registered in. Results come back in minutes, not days.
3
Read the write-off section first
Category, then damage type and severity, then odometer and finance. A repairable write-off with finance still owing on it is two problems, not one.
Is there a free WOVR check?
No, not a complete one. There is no free written off car check anywhere that includes the register itself. The free rego checks the state transport sites offer stop at registration status, expiry and basic vehicle details, which is why state road authorities point buyers at the PPSR instead. The $2 government PPSR search does return write-off status. What it will not tell you is what the write-off actually was.
| What you get | Free rego check | PPSR search | Carify report |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration status and expiry | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Written-off record | No | Yes | Yes |
| Statutory or repairable | No | Yes | Yes |
| Damage type, severity and location | No | No | Yes |
| Finance owing | No | Yes | Yes |
| Stolen record | No | Yes | Yes |
| Odometer and price comparison | No | No | Yes |
| Official PPSR certificate | No | Yes | Yes |
| Cost | Free | $2 | From $9.95 |
A Carify report includes that $2 PPSR certificate and decodes the rest. If you only want the free half, run a free rego check first and use it to confirm the plate and the vehicle details before you pay for anything.
What Carify customers say
“Lucky we checked the car history before buying it saved us from buying written off car with various claims thank you for making the car check easy”
“Quick response time, accurate information about write off, stolen, finance status”
“Helped me find out the car I was going to buy was currently stolen.”
WOVR check by state
One search covers the whole register. What changes between states is who keeps the local record and what a repairable write-off has to pass before it can be registered again.
| State | Register | Road authority | Commonly searched as | PPSR check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | Written-Off Vehicles Register | Transport for NSW | “WOVR check NSW” | PPSR check NSW |
| VIC | Written-Off Vehicle Register | VicRoads | “written-off vehicle register VIC” | PPSR check VIC |
| QLD | Written-off Vehicle Register | Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) | “written-off vehicle register QLD” | PPSR check QLD |
| WA | Written-Off Vehicle notifications | Department of Transport (DoT) | “WOVR check WA” | PPSR check WA |
| SA | Written-Off Vehicle Register | Department for Infrastructure and Transport | “WOVR check SA” | PPSR check SA |
| TAS | Written-Off Vehicles Register | Transport Services | “written-off vehicles register TAS” | PPSR check TAS |
| ACT | Written-Off Vehicles Register | Access Canberra | “written-off vehicles register ACT” | PPSR check ACT |
| NT | Written-Off Vehicle Register | Motor Vehicle Registry (MVR) | “written-off vehicle register NT” | PPSR check NT |
- A statutory write-off stays off the road in every state and territory. The record travels with the VIN, so registering it interstate is not a way around it.
- New South Wales is the strict one. Transport for NSW approves the repair and re-registration of a written-off light vehicle only in very limited circumstances, so a repairable write-off in a NSW ad may not be registrable there at all.
- Everywhere else, a repairable write-off has to be repaired properly and pass that state's written-off vehicle inspection before it goes back on the road.
- The words change with the border. Queensland and Western Australia look for the written-off vehicle register; South Australia and New South Wales almost always type WOVR. Same register, same answer, whichever one you searched for.
WOVR check FAQs
Written-Off Vehicle Register. It is the national list of light vehicles assessed as a total loss, recorded against the VIN and shared between every state and territory. Vehicles up to 4.5 tonnes GVM and up to 15 years old from manufacture are covered.
Enter the rego plate and the state it is registered in at the top of this page, or the VIN if you have it. The search resolves the plate to a VIN, checks it against the national register and comes back in minutes, so you do not need to find the VIN first. Once the report is back, compare the VIN on it with the one stamped on the car: a plate can be swapped in an afternoon, and the write-off record is attached to the VIN.
No. The free state rego checks cover registration status, expiry and basic vehicle details only, which is why state road authorities send buyers to the PPSR for a car's history. The $2 government PPSR search returns write-off status; a Carify report adds the damage type, severity and location on top of that certificate.
No. A statutory write off cannot be repaired and returned to the road, and the restriction applies in every Australian state and territory regardless of where the vehicle was written off. It can be used for parts or scrap. Registering it interstate is not a way around it, because the record travels with the VIN rather than the plate.
In most states, yes, once it has been repaired and has passed that state's written-off vehicle inspection covering identity, structural integrity and roadworthiness. New South Wales is the exception: approval to repair and re-register a written-off light vehicle there is granted only in very limited circumstances. Check with the road authority in the state you plan to register it in before you buy.
Yes. Written-off records reach the PPSR through NEVDIS, the national system the states share vehicle data through, so a PPSR check tells you whether a vehicle is recorded as written off along with finance owing and stolen status. A WOVR check is that part of the PPSR search, read closely and decoded.
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