1. Get your paperwork ready
- Registration papers and your photo ID. Serious buyers will check your name matches the rego.
- Service history: the logbook and receipts for major work. A full history can add real value.
- The VIN and rego number, ready to give buyers. Genuine buyers will want to run their own checks. Where to find your VIN.
- Spare keys and the owner’s manual.
2. Clear any finance first
If you still have a loan secured against the car, a buyer’s PPSR check will show it, and most buyers will walk away. Ask your lender for a payout figure. Either pay it off before you list the car, or agree with the buyer that part of the price goes straight to the lender, and get the security interest removed from the register before the car changes hands. How finance owing affects a sale.
Don’t sell a car with finance owing without telling the buyer. Apart from breaching your loan contract, it can expose you to legal action from the buyer and the lender.
3. Check your state’s safety certificate rules
Some states require a safety or roadworthy certificate when a car is sold or transferred, and who has to get it differs between states. For example, in Queensland the seller generally has to display a current safety certificate on a registered car offered for sale, and in Victoria a roadworthy certificate is generally needed to transfer registration. Check the rules in your state before you list.
4. Price it and write the ad
- Compare similar cars on Carsales, Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree with the same model, year, kilometres and condition.
- Clean it properly and photograph it in good daylight, inside and out, including the odometer.
- Be honest about faults and history. Misleading a buyer about the car can come back on you.
- Leave out the full VIN and your address from the public ad. Give the VIN to genuine buyers when they ask.
5. Handle viewings and test drives safely
- Have someone with you for viewings.
- Check the driver’s licence before a test drive, and take a photo of it.
- Go with them on the test drive, and keep hold of the keys when you’re not driving.
- Check your insurance covers other people driving the car.
6. Get paid safely
- Bank transfer is safest. Don’t hand over the keys until the money shows as cleared in your own banking app.
- Ignore emails saying payment is “on hold” until you pay a fee or the buyer sends more. That’s a scam. Real bank transfers and PayID payments don’t require you to pay anything to receive them.
- Be wary of cheques and overpayments, where a buyer “accidentally” pays too much and asks for a refund.
- Write a receipt with the date, price, VIN, rego number and both parties’ names, addresses and signatures. Keep a copy.
7. Tell the road authority you’ve sold it
In most states the seller has to notify the road authority of the sale within a set time, often 14 days. Until you do, you may be held responsible for fines, tolls or offences involving the car. Then:
- Remove or transfer your toll tag and update your toll account.
- Cancel or transfer your insurance once the car is no longer yours.
- Take your personal items, garage remote and any saved home address out of the car’s navigation.