Anyone can visit the www.firstcheck.co.za website or download the mobile application to buy either a Car Value Report (Valuation) or a Car Check Report (Verification) or their own personal credit score. The website/application provides instant, anywhere, anytime access on the value and status of a specific vehicle.

• The Car Value Report provides you with the trade and retail values of the car you are enquiring about.
• The report ensures the price that you are being offered on your car as a trade-in is market value.
• Assures you that the car you are interested in buying is being offered to you at a fair price.
• You are also able to monitor your car’s value on a monthly basis in order to ensure that your insurance premiums are always in line.
• Your Car Value Report will show you how your car has been depreciating over the last 12 months, as well as what it will be worth over the next 3 months.

• A Car Check report allows you to check if there is any possible adverse or negative information on a vehicle.
• The Car Check Report provides you with the trade and retail values of the car you are enquiring about.
• Alerts you to the history, such as any 3rd party alerts on the vehicle that you are enquiring about.
• Assures you that the vehicle is not stolen and that the vehicle is no longer financed.

Register by setting up your account and choose the report that you would like to purchase. You can pay for the report via credit or debit card according to your requirements.

Car Value Report (Valuation):

• 1 report @ R19
• 12 reports delivered monthly @ R150

Car Check Report (Verification):

• 1 report @ R99

Personal Credit Score:

• 1 report @ R19

You can access the latest South African trade and retail values (previously known as the M&M value) as well as the vehicle status information (previously known as HPI) for the following types of used vehicles in the South African market:

• Passenger vehicles
• Light commercial vehicles
• Medium commercial vehicles
• Heavy commercial vehicles
• Motorbikes

These values include the current year price as well as estimated values and the application will adjust for mileage and condition automatically.

Apart from notifying you if the car is stolen or not, the report highlights any discrepancies from the manufacturing specifications and details any existing finance arrangements. Before buying or selling a vehicle it is extremely important to note if there is any existing finance on the vehicle.

Each Car Check Report provides the following information:

• Car information verification detail
• • FirstCheck matches the VIN and Engine number that you supply to a manufacturer database and provide results based on the match. You will receive one of the following confirmation results: Match, No Match or Partial Match. A No Match could mean that FirstCheck does not have a record of the car on the database or incomplete information has been provided.
• Finance information
• • Displays any financial obligations listed under the car.
• Stolen interest information
• • Confirms whether the car you are enquiring about is stolen or sought by the South African Police Services.
• Microdot
• • Is a security application that is a marking system that applies to thousands of dots. These are invisible to the naked eye, are virtually impossible to remove and act as an enhanced car theft deterrent.
• Registration number history
• • Provides you with a list of the last three registration numbers received on the FirstCheck database.
• Enquiry history
• • Lists the last three enquires made in respect of the car by listing the source and transaction (enquiry) date.
• Mileage history
• • Lists the last three recorded kilometre readings (odometer) to illustrate the mileage trend.

These values include the current year price as well as estimated values and the application will adjust for mileage and condition automatically.

Every vehicle in South Africa has a registration number (reg number); this is what appears on the number plate of the vehicle, for example WXR786GP or CA456243. The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is a 17 digit alpha numeric number that is found on your licence disc holder on the front left of your windscreen, or in your service book of your car. Pay special attention to the number 0 and the letter O, the number 5 and the letter S and the number 1 and the letter I, as inputting the incorrect number or letter will not return the desired results. For best possible results use the mobile app and scan the license disk.

• All Apple iPhones and iPads
• All Android devices (phones and tablets).
• The responsive version will work on any phone with a browser.

It may happen that your registration number is not matched on the Firstcheck database. We continue to increase the density of the data. For best possible results enter the VIN manually or scan using your mobile device.

There is a very small chance that this could happen. Because we do not have a link to the eNaTIS system, we are not notified when someone changes a reg. number, or when that reg. number is re-allocated to a different car (as often happens in KZN and the WC). If this happens, please complete the section on the app and web that allows you to give us the vehicle information and we will respond back with the relevant reports.

The National Traffic Information System (eNaTIS) is the official register for all vehicles, driving licences and contraventions.

The registration process requires of you to enter the following:

• Name and surname
• Email – this is required to send the valuation and verification reports to your email address.
• Cell phone number – as above.

We do however keep the following set of data each time the application is used:

• The device make
• The device model
• The operating system name
• The operating system version number

This information is collected in order to help us track problems on particular devices as well as to generate aggregate statistics. The data will be stored and managed in accordance with the relevant South African Legislation dealing with data storage and management.

The year of manufacture is the year the car was manufactured, as opposed to the year that it is first registered on eNaTIS. Conceivably your car might have been made in October 2010, but you bought it new in January 2011. That makes the year of first registration as 2011, but the year of manufacture is 2010.

The application will tell you what Factory Fitted extras were available to be fitted to that make and model during that year. You need to choose which applies to your vehicle.

Yes. The application by default shows the unadjusted values, however you can use the handy toggles in the application to apply these extra moderators to the trade and retail values.

Your personal credit score is the TransUnion Credit Score which is a number value between 0-999. That number is calculated using a formula that takes into account how an individual pays their bills, how much debt they carry and how all of that stacks up against other borrowers. The more positive the information in your individual credit report, the higher your credit score. And the higher your credit score, the more likely you are to be treated favourably when it comes to applying for loans and credit. Your credit score improves or deteriorates depending on your credit behaviour. Certain other companies’ apply their own formula to determine a credit score. The TransUnion Credit Score may therefore not be identical to any consumer credit score produced by another company and serves merely as a guide to possible financing decisions. Importantly, the TransUnion Credit Score is not an endorsement or a determination of your qualification for a loan and nor does it profess to be. It acts as a personal benchmark against which you can be aware of, and encouraged to improve.