Selling a car in NSW: notice of disposal, pink slips and plates

When you sell a car in NSW, your main legal job is to lodge a free notice of disposal with Service NSW within 14 days, and Service NSW says to do it immediately after the sale. The buyer then transfers the registration and pays the transfer fee and any stamp duty, while you look after the plates, e-tag and receipt that protect you once the car has gone.

This guide takes those steps in the order you’ll meet them, including the part most guides skip: what changes when the buyer is a licensed motor dealer. Every rule below was checked against Service NSW, NSW Government and Revenue NSW pages on 13 October 2026. If your car is registered in another state, the rules differ, and our guide to selling a car in Australia covers each one.

The NSW seller’s checklist at a glance

The rest of this guide explains each row.

When should you lodge the notice of disposal?

Straight away. The NSW Government gives you 14 days from the date of sale and charges nothing to lodge, but a late lodgement fee may apply if you miss the deadline. Service NSW asks you to submit it immediately after you sell. That way the buyer may be able to transfer the rego online within the required 14 days, and you can’t be held responsible for their parking or driving fines.

The notice records that you’ve sold the car, and the NSW Government says lodging it removes your name from the vehicle’s registration. Until it’s in, the registration still shows you, so tolls and penalties from the new driver’s trips can be sent to you.

Lodging online

You can lodge online through your MyServiceNSW Account if all of these apply:

• you hold a NSW driver licence or Photo Card
• the car isn’t conditionally registered
• the buyer is a person or a NSW motor dealer.

Have these ready before you start:

• your licence or Photo Card details
• the car’s registration details
• the buyer’s NSW licence details, or the dealer’s licence number and registered business name
• the date of sale
• the sale price or the market value, whichever is higher.

Keep a copy once it’s submitted. It’s your proof of when the car stopped being yours.

When you need the paper form

The online form won’t take a sale to a company, an organisation, an interstate buyer, or an interstate motor dealer without a NSW motor dealer licence. In those cases you use the paper form, lodged in person at a service centre or by post to the address on the form. When the buyer is a person or dealership located interstate, Service NSW’s transfer guide says to go to a service centre.

Skipping the notice altogether doesn’t help anyone. Without it, the buyer has to visit a service centre to transfer the rego, and your name stays on the car in the meantime.

Selling to a dealer: whose details go on the notice?

When a NSW-licensed dealer buys your car, you don’t enter a buyer’s driver licence. Service NSW asks for the dealer’s NSW motor dealer licence number and its registered business name. Ask the dealer for both, written exactly as they should appear on the notice, because the name on a website or sign isn’t always the name on the licence. You’ll want them on your receipt too.

Check them before you hand over the keys. Service NSW points sellers to Verify NSW to confirm a motor dealer’s details, and our guide on how to check a car buyer is licensed walks through the lookup. If the licence number and registered name match what the dealer gave you, you know which business is buying your car.

Two situations work differently:

• Consignment. If a dealer sells the car on your behalf, Service NSW says the dealership may submit the notice for you, or you can submit it at a service centre. Either way it’s due within 14 days of the sale.
• Interstate dealers. The online form excludes interstate motor dealers without a NSW motor dealer licence, and Service NSW’s transfer guide sends you to a service centre when the dealership is located interstate. If an online car buyer is based in another state, ask early which licence it holds, so you know which form you’ll need.

In an outright sale to a NSW-licensed dealer, plan on lodging the notice yourself as the seller. It’s a short online form once you have the dealer’s details in hand.

One rule applies whoever the buyer is. The NSW Government says not to sign any document that transfers ownership until you’ve received your payment or trade.

Do you need a pink slip to sell a car in NSW?

Not to transfer a current registration. Service NSW says that if you’re transferring a current NSW registration, you won’t need a safety inspection report (pink slip).

Pink slips belong to rego renewal, not to the sale. Most light vehicles more than five years old need a safety inspection every year before the rego can be renewed. The five years count from the month and year on the compliance plate (the month and year of manufacture for imported vehicles), and a NSW report is valid for six months.

So most cars with a 2021 or later compliance date won’t have needed a pink slip yet. A car with a 2022 or later compliance date hasn’t reached five years. A car with a 2021 compliance date reaches five years during 2026, so depending on when its rego renews, it may already have needed one or will at its next renewal. Either way, the buyer deals with it at renewal. It isn’t a condition of your sale.

If your rego has already lapsed, the current-registration rule no longer covers you. Ask Service NSW what the buyer will need before you advertise.

When you sell to us, a pink slip or roadworthy is usually not needed. Rules differ by state, so we confirm what applies to your car on the call.

What happens to standard and personalised plates?

Standard plates normally stay on the car and go to the buyer with the registration, so there’s usually nothing to do with them.

Personalised and special plates need a decision before the sale. Service NSW gives you three options:

1. Swap them for a set of general plates on the car you’re selling, and keep your personalised plates.
2. Move them to 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.

Plates that come off a car must be returned to a service centre, so don’t leave old ones in the garage. Our guide to keeping personalised number plates when selling covers the timing in more detail. Mention your plates when you first talk to a buyer, so everyone knows what’s included in the price.

Green slip, e-tags and toll accounts

Your CTP green slip transfers automatically to the new owner when the rego does. There’s nothing to cancel.

E-tags are your job. The NSW Government says to remove the e-tag from the vehicle and delete the registration number from your account, so you don’t pick up future bills. Do both on the day the car leaves. A tag left in the glovebox or on the windscreen is still your tag.

Comprehensive insurance is separate from the green slip. Service NSW’s notice of disposal page reminds you to update your insurance after the sale. Keep cover until the car is actually collected, then cancel it or move it to your next car.

What does the buyer pay, and does any of it come out of your price?

The buyer pays both government charges, unless they’re exempt from duty. As at October 2026:

Revenue NSW works out duty on a used car from the sale price or the market value, whichever is higher. Your notice of disposal asks for the same figure.

Here’s a worked example with hypothetical numbers. A private buyer agrees to pay $30,000 for your passenger car, in line with its market value. Duty at $3 per $100 is $900. If they transfer within 14 days, the fee adds $42, so duty and fee come to $942 on top of the price. If they leave it until day 20, the fee rises to $193 and those two charges come to $1,093. You pay none of it either way.

It still matters to you. A private buyer who knows these costs may factor them into their offer, and a buyer who delays the transfer is one more reason to lodge your notice of disposal the day you sell.

When you sell to us, the valuation is free and no fees are taken out of the offer. Fees and rates can change, so check the Revenue NSW motor vehicle duty page for current duty rates, including the $45,000-and-over rate and other vehicle types.

What should your NSW receipt or bill of sale record?

Service NSW says your record of the sale should include:

• the vehicle details: plate number, VIN or chassis number, engine number, colour, and make and model
• the date and time of sale
• the name, address and signature of both the buyer and the seller.

If you sell to a dealer, add its motor dealer licence number and registered business name. Keep the receipt with your copy of the notice of disposal.

Treat the official list as a minimum. It’s sensible to add the sale price, the odometer reading and a line confirming you’ve been paid in full. Our guide to the bill of sale for a car has a full list. The time of sale matters more than people expect: if a toll or camera notice arrives for that day, it shows who had the car.

Rules last checked: sources

These are the official pages behind this guide, all checked on 13 October 2026:

• Service NSW, Submit a notice of disposal for a vehicle: online eligibility, what you need, dealer details, green slip and toll steps
• Service NSW, Selling a vehicle: personalised plates, receipts, dealer details and Verify NSW
• Service NSW, Transfer a vehicle registration: pink slips, the buyer’s 14 days and returned plates
• Service NSW, Transferring a vehicle: consignment and interstate buyers
• NSW Government, Selling a used car: the 14-day deadline, free lodgement and e-tags
• NSW Government, Vehicle registration fees: transfer fees
• NSW Government, Safety checks and vehicle inspections: the five-year pink slip rule
• Revenue NSW, Motor vehicle duty: duty rates (linked above)

Private buyer or dealer: what it means for your paperwork

Sell privately and every step above is yours: checking the buyer, getting paid safely, writing the receipt and following up if the transfer doesn’t happen. Sell to a licensed dealer and your part is mostly checking its licence, lodging the notice of disposal and sorting out your plates and toll account.

That’s how it works with us. Sell Your Car Australia is run by Autohaus Australia Pty Ltd, NSW motor dealer licence MD 077404, so NSW sellers can name us as the buyer on the online notice of disposal. 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, at a time and place that suits you. 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, help with the transfer of ownership and make sure your notice of disposal is done correctly. We buy cars, utes, SUVs and 4WDs 2021 or newer with 100,000 km or less. If yours is older or has more kilometres, send it through anyway and we’ll tell you straight away if we can help. Start on our NSW selling page or our Sydney page, or call 1800 73 55 73.