RegCheck
Overview
RegCheck brings New Zealand's official vehicle records and RedBook's vehicle data together in one clear report, for car buyers and sellers as well as dealers and fleets. We designed the brand and interface, built the platform, and helped RedBook New Zealand take it to market.
Why RegCheck
Most of what you'd want to know before buying a used car is already on record somewhere. Registration and WOF history sit with NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, stolen vehicles with NZ Police, money owing on the Personal Property Securities Register, and odometer readings in years of compliance checks. RedBook adds what the registers can't: valuations, specifications and equipment data for the New Zealand market. Bringing it all together has usually meant a government-style data dump, or a cluttered checker that leaves people more confused than when they started.
RedBook New Zealand asked us to build something better for two very different audiences. On one side are everyday Kiwis buying or selling a car, often nervous and checking on a phone in the yard. On the other are dealers, fleets and other businesses that run checks as part of the job and need them fast, accurate and on account. We designed the RegCheck brand and interface for both, built the platform behind it, and helped take it to market.
Friendly is the difference.
Every vehicle checker in New Zealand draws on much the same official records, so the data alone was never going to set RegCheck apart. The experience had to. We designed an identity that's fat, friendly and confident, with chunky geometric type, big rounded shapes, warm orange against deep teal and a bit of cheek in the copy. It takes a dry and slightly scary subject, hidden finance, write-offs and dodgy sellers, and makes it feel like asking a mate who knows cars.
The same system carries through every screen of the product. Inside the app, the personality stays in the shapes and colour while the words calm down, because pricing, payments and report findings are no place for jokes. Public, dealer and fleet users all share one visual language, and only the density changes.
Buyers & sellers
For the public, the plate search is the product, so it leads every page. Anyone can confirm a vehicle's year, make and model for free before deciding whether to dig deeper, which earns some trust before asking for money. Free to use doesn't mean free to run, though. Every lookup costs RedBook a data fee, so we protected it with invisible bot checks and tiered rate limits that stop automated scrapers from running up the bill.
Every report has a real cost to produce, so instead of one expensive report for everyone, the range follows the questions people actually ask. A seller after a quick valuation, a buyer worried about money owing and someone who wants the complete history each get a report that fits, compared side by side so the choice takes seconds.
The moment that matters most is when someone decides whether to pay, so checkout asks for as little as possible. There's no account to create, just a name and email address, and no surcharge. A dollar from every public report goes to a community or charity programme the buyer chooses. If a report can't be produced, or a valuation comes back empty, the customer is refunded automatically instead of having to ask.
The report is what people keep, forward on and take back to the seller, so it carried the highest bar. It leads with a plain verdict on theft, money owing, odometer, imported damage, registration and WOF, then backs that up with the detail.
Combining official records with RedBook's data raised a real problem: what should happen when the sources don't agree? We worked through the rules with RedBook. Uncertain data is left out, conflicting values are never quietly blended into a single figure, and every fact keeps its source.
Reports are also a snapshot in time, and they say so, flagging their age before anyone relies on an old one. The same report renders on screen and as a PDF from headless Chrome, so the copy someone downloads matches what they saw.
Privacy shaped the product as much as the data did. Reports leave out a vehicle owner's personal details by design, and the platform refuses to show them even if a data response ever includes them. That left a gap, because buyers still want to know they're dealing with the real owner. Our answer is a confirmation check included with every paid vehicle report. Enter the name, date of birth or licence number the seller gave you, and RegCheck confirms whether it matches the current registered person without ever revealing who that is.
Business
Businesses use RegCheck very differently. A dealer or fleet manager runs checks every day, so speed and record-keeping matter more than reassurance. Business accounts sit on the same platform and brand as the public site but turn up the density. A company admin invites the team, reports land in a shared history, and every order can carry the business's own claim, job or fleet number through to invoices and exports.
Fleets rarely check one vehicle at a time. Batch checks take a spreadsheet as it comes, find the plate or VIN column on their own and run up to 100 checks at once, confirming the total before anything is charged and exporting the valuations back out to CSV.
We also took RegCheck beyond vehicle reports, into the regulated checks businesses rely on. Driver licence checks confirm a licence holder's classes, endorsements and conditions, and only run once the requester has confirmed the licence holder's informed consent for that specific check. Motor traders can lodge a change of ownership (MR13C) with NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi without leaving RegCheck, using their own trader number, and keep the confirmation on file.
Launched on the show floor.
RegCheck's business launch was a two-day fleet industry expo, and we designed the stand as well, from the back wall and pull-up banners to the info sheets handed out on the day. The demos had to feel live without paying for a fresh data request every time someone typed in a plate, so we built restricted demo accounts that run the full product against a set of approved vehicles. Visitors saw genuine reports in seconds, without running up RedBook's data costs.
Under the hood
A Laravel platform with a Statamic front door.
RegCheck is a Laravel application, with Statamic running the marketing pages, FAQs and legal content so RedBook's team can update them without a developer. The ordering flow, business portal and reports are built with React and TypeScript, served through Inertia with server-side rendering so pages arrive ready to read and rank. Registration, PPSR, driver licence and ownership-change data comes through a licensed vehicle-data API, RedBook's data supplies the valuations, specifications and vehicle imagery, and Windcave handles payments.
Built to be trusted with real money.
Paying for a report sets off queued jobs that fetch the data, store the response, build the PDF and email the customer. If the data can't be fetched, the order is refunded rather than stranded. Checkout is guarded against double submissions, and batch checks that stall part-way are picked up and finished. More than 400 automated tests cover ordering, payments and every report type, and we worked through the privacy and legal requirements alongside RedBook's team before launch. It runs on SiteHost in New Zealand, with error monitoring on every release.
Technology
TypeScript elevates JavaScript with powerful type checking that catches errors before they reach users. We implement this superset when building complex applications that demand exceptional reliability. Its intelligent tooling accelerates development through immediate feedback and enhanced documentation, delivering robust solutions that withstand changing requirements.
React revolutionises user interface development, enabling seamless digital experiences that respond instantly to user actions. Its component-based architecture allows us to create sophisticated interfaces that maintain performance as complexity increases. React's approach means less time wrestling with code and more time perfecting experiences that feel intuitive.
Inertia.js bridges traditional server-side applications and modern single-page experiences. This innovative adapter combines the security of frameworks like Laravel with the smooth, app-like experience users expect. Its architecture eliminates data duplication and unnecessary complexity, resulting in applications that are easier to build and scale.
PHP powers some of the world's most visited websites with battle-tested reliability. We use this versatile language to build secure, scalable web applications that handle everything from contact forms to complex e-commerce. Our expertise in modern PHP development creates maintenance-friendly systems that grow alongside your business needs.
Laravel delivers robust digital solutions that scale effortlessly with your business. This powerful PHP framework combines elegant syntax with sophisticated tools for creating everything from streamlined APIs to complex web applications. We leverage Laravel's comprehensive ecosystem to build secure, maintainable code that performs brilliantly under pressure.
Statamic offers content management with refreshing simplicity and remarkable flexibility. Operating on a flat-file structure, it eliminates database complexity while maintaining enterprise-level capabilities. Its thoughtfully designed control panel empowers your team while giving developers the clean architecture they need to build exceptional websites.
Got a project in mind?
Have a chat with The Caretakers.
We’re based in Auckland and work remotely with businesses across New Zealand. Tell us what you’re building, and let’s make it fast, secure, and a pleasure to use.
Call us, or use the form – we promise not to make it weird.