Congratulations on selling your car. Alas, there are still several more steps you will need to complete. As part of this, letting the DVLA know of the transfer is an important one.
What To Think About Before You Transfer Ownership
When selling a vehicle, there are a few main steps you should follow. And, of course, you’ll need to do plenty of hard work first to find the right buyer for the vehicle. Nonetheless, once you’ve found the ideal buyer, the following steps are worth noting.
- Transfer ownership. Don’t worry – the transfer is a simple process. You can do this by using the green slip found in Section 6 of your V5C logbook.
- Inform the DVLA of the sale. When selling, it’s crucial to let the DVLA know. Failing to do so could potentially get you in a whole lot of trouble (as we’ll look at later).
- Cancel your insurance. You don’t want to keep paying out for a car you don’t own anymore. It’s just a waste of money. As such, make sure you cancel any insurance policies you may have once the transfer is complete.
How to Inform the DVLA of a Car Sale
Now that we’ve outlined the three main things you need to do when selling a car, it’s worth asking: how do you inform them? It’s not like you can just send them a message, right?
Well, it’s actually surprisingly simple. There are two main ways to do this; either online or by post. These days, though, most people will let them know online.
To do so, head to the page entitled “Tell DVLA you’ve sold, transferred or bought a vehicle.” From here, you can fill out a simple form. This allows you to share which car you sold, how the car was sold, etc. That’s all you’ll need to do; once the questionnaire is complete, the DVLA will also untax the vehicle. After this, you will subsequently receive a refund by cheque if you have outstanding tax paid.
Alternatively, you can let them know by post. For this, you’ll need to fill out Section 2 (private buyers) or Section 4 (for a dismantler, insurer, or trader). Then, send this back to the DVLA by post, and they should handle the rest.
Why It’s Important to Let the DVLA Know ASAP
There are numerous reasons that it’s so important to let the DVLA know at the earliest opportunity. Of course, the buyer naturally wants to receive ownership of the vehicle. However, there are also concerns from your perspective. For example, if the car is in an accident and you haven’t transferred ownership, you could be blamed. As such, transferring ownership ASAP is paramount.
Final Thoughts
Informing the DVLA of a car sale is crucial, both for the buyer and the seller. However, if the sale is not genuine, the seller won’t be able to transfer ownership. As such, double checking the seller is genuine is crucial. And, luckily, car check tools offer a great way to help.
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