A clean result
No registered financing statement against the serial number searched. That is what a buyer wants and it is the common outcome on machines bought from a dealer.
Guide
The search that protects a used purchase.
A security interest registered against a machine attaches to the machine, not to the person selling it. Paying a private seller in full is no protection at all if somebody else has an interest registered.
MS
Matt Stiles Editor
Published 7 September 2026 Last reviewed 7 September 2026 Read time 8 min
The short version
Four things that matter.
- The interest follows the goods. Not the seller. A machine sold with finance owing on it can be recovered from a buyer who paid in full and knew nothing about it.
- Search by serial number, not by name. Serial and VIN searches are the reliable ones on equipment. A search by the seller’s name misses interests registered before they owned it.
- An interest found is a process, not a barrier. The ordinary path is for the seller’s finance to be settled from the purchase price at the moment ownership transfers.
- Route the payment through the financier. On a private sale, payment made directly between buyer and seller is what leaves the existing interest in place. Settlement through a financier clears it at transfer.
The register
What the PPSR is, and what it is not.
The Personal Property Securities Register is a public register of security interests in personal property, operated through the Companies Office under the Personal Property Securities Act 1999. When a financier writes an equipment facility it registers its interest there, and that registration is what makes the interest effective against the world rather than only against the borrower.
The register does not prove ownership. It shows whether anybody has registered a security interest against particular goods, which is a narrower and more useful thing. A machine can be free of registered interests and still not be the seller’s to sell, which is why evidence of title matters alongside the search rather than instead of it.
What makes the register decisive on a used equipment purchase is the direction the interest runs. It attaches to the goods. A buyer who pays a private seller in full, takes the machine home and works it for six months can still have it repossessed by a financier who was never paid, and having acted in good faith does not undo that. The search is the protection, and it is inexpensive.
Statute
PPSA 1999
Covers
Personal property, not land
Search basis
Serial number or debtor
Public
Anyone can search
What a search shows
Reading the result.
A current financing statement
Somebody has an interest registered. It does not stop the purchase and it changes how the purchase has to be settled.
The secured party
Who holds the interest. This is the party a payout figure has to come from before ownership can transfer cleanly.
Registration and expiry dates
When the interest was registered and when it lapses. An expired registration is not the same as a discharged one and is worth confirming.
The collateral description
What the interest covers. A general description over all present and after-acquired property is broader than one naming a single machine.
The debtor
Who granted the interest. Where that is not the person selling the machine, the position needs explaining before money moves.
The safe sequence
How a private purchase settles cleanly.
Where a search shows an existing interest, the ordinary path is straightforward and it depends on one thing. The buyer’s financier obtains a payout figure from the secured party, pays that amount directly to them out of the purchase price, pays the balance to the seller, and the existing interest is discharged at the same moment the new one is registered. What breaks this is paying the seller directly and trusting them to settle their own finance afterwards. A seller unwilling to have settlement routed through a financier is worth pausing over, because that arrangement costs them nothing if their intentions are what they say they are.
The sequence
What a careful used purchase looks like.
01
The serial or VIN number is obtained before agreeing anything
The number is what a search runs against, and a seller reluctant to provide it before a deposit is a signal in itself. On plant it is the manufacturer’s serial number; on vehicles and trailers it is the VIN or chassis number.
02
The register is searched against that number
A serial-number search is the reliable one on equipment, because a search by the seller’s name misses interests registered against the machine before they acquired it. The Companies Office publishes the current fee, and it is small relative to the purchase.
03
Settlement is routed to clear whatever is found
On a clean result, payment can proceed normally. Where an interest exists, a payout figure is obtained from the secured party and paid directly to them at settlement, with the balance going to the seller and the discharge and the new registration happening together.
Worked scenarios
Three used purchases, illustratively.
Illustrative scenarios on stated assumptions. Two of the three are ordinary and one is the reason the search exists.
A trailer bought from a retiring contractor
The clean private sale
The buyer obtains the chassis number, searches the register, and the result is clean. The seller provides evidence of ownership and the purchase proceeds normally.
On these assumptions a $60,000 amount financed at an indicative 12% over 48 months carries a repayment near $370 a week. The search cost a few dollars and confirmed there was nothing to find, which is exactly what it is for.
Indicative figures
- Purchase price
- $60,000
- Search result
- Clean
- Indicative weekly
- ~$370
- Outcome
- Ordinary settlement
A used excavator with finance still owing
The interest that was found
The search returns a current financing statement from the seller’s financier. The seller confirms there is a balance owing and is willing to have it settled from the purchase price.
The buyer’s financier obtains a payout figure, pays it directly to the secured party at settlement and pays the balance to the seller. The old interest is discharged as the new one is registered. In this scenario nothing went wrong, and the reason nothing went wrong is that the search happened before the money moved.
Indicative figures
- Search result
- Interest registered
- Payout figure
- Obtained from the secured party
- Settlement
- Routed through the financier
- Outcome
- Clean transfer
A forklift bought privately and paid for directly
The purchase that was not searched
A buyer pays a private seller the full asking price in cash, takes the machine and works it. No search is done, and the seller does not settle their own facility.
The financier’s registered interest remains attached to the machine, and it has a statutory route to recover it under the Personal Property Securities Act 1999. The buyer has paid in full, has done nothing wrong, and can still lose the forklift. Whatever recourse exists is against the seller rather than against the financier, and it is worth exactly as much as the seller is.
Indicative figures
- Search done
- No
- Interest still registered
- Yes
- Payment made
- Directly to the seller
- Outcome
- The machine can be recovered
The wider interest
Why buying from a business is different from buying from a person.
Many New Zealand businesses grant a general security interest to a bank or a financier, registered over all present and after-acquired property rather than over any named machine. That is an ordinary commercial arrangement and it has a consequence for anybody buying equipment from that business: the machine can be caught by an interest that never mentioned it and was registered long before it was bought.
A serial-number search does not always surface that, because a general security interest is registered against the debtor rather than against particular goods. Searching by the seller’s name or company number alongside the serial number is what brings it into view, and it is the reason both searches are better than either.
Where a general security interest exists, it does not prevent the sale. Businesses sell equipment out from under general security regularly, and the usual position is that a sale in the ordinary course of business is permitted. What matters is establishing that this is such a sale rather than assuming it, and where the amount is significant the secured party’s written release is the version that leaves nothing to interpretation.
Ambiguous results
Four results that need a second look.
A clean result and a clear current interest are both easy to act on. These are the ones where a buyer needs to ask rather than assume.
A lapsed registration
It may reflect a repaid debt or an administrative lapse, and those are different situations. Written confirmation from the secured party settles it in a way a date on a screen does not.
An all-property interest
Registered against the seller rather than the machine, covering everything they own. Establishing that a sale is in the ordinary course of business is what matters here.
A debtor who is not the seller
The interest was granted by somebody else. That needs explaining before money moves, because it suggests the machine passed through a transaction that was not clean.
A general collateral description
Where the registration describes a class of goods rather than a serial number, whether it covers this machine is a question of interpretation rather than of fact.
When it matters most
Where a search is decisive, and where it is routine.
Where it is decisive
- Any private sale, which is where nearly all of the risk sits
- Trailers and light plant, which change hands privately more than anything else
- A machine offered noticeably below market, which is worth understanding rather than celebrating
- A seller who is a business rather than an individual, because business assets more often carry general security
- Any purchase where the seller resists routing settlement through a financier
Where it is routine
- A new machine from a franchised dealer, where a search is a formality
- A purchase already being financed, because the financier will search regardless
- A dealer trade where the dealer warrants clear title, though the search still costs almost nothing
- An auction where the auctioneer publishes search results, which is worth verifying rather than assuming
After settlement
What gets registered against the machine next.
A buyer searching the register before a purchase is looking at somebody else’s interest. What frequently goes unnoticed is that the same thing happens in reverse the moment the purchase settles, because the buyer’s own financier registers its interest against that machine on the same register.
That registration is ordinary and it has two practical consequences worth knowing. It stays in place until the facility is settled and discharged, so a buyer intending to resell the machine before the term ends will be the seller in the situation this guide describes, with the same obligation to have the payout arranged at transfer. And it is visible to anybody who searches, which is exactly the point: the register works because it is public.
Discharge is not always automatic when a facility is repaid. Where a machine is sold or a facility settled, confirming that the registration has actually been discharged rather than assuming it is a small step that prevents a stale interest sitting against a machine that is now owned outright. It costs a search to check and it is worth checking, particularly before the machine is sold on.
The other number
A used purchase, in weekly numbers.
The search protects the purchase. This is what the purchase costs. Indicative only, and not a quote or offer of credit.
Indicative repayment
Weekly
$365/week
$1,580 /month $15,841 total interest
$60,000
$5,000 $500,000
4 years
6 months 5 years
12.00% p.a.
8% (secured) 30% (unsecured)
Indicative only. Not a quote or offer of credit. Actual rates, fees, and repayments depend on the business profile and the lender's decision.
Sending to Prospa
Your $60,000 scenario
4 years at 12.00% . Prospa will ask a few quick questions, then provide a firm quote and funding if eligible.
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References
Sources
- Personal Property Securities Register
The register itself, including how to search and the published fees.
- Personal Property Securities Act 1999
The statutory basis for a security interest attaching to goods rather than to the seller.
- Companies Office, PPSR help
The published guidance on searching and on reading a financing statement.
- Consumer NZ
Independent New Zealand guidance on private purchase risks generally.
- Commerce Commission
Context for a buyer’s position where a seller misrepresents what they are selling.
FAQ
Questions, answered
What is the PPSR?
The Personal Property Securities Register is a public register of security interests in personal property, operated through the Companies Office under the Personal Property Securities Act 1999. When a financier writes an equipment facility it registers its interest there, which makes the interest effective against the world rather than only against the borrower.
Why does a registered interest follow the machine?
Because that is how the Act works. The security interest attaches to the goods rather than to the person who granted it, so it survives a sale. A buyer who pays a private seller in full and takes the machine can have it recovered by a financier who was never paid, and acting in good faith does not undo that.
How much does a search cost?
A small published fixed fee, set by the Companies Office and shown on the register’s own site. It is trivial relative to the purchase price of any machine covered on this site, which is why skipping it is never an economic decision.
Should the search be by serial number or by name?
By serial or VIN number on equipment. A search against the seller’s name misses any interest registered against the machine before they acquired it, which is precisely the case where a buyer needs the result. Both together are better than either alone.
Does a clean search prove the seller owns the machine?
No. The register shows registered security interests, not ownership. A machine can be free of interests and still not be the seller’s to sell, which is why evidence of title matters alongside the search rather than instead of it, particularly on a private purchase.
What happens if the search shows an interest?
It is a process rather than a barrier. A payout figure is obtained from the secured party, paid directly to them from the purchase price at settlement, with the balance going to the seller, so the existing interest is discharged as the new one is registered. Most used equipment purchases involving finance go this way.
Why should payment go through a financier on a private sale?
Because paying the seller directly and trusting them to settle their own facility is what leaves the existing interest in place. Routing settlement through a financier lets the payout and the discharge happen at the same moment as the transfer, and it costs an honest seller nothing.
What does a general security interest mean?
It is an interest registered over all present and after-acquired property of a business rather than over one named machine. It can cover equipment the business buys later, which means a machine sold by a business can be caught by an interest that never mentioned it specifically.
Is an expired registration the same as a discharged one?
Not necessarily, and it is worth confirming rather than assuming. A registration that has lapsed may reflect a debt that was repaid, or it may reflect an administrative lapse. Where the result is ambiguous, obtaining written confirmation from the secured party is the straightforward answer.
Do dealers search on behalf of a buyer?
A financier will search as part of writing a facility, and a reputable dealer will normally have clear title in any case. Where a machine is being bought for cash from any seller, the buyer is the only party with an interest in the search happening, which is the situation to be careful in.
Does an auction purchase need a search?
Some auctioneers publish search results and some do not, and the terms of sale vary. Verifying rather than assuming is the safer position, particularly at general clearing sales where machines come from multiple vendors and title histories are mixed.
Does the buyer’s own financier register against the machine too?
Yes, and on the same register. The interest goes on at settlement and stays there until the facility is settled and discharged, which means a buyer intending to resell before the term ends will be the seller in exactly the situation this guide describes, with the same obligation to have a payout arranged at transfer.
Is a discharge automatic when a facility is repaid?
Not always. Confirming the registration has actually been discharged rather than assuming it costs one search and prevents a stale interest sitting against a machine that is now owned outright. It matters most immediately before selling the machine on, where a buyer’s own search will find it.
What recourse does a buyer have if a machine is repossessed?
Whatever recourse exists is against the seller who misrepresented the position rather than against the financier who was never paid, and it is worth as much as the seller is. That asymmetry is the entire reason the search exists, and it is why doing it before the money moves is not optional in a private purchase.
Related
Keep reading
Dealer against private sale
Where the risks this guide describes actually arise.
Read onNew against used equipment finance
The wider comparison a used purchase sits inside.
Read onWhat equipment lenders assess
Why a lender searches the register as part of the security assessment.
Read onTrailer finance
The class most often bought privately, and where this matters most.
Read onEquipment finance by machine
Every class covered on this site.
Read on