What documents do you need to sell your car?

There are plenty of ways you can shoot yourself in the foot when you sell a car and misplacing paperwork is one of them.

If you can’t find the car’s registration certificate you won’t be able to convince the prospective buyer that you’re the registered owner.

To avoid unnecessary delays or doubts from buyers, make sure you have all the right paperwork ready before the sale.

Documents to assemble for selling your car

So, let’s look at all the full guide of what documents you need when selling your car.

No savvy buyer will part with their cash without seeing the car’s registration certificate first. It is proof that the car is currently registered for the road. Show the buyer your driver’s licence as well, and they can be satisfied that you are the registered owner of the car up for sale.

Laying hands on the registration certificate is no longer as simple as reaching into the appropriate folder in your filing cabinet. Registration authorities are going paperless, and an owner selling his or her car may not have a hard copy of the current paperwork.

To download the certificate from the registration authority’s website, create an online account, if you haven’t already done so, and then login. You may need to verify your identity with two-factor authentication by means of your smartphone.

Once you’re logged in, choose the last renewal notice, which will load the current registration certificate in your web browser, in PDF format.

The buyer might be fine with seeing the PDF in your web browser, but many people are happier to have something on paper they can hold in their hands. You can print the PDF from your phone or other portable device (to a wireless printer) or from your desktop computer or laptop.

Naturally, if someone is selling the car on your behalf (a friend or family member), they will need to have copies of both your licence and the car’s registration certificate. They may need to verify their own identity as well.

Further information concerning transfer of ownership after selling a car can be found on the VicRoads website or at Services NSW.

In the 21st century, vehicle ownership is transferred online, but there are still reasons why you may require or prefer a hard-copy notice of disposal (NSW) or transfer of ownership (VIC).

These forms can be picked up from the local office of the state registration authority or downloaded from the registration authority’s public domain website.

To complete the transfer of ownership – online or on hard-copy – obtain the new owner’s contact details and residential address to fill in the form. A post office box number is not acceptable; it must be a street address.

Verify that the buyer’s driver’s licence is valid. Tip: take a photo of the buyer’s licence with your smartphone.

With this information in hand, you can inform the registration authority the very same day that the car is handed over to the new owner. You can drop the hard-copy form at your nearest registration authority office or fill in the details on the digital form.

As the seller, it’s incumbent on you to ensure that the registration authority is aware at the earliest opportunity that you are no longer the owner of the vehicle. VicRoads allows up to 14 days grace period to lodge the transfer of ownership.

If you fail to act in time, you could find yourself fighting the loss of demerit points for someone else blitzing past speed cameras or red-light cameras.

Worse still, you’ll be expected to pay the fines…

Both VicRoads and Service NSW recommend issuing the buyer a receipt to prove that they have purchased your car.

Less than $10 will buy you a ‘no-carbon-required’ (NCR) cash receipt book from one of the big stationery stores. Alternatively, Victorians can download and print out a receipt template from VicRoads.

In a worst-case scenario, you can write a receipt by hand on any old slip of paper, provided it incorporates the following details: the buyer’s name, their address, their signature, your name and address, the date of the transaction, the selling price, and the vehicle’s details.

The vehicle’s details should comprise of make, model, colour, registration (if it is registered), and VIN (Vehicle Identification Number).

If you haven’t written the receipt in an NCR receipt book, take a photocopy (or phone image) of the receipt for your own records. The registration authorities do not specifically demand you or the buyer to provide a copy of the receipt, but the buyer is entitled to expect a receipt as proof of purchase – especially if the payment is in cash.

If you’ve gone through the trouble and expense of arranging a roadworthy certificate (RWC) – in states like Victoria where cars don’t have to pass an annual inspection – you’ll want to know where it is when the buyer’s ready to drive off in the car.

The glove box should be home to your car’s owner’s manual, the service schedule (the ‘logbook’) and any supplements – for such things as premium audio systems or other accessories/dealer-fit options, roadside assistance information, and local-market specifications.

Most of the supplements are of dubious value where the sale of the car is concerned, but the service record and the owner’s manual are quite important. So much so, they’re occasionally snapped up by thieves if the car is left unlocked and vulnerable.

If your owner’s manual and service record should happen to go ‘walkies’, they can be replaced by the spare parts department of your local dealer.

The dealership can usually reproduce the servicing details too, if the vehicle has been serviced there.

Has your car been recalled? Any paperwork you can supply to prove that the dealer has replaced any parts subject to a safety recall campaign will put the buyer at ease.

Cars can be recalled for airbags failing catastrophically, wiring short-circuits that could lead to the car catching fire, problems with electronic gremlins in active safety systems, or badly manufactured seat mounts.

Naturally, cars are often recalled for other safety issues too, so it’s good to make sure all the safety issues outstanding are resolved by the dealer before you list the car for sale.

Keep documentary evidence close by for when it’s time to sell the car.

If a key selling feature of your car is the added care and attention it has received over the course of its life, the best evidence of that is a pile of receipts for work done and parts fitted.

Examples might be the larger alloy wheels and low-profile tyres you purchased, replacing the cheap-brand tyres and steel wheels that were fitted when the car rolled out the factory door.

Even if the paperwork came with the worthless aftermarket interior fabric/leather treatments and Duco protection that the dealer sold you when you purchased the car, you might as well keep those documents in the glove box too. The wide-eyed buyer might be just as impressed as you were when you initially signed up for those items.

If a part or accessory doesn’t live up to expectations – like an aftermarket alarm system malfunction or a sunroof starts leaking – the new owner will appreciate having the receipts. That way, they can pursue the retailer, installer and/or wholesaler that supplied the unit for reasonable reparations in accordance with Australian Consumer Law, if needed.

So, packing the glove box full of receipts doesn’t necessarily help you sell the car – but it signals to the buyer that you’ve taken good cared of the car and there will be a contingency open to the new owner if something goes wrong.

It’s not essential that you arrange a vehicle history report for the buyer, but it signals to him or her that you are confident the car will scrub up neatly in such a report.

You can arrange a carsales vehicle history report through carsales for just $34 and that includes a Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) report, which can be downloaded as a PDF file.

This will convey to the buyer that the car hasn’t been written off, is unencumbered by finance, and the odometer reading is consistent with the car’s documented history.

The views stated in this advice column are advisory only.

Join the conversation at our Facebook page
Or email us at editor@carsales.com.au