How to Tell the DVLA You've Sold Your Car: 2026 UK Guide

The good news: in most cases, the whole process takes less than 5 minutes online.

This guide covers every scenario — selling privately, to a dealer, online, abroad, without a V5C, and the often-overlooked situations where the car is still on finance or coming off a lease.

Quick answer

To tell the DVLA you've sold your car, use the official online service at gov.uk/sold-bought-vehicle. You'll need your car's registration number, the 11-digit V5C reference number from your logbook, and the new keeper's full name and address. Submit the form, give the buyer the green V5C/2 slip, and destroy the rest of the logbook. The DVLA updates ownership immediately and any unused road tax is refunded automatically.

Why you must tell the DVLA immediately

Until the DVLA updates its records, you remain the registered keeper in the eyes of the law. That means:

• Parking charge notices, speeding fines, bus lane fines and red-route penalties keep coming to your address
• ULEZ, Clean Air Zone and Dart Charge penalties remain your responsibility
• Your road tax keeps running (and any direct debit keeps collecting) until ownership is transferred
• You miss out on a refund of any unused full months of road tax
• You can be fined up to £1,000 for failing to notify the DVLA

The registered keeper is who the DVLA contacts. The owner is whoever paid for the car. They're not always the same person — but DVLA records always trump receipts when enforcement is involved.

Tell the DVLA on the same day the buyer drives off. Not next week. Not when you remember. Same day.

How to tell the DVLA you sold your car (the 3 methods)

There are three routes depending on your situation. Online is the fastest and is used by 95% of sellers.

Method 1 — Online (recommended)

The online service runs from 7am to 7pm, seven days a week at gov.uk/sold-bought-vehicle.

Before you start, have ready:

Step-by-step:

1. Go to gov.uk/sold-bought-vehicle and choose the option that matches who you sold to (private buyer, motor trader, insurance company, scrap yard or exported abroad).
2. Enter your vehicle registration number.
3. Enter the 11-digit V5C document reference number.
4. Enter the new keeper's full name and address (or the dealership name and postcode if selling to a trader — you can pick from a drop-down).
5. Confirm the date of sale and tick the box acknowledging you understand you give up rights to the registration if it's a personal plate.
6. Add your email address to receive instant confirmation.
7. Submit. The DVLA updates ownership immediately and you'll see a confirmation screen.

Then: hand the buyer the green V5C/2 "new keeper supplement" slip and destroy the rest of the logbook. They'll receive their own V5C in the post within 4 weeks.

Method 2 — By post

Posting in the V5C is slower (up to two weeks for processing) but unavoidable in a few situations — exporting the car abroad, selling without a V5C, or if the online service rejects your submission.

To sell privately by post:

1. Complete Section 2 of the V5C (Selling or transferring my vehicle to a new keeper). Fill in the new keeper's full name, address, and the date of sale. Optional: add the mileage and the buyer's driving licence number.
2. Both you and the buyer sign Section 8.
3. Tear off the green V5C/2 new keeper supplement and give it to the buyer.
4. Post the rest of the V5C to:

DVLA Swansea SA99 1BA

To sell to a motor trader by post:

Complete Section 9 of the V5C ("Selling, transferring or part-exchanging this vehicle to a motor trader, insurer or dismantler"). Detach Section 9 and post it to the address above. Hand the rest of the logbook to the dealer.

You'll receive written confirmation by post within 4 weeks. If you haven't received anything by then, contact DVLA on 0300 790 6802.

Method 3 — Without a V5C logbook

If your logbook is lost, stolen or never arrived, you can still tell the DVLA. You can't use the online service without the 11-digit V5C reference, so you'll need to write to them.

Send a letter including:

• Vehicle registration number
• Make and model
• Date of sale
• Your full name and address
• The new keeper's full name and address

Post it to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BA.

The buyer should apply for a replacement V5C using form V62 (currently £25). Some buyers will refuse to complete the sale without a logbook, so it's worth applying for a replacement before listing the car.

What goes to the buyer? Decoding the V5C

A common cause of confusion. The V5C logbook has several sections:

The green V5C/2 slip is the only thing the buyer needs to tax the car immediately and apply for a full V5C in their name.

Selling to a dealer vs private vs online buyer

The notification process is broadly the same, but there are differences worth knowing.

Whoever you sell to, never assume. Always notify the DVLA yourself unless you have written confirmation that the buyer has done so on the day of the sale.

What if your car is still on finance?

This is where many guides stop being useful. If your car is on PCP, HP, conditional sale or a lease, you don't fully own it — and you can't legally sell it until the finance is cleared.

PCP and HP

The finance company has financial interest until the final payment. To sell:

1. Request a settlement figure from the lender (valid for 10–28 days).
2. Compare it to the buyer's offer or the trade-in value.
3. Either pay the settlement yourself before selling, or arrange for the buyer/dealer to pay the lender directly.
4. Once the finance is cleared, the lender removes their interest from the HPI register and you can transfer ownership normally.

You then notify the DVLA in the standard way — the lender doesn't do this for you on PCP/HP cars where you're the registered keeper.

Personal lease (PCH)

You never own a leased car — the funder does. You can't sell a leased car. At the end of the contract, you simply hand it back to the leasing company, who handles the DVLA notification themselves. There's no V5C admin to worry about.

If you want to end a lease early, contact your broker — early termination charges apply, but it's not a sale.

Voluntary termination (VT)

Under Section 99 of the Consumer Credit Act, you can hand back a PCP or HP car once you've paid 50% of the total finance amount (including interest and fees). The lender takes the car back; you notify the DVLA in the same way as a sale, with the lender as the new keeper.

Selling with a personalised number plate

If your car has a private or personalised registration you want to keep, transfer it off the car before you sell. Once you've notified the DVLA of the sale, the plate goes with the car.

To retain a plate:

1. Apply on form V317 at gov.uk/keep-registration-number, or online (£80 fee, includes 10-year retention certificate).
2. The DVLA issues a V778 retention certificate in your name.
3. The car receives its original "age-related" registration back.
4. You can then sell the car or assign the saved plate to another vehicle within 10 years (renewable for free).

Many sellers forget this step until after the sale — at which point the plate is gone. Apply at least a week before completion to be safe.

Selling your car abroad (permanent export)

If the buyer is taking the car out of the UK for more than 12 months, this counts as permanent export. You can only do this by post.

1. Complete Section 5 of the V5C (Permanent export).
2. Tear off the V5C/4 export slip and post it to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BD.
3. Give the rest of the V5C to the buyer so they can register the car in the destination country.

Include a covering letter with the buyer's name, address abroad, and country of export.

Road tax refunds: how they actually work

When you tell the DVLA you've sold the car, road tax cancellation happens automatically. You don't need to do anything separately.

You'll get a refund for any complete unused months remaining. Part-months don't count — sell on the 2nd of the month and you'll only get the full months from the next month onwards.

The refund:

• Is sent by cheque to the registered keeper's address (or back to the original payment card if you paid by debit/credit card recently)
• Takes up to 6 weeks but often arrives in 2–3 weeks
• Cancels any direct debit on the day the DVLA processes the notification

If you paid by direct debit, double-check your bank account a week later to make sure the next payment hasn't gone out by mistake.

How to check the DVLA has actually updated records

Don't take "I told them" on faith. Verify:

1. Go to gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax.
2. Enter the registration.
3. The DVLA's record will show whether the vehicle is still taxed in your name. After a successful transfer, the tax will read "Untaxed" (until the new keeper taxes it).
4. You should also receive an email confirmation within minutes if you used the online service, and a letter confirming you're no longer the registered keeper within 4 weeks.

If neither arrives, ring DVLA on 0300 790 6802 before assuming it went through.

What to do if you sold months ago and never told the DVLA

It happens. If you've realised the DVLA still thinks you own a car you sold ages ago:

1. Write to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BA as soon as possible.
2. Include the registration number, make/model, date of sale, your details, and as much information as you have about the buyer (name, address, even partial details help).
3. If you've received fines or penalty notices addressed to you for the car, contest them in writing immediately — citing the sale date and the issuing authority's evidence rules. Don't ignore them; unresolved penalties escalate.
4. Keep copies of everything.

The DVLA can't always fully update records years after the fact (especially if the car has changed hands again), but they can flag you as no longer the registered keeper from your stated sale date.

Don't forget these steps when you sell

Telling the DVLA is one piece. Before you wave the buyer off:

• Cancel your car insurance — you may be due a partial refund. If you're replacing the car immediately, transfer cover instead.
• Cancel breakdown cover if it's vehicle-specific (some are personal and follow you).
• Remove subscriptions — vehicle tracker apps, connected services (BMW ConnectedDrive, Mercedes Me, Audi connect, Tesla account), satnav map updates.
• Cancel any parking permits tied to the registration.
• Wipe personal data — paired phones, saved home address in the satnav, garage door codes.
• Take a photo of the mileage on the day of sale and write a simple receipt with both parties' names, addresses, vehicle details, mileage, sale price and date. Both sign. Both keep a copy.

What happens if you don't tell the DVLA?

The consequences range from annoying to expensive:

• £1,000 fine under the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994
• Continued liability for parking charges, speeding fines, bus lane and red-route penalties, congestion charges, ULEZ, CAZ and Dart Charge — all sent to you and enforced through county court judgments if ignored
• Lost road tax refund for the months remaining
• Continued direct debit collection for tax on a car you don't own
• Difficulty unwinding an unreported sale months or years later

The 60 seconds it takes to fill in the online form is the cheapest insurance you'll buy this year.

Common reasons the DVLA rejects your notification

A handful of issues account for most rejected submissions:

• Wrong V5C reference number — the 11-digit code on the top right of the logbook, not the document number anywhere else
• Logbook already sent by post — once posted, the online service is locked out
• New keeper's address doesn't validate in the DVLA's address database — try the postcode and house number again, or use the manual entry
• Submission outside operating hours — the online service is unavailable from 7pm to 7am
• Vehicle already showing a pending change from a previous attempt

If the online form rejects you, post the V5C in. Don't keep retrying online if it's repeatedly failing — DVLA can flag suspicious activity.

Already thinking about your next car?

Selling privately is admin-heavy by design. Insurance, road tax, V5C transfers, MoT history, finance settlements, plate retention — every step is yours to manage.

Leasing removes nearly all of it. With a personal or business lease through Silverstone Leasing:

• The funder is the registered keeper, not you
• Road tax is included for the life of the contract
• At the end of your term, you simply hand the car back — the funder handles all DVLA notification
• No depreciation risk, no resale stress, no V5C admin

We're an FCA-authorised, BVRLA-registered broker based in Northampton, and we'd be happy to talk you through whether personal leasing or business contract hire is right for your next car.

Browse our latest leasing deals →