Theft records
How to check whether a car is stolen before you buy it
A stolen vehicle recovered from you is simply taken back. You lose the car and the money you paid for it, and the seller is long gone. The check costs a fraction of one per cent of what the car costs.
Two registers, one VIN
Most used cars here arrived as imports, so a theft check has to look in two places. A car stolen in America and shipped out will not appear on a Nigerian register; a car stolen in Lagos will not appear on an American one.
- US theft records. Checked as part of the American history feed, alongside the title and accident records.
- The Nigerian police stolen-vehicle register. Run against the same VIN through local verification partners.
Why the plate number tells you nothing
Re-plating is the first thing that happens to a stolen car. A clean plate on a stolen vehicle is the normal case, not the exception — which is why the check has to run against the VIN stamped into the car, and why you have to read that VIN off the vehicle yourself rather than accept one you were sent.
Watch for the VIN plate itself: a windscreen plate with tampered rivets, a door-jamb sticker that looks reprinted, or a chassis stamping that disagrees with either of them. Those are worth walking away from before any database is consulted.
Where the VIN appears on the car, and how to read it
Signals worth taking seriously
- The VIN on the windscreen, the door jamb and the chassis do not all match.
- The seller cannot produce the customs entry or the previous registration, or the names on them do not connect to them.
- The price is well under the market for that model and year, with an urgent reason for the hurry.
- The vehicle the VIN decodes to is not quite the vehicle in front of you — a different trim, engine or model year.
- The seller wants to meet somewhere other than an address associated with them.
What the report gives you
The theft check sits alongside the rest of the history: US accident and salvage records, the odometer trail, the customs duty status and the current registration. Every source is named, and where one did not answer the report says so instead of implying a clear result.
A clear result is evidence, not proof
A theft check reports what has been filed. A vehicle stolen very recently, or one whose theft was never formally reported, may not appear on any register — so a clear result means no record was found, which is not the same as a guarantee. Treat it as one strong input alongside the documents, the seller, and a physical inspection.
Run the VIN before the money moves
The decode is free. The full report covers the theft registers, customs duty, registration and the US accident and salvage history.
17 characters, on the dashboard at the base of the windscreen, the driver’s door frame, or the vehicle papers. Checking the VIN is free — you only pay for the history.