A WOVR check tells you whether a car is on Australia's Written-Off Vehicle Register, and whether it was a statutory write-off, which can never return to the road, or a repairable one, which can once it's repaired and passes a written-off vehicle inspection.

  • The rego is enough. We find the VIN from the plate, then check 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 won't tell you. Write-off status comes from the PPSR.

Last updated 27 October 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: the national record of light vehicles an insurer or assessor has declared a total loss. It was set up by the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council to stop damaged cars being re-identified and sold on as clean. Records sit against the VIN, are shared between every state and territory, and cover vehicles up to 4.5 tonnes GVM and up to 15 years old from manufacture.

It catches more cars than people expect. Of the cars Carify customers checked between October 2019 and July 2026, 13.4% carried a written-off record, and 93% of those were repairable rather than statutory. Most (86%) had been in a collision, 7% in hail and 3% in a flood. The method is in our written-off car data report.

Statutory or repairable write-off?

Statutory write-off

Never legal to drive again, in any state or territory.

Damage too serious to repair: structural failure, a serious fire, salt-water immersion. It can only be used for parts or scrapped, and because the record sits against the VIN, trucking it over a border doesn't help. If a registered car comes back statutory, the paperwork is wrong: check the VIN on the compliance plate, 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. Buying one is a decision, not a mistake, as long as you weigh the resale hit, the insurance questions and the repair quality. Our guide to a statutory write-off and your options covers both.

Looking for a WOVI check?

Then this is the check you're after. WOVI stands for written-off vehicle inspection: the inspection a repairable write-off has to pass before it can be registered again (in Queensland, done by Queensland Inspection Services). It isn't a search you can run. What you can search is the written-off record, and the inspection can show up there too. This Queensland Hilux was recorded as a repairable write-off in March 2026, then as inspected in May:

Vehicle section of a PPSR certificate for a 2012 Toyota Hilux showing a Queensland repairable write-off in March 2026 and an inspected entry in May 2026
A real certificate from a Carify check, identifiers blacked out. Enter a rego or VIN at the top of this page to check a car.

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, so two cars can both read "written off" and be nothing alike. Carify plots every recorded damage point on a diagram of the car, the visual written-off report, so you can see 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 $14.95

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”
Ash, WA
“helped me alot from buying financed or written off vehicles. Photo scrapper is handy too.”
Zacc, WA
“The best car report you can get on the market! I’ve been using these guys for a while and their reports have helped me immensely in choosing the right cars by knowing all the history. Highly recommend!”
Marcus B., NSW

Read all our reviews on ProductReview

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
  • 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.
  • 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.

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