When it comes to buying and selling a vehicle in Queensland it is law that the seller provides a valid Safety Certificate for any registered vehicle that is advertised for sale.

If the seller does not have one, ask them to provide you one before taking the vehicle.

In the circumstances when the vehicle is unregistered it is legal to be sold without a Safety Certificate.

The first question you should be asking is why is the vehicle unregistered (keeping in mind that you won’t always get the truthful answer – they are trying to sell you the vehicle).

The second question is why haven’t they organised a Safety Certificate and registered it because the asking price is considerably more when the vehicle is registered.

These are the points that the mechanic doing the Pre-Purchase Inspection will be asking the owner on your behalf and determining if the vehicle has been left unregistered or deregistered because there are lingering issues that are costly.

It is always advisable to have a Pre-Purchase Inspection done by Approved Inspectors who are accredited by the Department of Transport and Main Roads to do Safety Certificates. They will be able to advise you if the vehicle would or should have passed a roadworthy inspection. This is particularly important when there are unfortunately some examiners who issue certificates for vehicles regardless if they are road worthy or not.

It is also a possibility that the examiner has honestly missed something.

This will be picked up in the Pre-Purchase Inspection and can be rectified before you take ownership of the vehicle at the seller’s cost.

Never rely on a Safety Certificate that the car is mechanically sound.

When it comes to a Safety Certificate Inspection the vehicle must meet the minimum safety standard set by the Transport Department.

This does not include how mechanically sound the vehicle is and this is the most costly part of the vehicle to fix if there is an issue.

A Pre-Purchase Inspection is a thorough examination of the condition of the vehicle with the years of experience of the mechanic inspecting the vehicle. The mechanic will advise you their opinion on the condition of the vehicle in relation to its kilometres.

Remember that they are working for you. Everything that they find on the vehicle should be kept confidential and should not be disclosed to the seller. This is what you are able to use to negotiate the price with the seller. When booking the Pre-Purchase Inspection make a point of checking that it is the procedure of the examiner to not disclose any information to the seller.