Keeping personalised plates when selling a car: every state

Yes, you can keep your personalised plates when you sell your car, as long as you sort them out before the sale. In every state and territory the idea is the same: the car you’re selling leaves on standard plates (or another plate you own), and the personalised ones stay with you for your next car.

Leave them on and they usually go with the car: depending on the state, the buyer either gets the rights to the number or applies to transfer them. The rules below were checked against each state’s official pages in October 2026. For everything else a seller has to do, see our guide to selling a car in Australia.

Why do plates have to be sorted before the sale?

Because in some states what you hold isn’t the metal itself: it’s the right to display the number. The Northern Territory says all plates belong to its Motor Vehicle Registry, and VicRoads says plates remain the property of the State. Plates still fitted to the car when it changes hands generally go with it, and the buyer then gets the number or can apply for it.

Three practical reasons to act early:

• The swap happens while the car is yours. In Queensland, a registered operator of the car signs the form to remove personalised plates. In the ACT, you swap plates between two cars you’re the registered operator of.
• Several states say “before” in plain words. Victoria, South Australia, WA and Tasmania all tell sellers to deal with special plates before the sale.
• It changes what the buyer gets. A buyer who saw personalised plates in your photos and gets standard ones at handover has a reason to reopen the price.

What are your options in each state?

NSW: three options for special plates

Service NSW gives sellers of a car with personalised or special plates three choices:

1. Replace them with a set of general plates on the car you’re selling, and keep the special plates yourself.
2. Exchange them with another vehicle registered in your name.
3. Include them in the sale, and tell the buyer about the plate transfer fee, any ongoing fees and any conditions that apply.

Moving plates from one vehicle to another is done in person at a Service NSW centre, on the Exchange/Transfer Number Plates form. A fee may apply, and an additional pro-rata annual fee may be needed depending on the registration expiry dates. A plate transfer doesn’t transfer the registration or change the registered operator.

If you don’t want to keep special plates, Service NSW says plates removed from a vehicle must be returned to a service centre, so don’t leave unwanted plates in the garage. The Service NSW selling guide sets out all three options, and our guide to selling a car in NSW covers the notice of disposal and the rest of the paperwork.

Victoria: custom plate rights go with the car unless you move them

Victoria has the rule most likely to catch you out. VicRoads presumes that when a car carrying custom plates is sold, the buyer acquires the rights to that number, unless the rights are transferred separately.

To keep the number, VicRoads’ guidance is to remove the custom plates and transfer or store them before the sale. Leave it until after the sale and the presumption works against you. Check the current steps and fees with VicRoads before you advertise.

If the buyer lives interstate, VicRoads recommends cancelling the rego and removing the plates. Deal with custom plates at the same time.

Queensland: form F2964 to keep, form F2963 to sell

Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) uses one form for each choice.

• To keep the plates, lodge a remove and/or attach personalised/customised number plates application (form F2964) and pay the standard plate fee ($36.25 as at October 2026). The form must be signed by one registered operator of the vehicle and all the plate owners. You’ll receive a set of standard plates, and TMR says you must attach them within 1 day of receiving them.
• To sell them with the car, the buyer brings a personalised number plate/s transfer application (form F2963) to a transport and motoring customer service centre. All sellers and buyers sign it, and the buyer pays the plate transfer fee.

Watch the signatures. Personalised plates are sometimes bought as a gift, so they may be in someone else’s name, such as a partner or parent. If so, that person signs the F2964 too.

TMR’s fee schedule lists the personalised number plate transfer fee at $122.10 from 1 July 2026. That’s on top of the buyer’s $33.65 rego transfer fee and their duty (as at October 2026), so tell a buyer before they commit. TMR’s personalised plates page has both forms.

WA: exchange optional plates before you sell

WA calls them optional plates. The Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure (DTMI) is clear: if you want to keep them, you must exchange them at a DTMI service centre or regional agent before selling the vehicle. Take the plates and your current vehicle licence documents. DTMI also says that if you’re not selling the plates with the car, you return them and buy a set of ordinary plates for the vehicle before you sell.

If the plates go with the car, the buyer has work to do. The WA Government says optional plates aren’t automatically transferred as part of a vehicle licence transfer. A form transferring the right to display them has to be completed within 14 days of the sale. The buyer fills it in too and pays the transfer fee. On your side, a sale involving optional plates can’t go through DoTDirect: it’s notified on the paper MR9 form, and you can consent to the plate transfer on that form.

A buyer outside WA changes the picture. A WA vehicle licence can’t be transferred to someone who isn’t a WA resident, so the plates go back to DTMI before the sale. Sort out optional plates first. Our guide to selling a car in WA covers the 7-day notification and interstate sales.

SA, Tasmania, the ACT and the NT

South Australia

Service SA says that to keep special plates, you get new standard plates at a Service SA centre before you sell. As at October 2026 that costs $68. Putting the special plate on another vehicle you own later costs a further $33 reallocation fee, so keeping the number for your next car comes to $101 in those two Service SA fees.

Tasmania

If personalised TasPlates are on the car when it sells, ownership of the plates has to be transferred to the buyer. To keep them, swap them for standard plates before the sale. Transport Tasmania’s selling checklist also asks you to check whether any plates need returning or transferring, including bike rack plates.

The ACT

Access Canberra says numberplates must be left on the vehicle if you sell it with current ACT registration, so you can’t just take them off at handover. It offers two ways to keep a number.

• Swap with another car. If you have 2 vehicles with current rego and you’re the registered operator of both, you can swap plates between them, so the car you’re selling leaves on the other car’s plates. You need both sets of plates at the time, you swap them over straight away, and a fee applies.
• Store them. You can store plates to keep the rights to the number for between 2 months and 5 years, for a fee. If storage runs out and you haven’t renewed it or put the plates on a registerable vehicle, you lose the rights and the number may become available for someone else to buy.

If you don’t have a second ACT-registered car, ask Access Canberra how to get other plates for the car you’re selling before you agree a sale.

The Northern Territory

The NT Government says all plates, general and personalised, belong to the Motor Vehicle Registry. What you hold is the right to display them, and that right can be transferred. You can sell the car with the plates attached so the right goes to the buyer, keep the plates for another vehicle you own, or swap them. Decide before you agree a price.

Selling the plates with the car: what to tell the buyer

Sometimes a buyer asks for the plates, or you’d rather skip the swap. That’s fine, but make it part of the deal, in writing. You don’t have to include them just because a buyer asks.

If the plates are going with the car:

• Say whether they’re included in the price. Put it in the ad and on the receipt. Our guide to what a bill of sale should include covers the rest of the receipt.
• Tell the buyer about the fees. Service NSW asks sellers to mention the plate transfer fee, any ongoing fees and any conditions, and tells buyers they take on the rights, responsibilities and annual fees that go with transferred plates. In Queensland and WA, the buyer pays a plate transfer fee on top of the rego transfer.
• Tell the buyer about the paperwork. In Queensland and WA the buyer applies to take the plates over. Queensland’s F2963 needs every seller’s signature too, and in WA you both fill in the right-to-display form and you can consent to the transfer on the MR9.

If you’re keeping the plates, say so in the ad, especially if your photos show them.

What happens to standard plates when you sell?

Usually nothing. Service NSW says standard plates stay with the car, and Access Canberra says plates must stay on a car sold with current ACT rego. If you’re unsure about your state, check with your transport authority. The exceptions are mostly about the buyer’s address or the car’s rego.

• Selling a WA car interstate. The plates go back to DTMI before the sale. Only the WA owner can get a refund of the remaining licence period, and only if the plates are returned before the sale.
• Selling a Victorian car interstate. VicRoads recommends cancelling the rego and removing the plates.
• Selling an ACT car interstate. With current ACT rego, the plates stay on. Access Canberra says the buyer can surrender them in their home state or territory when they register the car.
• Selling without rego. In the ACT you cancel the rego and surrender the plates at a service centre. In the NT you can choose to sell the car unregistered and check whether a rego refund is available.

Whatever happens to the metal, your plate number is probably still on your toll account, parking apps and building access. Our guide on what to do after selling your car covers clearing them.

A plate timeline for sellers

Keeping your plates and selling to us

If you’re keeping your plates, the order is simple: decide, swap, then sell. Sell privately and you also handle the buyer’s expectations, the fees conversation and the receipt.

When you sell to us, mention personalised plates on the valuation call, so any swap is done before the car is collected. We’re a NSW-licensed dealer buying across Australia, so your state’s rules for interstate buyers can come into it. In WA, for example, a vehicle licence usually can’t move to an interstate buyer, and in that case the plates go back to DTMI first. We’ll explain the steps for your state, including what happens to your plates, before pickup.

Sell Your Car Australia is run by Autohaus Australia Pty Ltd, NSW licensed motor dealer MD 077404. You get a genuine offer by phone from a licensed dealer, not an online estimate, and a deposit often the same day. The inspection happens after you accept, the balance goes into your bank account, and the car is collected only after you confirm the funds have cleared. We prepare the sale paperwork and help with the transfer of ownership.

We buy cars, utes, SUVs and 4WDs 2021 or newer with 100,000 km or less. Older or higher kilometres? Send it through anyway and we’ll tell you straight away if we can help. The valuation is free, with no obligation and no fees taken out of the offer. Start with a free valuation, or call 1800 73 55 73.