Buyer's Guides
The boring bit: paperwork
You've shaken hands, settled on the price and the money's been handed over. It's a done deal, so now you need to organise the paperwork to transfer legal ownership of your car to its new owner. It sounds daunting, but is really very simple:
- The registration document is the key piece of paper. Called a V5, the document shows who owns the car. Follow the simple steps given on the V5 to fill in who is the new owner (referred to as the New Keeper) and when you sold the car.
- There's an option to fill in the car's current mileage on the V5 registration document and it's a good idea to fill it in. This helps the DVLA prevent fraud by 'clocking' a car's mileage to show it's covered fewer miles than it really has.
- Section 10 of the Registration Certificate should be retained by the new keeper to show they now own the car until the proper V5 document is sent to them.
- The burden is on you as the seller to send off the V5 document to the DVLA to swap ownership from you to the new keeper.
- If you receive a speeding ticket or parking fine after you have sold the car, inform the police or relevant council immediately and contact the DVLA to check that the new V5 has been issued to the new owner.
- You should also hand over the MoT certificate and the car's service book so the new owner can keep these up to date.