Heavy Vehicle Marketplace
Buying & selling safely
Every sale here is between you and the other party. We are not an agent, an escrow service or an inspector, and we never hold your money. At the values trucks, trailers and plant change hands for, the two steps below that matter most are the PPSR search and a real inspection.
Check the PPSR before you pay
- •Search the Personal Property Securities Register at ppsr.gov.au before any money moves. It costs a couple of dollars and tells you whether the truck, trailer or machine is security for someone else's loan.
- •If it is encumbered and the debt is not paid out at settlement, the financier can repossess it from you even though you paid the seller in full. You lose the machine and the money.
- •Search by VIN or chassis number for road vehicles. Plant and attachments without a VIN are registered by serial number, so search that and keep the certificate.
- •The PPSR search also flags a vehicle recorded as written off or stolen. Read the certificate, do not just note that a search was run.
Inspect before you pay
- •Inspect in person or pay an independent inspector at the machine's location. At these prices an inspection fee is the cheapest part of the transaction.
- •Match the VIN or chassis number and the compliance plate to the listing and to the seller's paperwork. If the numbers do not match the documents, walk away.
- •Ask for service history, and for engine hours read from the hour meter in front of you. Hour meters and odometers can be wound back, so look for wear that contradicts them.
- •Check the things that decide whether it can legally work: brakes, tyres and rims, chassis and cross members for cracks or repairs, oil leaks, and for plant the pins, bushes, tracks and undercarriage.
- •Confirm roadworthy or safety certificate requirements for your state before you plan to drive it away.
Paying
- •Pay by bank transfer to a business account in the seller's own name, so the payment is traceable. Verify the account details by phone using a number you found yourself, not one sent to you.
- •Never pay cash at these values, and never pay a deposit to hold a machine for a seller you have not verified.
- •Where the machine is under finance, pay the financier the payout figure directly and pay the seller only the balance. Ask for the payout letter.
- •For a business purchase, confirm the seller's ABN and GST registration on abr.business.gov.au and make sure the tax invoice matches that entity.
- •Gift cards, crypto and international transfers are not used by genuine sellers. Treat any such request as the end of the conversation.
Warning signs
- •A price well below every comparable listing, especially with a story explaining the urgency.
- •Refuses an independent inspection, or will not let you see the machine at a real business address.
- •Bank details that belong to a different name, or details that change by email part way through.
- •Pressure to pay a deposit before the PPSR certificate or the payout letter is in your hands.
- •Photos that appear on other listings or overseas sites. Run a reverse image search if unsure.
- •No ABN, no service records and no compliance plate, on a machine advertised as ready to work.
Something on the site look wrong? Read the listing rules or use the report link on any listing.