There are plenty of ways you can shoot yourself in the foot when you sell a car , and misplacing paperwork is definitely one.
If you can’t find the car’s registration certificate, for example, you won’t be able to photocopy it and hand the copy to the prospective buyer to prove that you are the registered owner.
Note: While we have based this article on the requirements of those selling a car in Victoria, in the main the principles apply across the nation.
The registration certificate is your documentary proof that you own the vehicle that you’re selling.
Victorian registration authority VicRoads recommends that you photocopy the car’s latest registration certificate . Photocopy a few, if you anticipate losing a copy or being besieged by cashed-up enthusiasts all demanding to buy your car.
VicRoads also recommends you provide proof that you are who you say you are – the owner of the vehicle.
At the very least you will need to flash your driver’s licence or some other form of photo ID (passport, for example) with your name matching the name on the registration certificate.
Naturally, if someone is selling the car on your behalf (a friend or family member), they will need to have copies of your licence too.
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.
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.
As the seller, it’s incumbent on you to ensure that the registration authority is immediately aware that you are no longer the owner of the vehicle.
You will need to obtain the new owner’s contact details and residential address, not a post office box number, to fill in the notice of disposal (or complete the transaction details online). So make sure you see the buyer’s driving licence – and check it’s valid.
With this information to hand, you can inform the registration authority the very same day that the car is handed over to the new owner.
If you don’t do this, you could find yourself fighting the loss of demerit points for someone else blitzing past speed cameras up to 14 days after the vehicle ceased to be yours.
Worse still, you’ll be expected to pay the fines…
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If a buyer is paying you more than $75 for your car, you are required by law to furnish a receipt to prove that the buyer has handed you the agreed money to purchase the car from you.
Less than $10 will buy you a ‘no-carbon-required’ cash receipt book from one of the big stationery stores. Alternatively, Victorians can download and print out a receipt template from VicRoads . Other states and territories road authorities most likely offer a similar product.
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, your name, the date of the transaction, the selling price and the vehicle’s details.
The vehicle’s details should comprise make, model, colour, registration (if it is registered) and VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) .
Hand-written receipts come in many forms, for example one could look something like this:
You may want to take a photocopy (or phone image) of the receipt for your own records. The registration authorities do not specifically demand you or the buyer provide a copy of the receipt, but the buyer is reasonably entitled to expect a receipt, especially if the payment is in cash.
If you’ve gone to 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 be sure you can lay hands on it when the time comes for the buyer to drive off in the car.
Keep the RWC somewhere safe and dry – and well away from the family mutt – but most importantly, somewhere you’ll remember to look when you need it.
The dark recesses of 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’, it can be replaced with a new one, purchased through 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 with buying your car.
Takata airbags have been in the news a lot in recent years, so if you own Japanese cars in particular, there’s a roughly even chance that the buyer will ask whether the car you’re selling was one of the vehicles affected.
Naturally, of course, 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.
And do keep documentary evidence close by when it comes 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. Because the wide-eyed buyer might be just as impressed as you were when you signed up for those items.
If it should happen that some part or accessory doesn’t live up to expectations – an aftermarket alarm system goes on the blink, or a sunroof starts leaking in winter – the new owner will be pleased to have the receipts so he or she can pursue the retailer, installer and/or wholesaler that supplied the unit for reasonable reparations in accordance with Australian Consumer Law… If it should come to that.
So packing the glove box full of receipts doesn’t necessarily help you sell the car – but it possibly tells the buyer that you’ve cared for your 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.
Documents to assemble for selling your car
• Current registration certificate (photocopies)
• Roadworthy certificate
• Transfer of ownership form – if not transferring online
• Receipt for payment
• Owner’s manual and supplements
• Scheduled service logbook
• Receipts for labour and parts
• carsales vehicle history report and PPSR report
