How to Check if Equipment Is Stolen Before You Pay for It

How to check if equipment is stolen, step by step

Start with the free inspection, because a bad plate ends the deal before you spend anything. Then run the outside checks. The table lists them in order, with who runs each one and what a hit means.

How to check if equipment is stolen at the machine itself

Machines built to the ISO 10261 standard carry a 17-character Product Identification Number (PIN). The first three characters are the World Manufacturer Code, unique to one maker (AEM). The ninth is a check letter. The maker calculates it from the other 16 characters or assigns it (AEM listing instructions).

Other machines carry the maker's own serial number instead, and NER calls both a PIN. Formats vary between makers, and police and insurance systems cannot decode them the way they decode a car VIN (NER). So an odd-looking character is a question for the dealer, not proof of a fake. The figure shows where the maker code and the check letter sit.

Read the PIN off the plate yourself, and photograph it. Then look for a number stamped into the frame, and check that the two match character for character. Photograph the engine serial and the serial of every attachment in the sale too. Attachments carry their own serial, not the machine's PIN.

Walk away from a loose, re-riveted or glued plate, or from characters scratched or painted over. The same goes for a frame stamp that is ground, welded or freshly painted. A plate and a stamp that differ by one character end the deal.

Which stolen equipment database can a buyer use?

The closest thing to a stolen construction equipment database open to buyers is the National Equipment Register (NER), now part of Verisk. NER holds over 100,000 equipment theft reports and has access to more than 15 million ownership records of construction and farm equipment (NER). You cannot browse the database. A buyer orders a history report on one PIN, called an IRONcheck.

NER analysts are trained to spot inconsistencies in PIN plates and model numbers. The report covers insurance claims, including past thefts and recoveries, and lenders with an interest in the machine. It also says whether the asking price is within market value or exceptionally low. Results come back within 24 business hours.

The IRONcheck terms ask you to confirm a good-faith interest in buying the machine. You keep the results confidential and agree to help return the machine if it proves stolen. The terms also say a match does not necessarily mean the item is stolen. NER answers with no record, a record, or a possible match that needs more inquiry.

NER keeps records and does not recover machines. Its FAQ calls it a data resource conduit that does not physically locate stolen machines. It works with NICB to put stolen equipment details in front of local police (NER).

Police records, state searches and NICB VINCheck

The FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC) holds the police records. Its Vehicle File accepts construction equipment (NCIC Vehicle File manual). Its Article File lists other stolen items by brand, model and serial number (FBI privacy impact assessment). Only law enforcement and criminal justice agencies can enter records.

To check a PIN against police records, call the local police or sheriff non-emergency line. Say you are about to buy a used machine, and ask whether they will run the PIN. Not every agency runs a number for a buyer, so ask before you drive to the sale.

Florida publishes a free stolen property search. Its FCIC Public Access System lets anyone search thefts reported by Florida police. Search a machine PIN under Stolen Vehicles, since NCIC files construction equipment as vehicles. Search an attachment serial under Stolen Articles.

FDLE warns that a hit is not confirmation, and that one number can appear on more than one item. Check that the report is still active with the reporting agency.

NICB VINCheck is free and allows five searches per 24 hours per IP address (NICB release). It shows whether an insurer reported a VIN stolen and unrecovered, or as salvage. It is a vehicle lookup, so run it on a trailer or truck that comes with the machine. Use NER and the police for the PIN.

Ask a franchised dealer for the brand whether the PIN exists and fits the listed model and year. A dealer owes a non-customer nothing, so a refusal tells you nothing either way.

Can a lien cost you the machine even if it is not stolen?

A lien is not theft, but it can still cost you the machine. Under UCC 9-315, a lender's security interest stays attached after a sale it did not authorize. UCC 9-320 protects a buyer in ordinary course of business from liens the seller created. That means someone buying in good faith, unaware the sale breaks another's rights, from a seller who deals in goods of that kind (UCC 1-201).

So buying from an equipment dealer protects you against the dealer's own lender. Buying from a contractor clearing out an excavator usually does not, because the contractor does not deal in excavators. For a large purchase, have a lawyer confirm how this applies in your state.

Lien filings are searched by the seller's exact legal name, not by serial number. Search in the state where a registered company is organized or an individual seller lives (UCC 9-307). An IRONcheck also shows lenders with an interest in the machine.

A trailer sold with the machine has its own VIN, and many states title trailers above a set weight. The title should carry the seller's name and the trailer's VIN. Any lender on it should have released the lien in writing.

Does a clean check prove the machine is not stolen?

No. NER and the police files hold only what was reported. A machine appears only if somebody reported it and someone entered it correctly. A clean result means nobody put this PIN in this file, which is weaker than it sounds.

• Police records expire. A Vehicle File record with a VIN or owner applied number stays for the rest of the year entered plus four years (Vehicle File manual). So a machine stolen in 2020 can pass a police check in 2026.
• Records without a number go sooner. A stolen vehicle record with no VIN or owner applied number is retired after 90 days. Most Article File records stay for the rest of the year plus one (Article File manual).
• An unreturned rental may be in no file at all. A rented or leased vehicle that was not returned stays out of the Vehicle File without an official police theft report or a warrant. NER says rental fraud and conversion thefts drove rental losses in 2024, especially of Toro Dingo and Bobcat MT mini loaders (NER).
• The files disagree. NER logs a theft without a police report number as missing rather than stolen (NER). Only police can make an NCIC entry. So one machine can look different in each file, which is why the routine runs both.
• NER only knows what it is told. Its IRONcheck terms disclaim equipment that was never listed and recoveries that were never reported.

Treat a clean result as permission to keep going. The plate, the seller and the paperwork carry at least as much weight as any database.

Red flags in a used equipment sale

None of these signs proves theft on its own. Any of them is a reason to run every check in the table before you talk price again.

• A price well under comparable machines, confirmed by the market value in the history report.
• Cash only, a wire to a personal account, or a handover away from where the machine is kept.
• Listing photos that avoid the plate, or a PIN sent only as typed text.
• No clear story of where the machine worked, who serviced it or why it is for sale.
• Pressure to close today, before a history report can come back.

The paperwork to insist on

• Bill of sale. Both parties named and signed, with price, date, make and model. Add the full PIN as read off the machine, and every attachment serial.
• Seller identity. A government ID that matches the bill of sale. For a company, the exact legal name you used in the lien search.
• Proof of ownership. The original invoice, a finance payoff letter or a trailer title in the seller's name, checked against the plate.
• Lien release. A written release from any lender the search turned up. The seller saying the loan is paid does not count.
• Service history. Shop invoices that show the same PIN over several years. They are harder to invent than one receipt.

Pay by a traceable method to an account in the seller's name. Keep the whole file with your plate photos. If the machine is ever questioned, that file shows you bought in good faith.

What to do when a check comes back positive

A hit still needs confirming, since NER itself says a match does not necessarily mean theft. Your job is to stop the sale and hand the facts to someone who can confirm them.

1. Stop. Do not pay, sign, load the machine or leave a deposit.
2. Do not confront the seller or tell them what the check found. Leave with a neutral reason.
3. Call the police non-emergency line where the machine is. Give them the PIN, your photos and the listing. Add the seller's name, phone number and vehicle plate.
4. If the hit came from NER, also call NER on 866-663-7872 so the analyst can work with the police.
5. Keep every message, photo and document, even after the sale falls through.

If you already bought the machine, park it, stop using it and make the same call, with your bill of sale and payment record.

Your own fleet: make it easy to identify and find

Buyer checks only work if owners put their machines on record before a theft. Photograph every PIN plate and frame stamp, record engine and attachment serials, and keep the copies off site. NER advises registering the details on the plate, because the invoice is often incomplete. Its HELPtech registration records the make, model, year and PIN, plus owner applied numbers and attachment serials.

Records identify a machine once somebody finds it. A tag tells you sooner that it has left, while there is still a trail. Tracking used to be kept for the most expensive machines, because each GPS tracker needs power and its own data plan. A crowdsourced tag needs neither.

Any phone that passes reports where it heard the tag. These networks are large (Apple counts over a billion iPhone, iPad and Mac devices, and Google over a billion Android devices). A tag's battery lasts up to six years, depending on its size, so attachments and trailers can carry one too.

What to expect from tags on your own fleet

A tag tracks the machines you own. For a machine you are about to buy, the tools are the plate in front of you, NER, the police and the Secretary of State.

• Updates come from passing phones. Any phone that passes reports the tag, whoever owns it. A staffed site updates all day. A remote yard updates less often at night, and more when people return or a unit reaches a busier place.
• Building-level position. The position comes from the phone that heard the tag. It gets you to the right site, yard or street, and the PIN does the rest.
• Location, not engine data. A tag reports where a unit is and when it came and went. Engine hours and fault codes come from the machine's own feed.
• Mounted out of sight. Fix each tag out of view, on an outer face rather than inside a steel enclosure. The two larger tags are sealed to IP68 for units that live outside. The theft prevention page covers the setup.