How to check a vehicle is not stolen

This isn't about the broader list of scam patterns to watch for in a private sale — we've covered that separately. This is narrower and more mechanical: the actual physical steps that confirm a vehicle in front of you matches the paper it's being sold with, which is the specific check that catches a stolen or re-badged vehicle when everything else about the sale looks completely normal.

Find the chassis number, on the vehicle itself

Every vehicle has its chassis number stamped into the metal somewhere, not just printed on a sticker or in the RC. On most cars it's on the engine bay firewall, sometimes also visible through the windscreen on a small plate, or stamped into the floor under the front passenger seat carpet. On a two-wheeler it's usually stamped on the steering head, under the handlebar area. Ask the seller to show you where, and compare it character by character against the chassis number printed on the RC — not glanced at, actually read digit by digit.

What a mismatch means

A stamped number that's been altered usually shows some physical evidence of it under close light: slightly uneven spacing between digits, a different texture or shine on the metal around the stamp compared to the surrounding panel, or digits that look very slightly re-cut. This is genuinely hard to fake well, which is exactly why it's the check that matters most. If anything about the stamp looks off, that's not a detail to let go — it's a reason to stop and ask direct questions, or walk away entirely.

Cross-check against the government record

Beyond the physical stamp, the registration number itself can be checked against the VAHAN database, which shows the registered details for that number — whether they match what you're being told about the vehicle, and whether there's any flag against it. This takes a few minutes and is worth doing before you pay, not as an afterthought.

The seller's behaviour matters as much as the paperwork

A legitimate seller will not mind you checking the chassis stamp closely, taking your time with it, or photographing it to check later. Reluctance to let you look closely, rushing the viewing, or a seller who wants to meet somewhere other than their registered address are all worth noticing on their own, and worth noticing more if they show up alongside anything uncertain about the chassis number itself.

The honest limit of a buyer's own check

None of this makes you a forensic expert, and it isn't meant to. What it does is catch the obvious cases and make the less obvious ones visibly harder to get past you, which is usually enough to send anyone attempting it looking for an easier buyer instead. For a high-value purchase, or anything that's left you even slightly uneasy after doing these checks yourself, a police verification of the vehicle before transfer is a reasonable and not unusual thing to ask for, and a legitimate seller has no real reason to refuse it. The same goes for confirming there's no loan still attached — neither check should make an honest seller uncomfortable.