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Anon
By AA | Moderator | 844 Posts | 26 January 2011 at 2:30pm

I recently purchased a used car and was wondering how will I know if the car has any traffic infringements registered against it?

The seller gave me a AA LemonCheck history report of the car, but that does not tell me if there are any outstanding parking or speeding infringements.

If there are, will I be liable even though the infringement was issued before the ownership was transferred to me?

Piolo

From the "Ask Jack" archives - 14 December 2010

jbiddle
By jbiddle | Community Member | 1657 Posts | 26 January 2011 at 2:52pm

In theory this should not happen as any infringement notices will go to the registered owner of the car at the time the offence took place.

It is always a good idea however to make sure the change of ownership papers are completed by both the new owner (you) and the seller and posted away to the Transport Registry Centre as soon as possible after the sale of the vehicle. This way there will be an official record of the transaction and the date it occurred.

If you do receive any parking or speeding fines dated prior to your ownership then you will not be required to pay any such fines. You will have a responsibility however to correspond with the authority who has issued the fine to explain and prove you were not the registered owner when the offence took place.

The AA Vehicle History Report report will not give this information, it is more a history check of the car and will show details such as money owing and whether the vehicle has been reported stolen.