Selling your car is sometimes as daunting as buying a new one, especially regarding the paperwork. The complexities of the paperwork rabbit hole often see buyers, and sellers, opting to work through dealerships and car-buying outfits to help ease this process. There are benefits to selling a car privately without enlisting the assistance of a dealership, but it requires that you have a fair understanding of the paperwork involved.
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Related: Buying a car from a private seller - paperwork explained
Outstanding traffic fines
As one may have noticed in the past, traffic fines are issued to the registered owner of a vehicle. This often makes renewing a driver's or vehicle license an expensive affair, as these outstanding fines must be settled before a new license can be issued. This can cause issues regarding the change of ownership as well.
Too often, one hears of people being denied license renewals because a vehicle they sold in the months leading up to the renewal hasn't been transferred into the new owner's name. The failure of the buyer to do so can result in penalties and arrears being accrued and allocated to the former owner, as the vehicle is still on the previous owner's name.
This can be avoided if the seller submits an NCO (Notice of Change of Ownership) with the registering authority. The vehicle will be listed as having been sold, and the department will wait for the buyer to register the vehicle in their name.
A vehicle can be sold with outstanding traffic fines, but this must be declared at the time of sale as the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) protects the buyer. The buyer will be required to settle the outstanding amounts before they can register the vehicle, so it's best to declare this at the point of sale and adjust the price of the vehicle accordingly.
