Selling a car in Queensland: safety certificates and transfer

To sell a registered car privately in Queensland, you need a current safety certificate before the registration can transfer to the buyer, but not to advertise it. Cars traded to licensed motor dealers are exempt. You start the transfer within 14 days at no cost to you, and the buyer pays the transfer fee and vehicle registration duty.

The rules and fees below come from Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) pages, checked on 13 October 2026. Selling a car registered somewhere else? Our guide to selling a car in Australia covers every state and territory.

The Queensland seller’s checklist

Who buys the car changes your workload more than anything else. Here’s the whole job side by side.

Do you need a safety certificate to sell your car?

Yes, if a private buyer is taking over a registered car. TMR says a safety certificate is needed when a registration is transferred to a new owner. It isn’t needed to list the car: TMR says a certificate is no longer required before offering a registered vehicle for sale.

Only approved inspection stations can issue one. The inspection covers basic safety standards for parts including tyres, brakes, steering, suspension, body rust or damage, the windscreen and lights. As at October 2026, the fee for a motor vehicle up to 4,500 kg is $102.70, the rate that applied from 1 July 2026.

You can give the buyer the certificate in any of these forms:

• the original of a handwritten certificate
• a digital copy of an electronic certificate
• the certificate number of an electronic certificate.

A single certificate covers one transfer only. If the sale falls through and another buyer comes along later, check the certificate is still current. TMR warns that you may be fined over $700 (as at October 2026) for failing to obtain and give a current safety certificate.

You don’t need one if the car meets one of TMR’s exemptions. The examples on TMR’s safety certificate page include:

• the car is unregistered
• the car is traded to, or between, licensed motor dealers
• the car was garaged in an exempt area at the time of sale
• the car goes to a beneficiary of a deceased estate
• the transfer is between spouses, including separated married couples and registered partners (until the divorce or the application to end the relationship is finalised).

If you think another exemption might fit your sale, check with TMR before you skip the inspection.

How long does a safety certificate last?

For a private seller, a certificate is valid for 2 months or 2,000 km, whichever comes first. When a licensed motor dealer sells a car, it’s 3 months or 1,000 km. Timing your inspection well saves paying for a second one.

Here’s a hypothetical example. Your certificate is issued on 10 November with the odometer reading 42,000 km. It lapses on 10 January or at 44,000 km, whichever arrives first. If you’re still using the car every day, a long commute could use up the kilometres before the 2 months are out.

A sensible order for a private sale:

1. Advertise the car without a certificate, saying when you’ll have one.
2. Book the inspection once a serious buyer is lined up, or once your ad is getting strong interest.
3. If the car doesn’t pass, fix what the inspection station lists and have it checked again before the handover date.
4. Hand the certificate, a copy or its number to the buyer on the day of sale.

Do you need one if you sell to a dealer?

Usually not. TMR’s wording is that vehicles “traded to, or between, licensed motor dealers do not need a safety certificate”. TMR’s own advice for sellers puts it plainly: “The easiest way to sell your vehicle is to a licensed motor dealer”.

The exemption is written for licensed motor dealers, and TMR’s page doesn’t say whether a dealer licensed in another state counts. We hold a NSW motor dealer licence (MD 077404). Usually no safety certificate is needed when you sell to us, but rules differ by state, so rather than assume, we confirm what applies to your Queensland car on the call. Our guide on whether you need a roadworthy to sell to a dealer compares the same rule across every state.

Whoever the buyer is, don’t let the car or the keys go until you’ve confirmed the payment has cleared in your account.

How do you transfer the rego as the seller?

You start it, and you have 14 days. TMR says that after you sell your vehicle, you must transfer the registration within 14 days. There are two ways to do it.

Online, in two steps

TMR’s online transfer service splits the job in two. You transfer the registration out of your name first. The buyer then finalises it and pays any fees and duty. TMR says there are no fees payable when you use the online service as a seller.

Have these ready before you start:

• your details and the buyer’s driver licence number, name and email address
• the date of sale
• the dutiable value, which is the higher of the price paid or the car’s market value
• the odometer reading
• a current safety certificate recorded with TMR.

Electronic certificates are recorded automatically. If yours is handwritten, TMR says you’ll need to have it recorded at a transport and motoring service centre before you can transfer online.

These are the exclusions sellers most often meet. You can’t use it if:

• the car has personalised or customised plates attached
• it’s registered in the name of an organisation with an Australian Company Number (ACN)
• it’s being transferred to more than one person, or to an organisation
• you’re claiming a safety certificate exemption for it
• it’s fitted with a gas fuel system or other gas system
• it’s conditionally registered.

One more check before you list: if the car is subject to State Penalties Enforcement Registry (SPER) enforcement action, TMR says the registration can’t be transferred until the enforcement action ends.

On paper, with form F3520

If you can’t transfer online, or would rather not, use TMR’s paper vehicle registration transfer application (F3520). On the day of sale you complete the seller’s copy, Part B, and the buyer signs it. TMR’s in-person transfer page recommends keeping Part B until the registration is out of your name. If the buyer said they would lodge the transfer and you believe they haven’t, TMR recommends lodging Part B yourself in person, or online if you’re eligible, with a copy of the safety certificate.

Don’t skip that. TMR warns that you may be held accountable for offences committed by the buyer until the transfer is finalised.

A sale to a dealer usually rules out the online seller service, because it excludes transfers to an organisation and sales where you’re claiming a safety certificate exemption. Ask the dealer what you need to sign. When you sell to us, we prepare the sale paperwork and help with the transfer of ownership, and walk you through your side of it.

What about personalised plates and gas certificates?

Both need sorting before the sale, and either one can rule out the online transfer.

Personalised plates. Decide whether they stay with you or go with the car:

• Keep them. Apply to TMR to remove them (form F2964) and pay the standard plate fee. You’ll receive standard plates for the car you’re selling, and TMR says they must be attached within 1 day of receiving them.
• Sell them with the car. You and the buyer both sign form F2963. The buyer brings it to a service centre with the transfer documents and pays the number plate transfer fee unless an exemption applies.

Mention the plates in your ad, or on the first call with a dealer, so everyone knows what the price includes. Our guide to keeping personalised number plates when selling covers the timing in other states too.

Gas-fuelled cars. TMR says a car with a gas fuel system or other gas system needs a gas certificate from an authorised gas installer, issued no more than 3 months before the registration is transferred. Plan on the paper form too, since the online service excludes cars fitted with a gas system.

Linkt, toll tags and direct debits

TMR’s advice to sellers is to remove any toll tags and update your details with Linkt, the toll payment provider. It also says to take the registration off your direct debit so a payment isn’t deducted after the sale. TMR adds that you remain liable for any tolls and fines for a vehicle registered in your name.

Do these on the day the car leaves:

• Take the tag off the windscreen. A tag left in the glovebox is still your tag.
• Log in to your Linkt account and remove the sold car. Linkt says a car stays on your account until you remove it, and you may keep being charged its tolls.
• Take the rego off direct debit so the next renewal doesn’t come out of your account.
• Keep your comprehensive insurance until the car is actually collected, then cancel it or move it to your next car.

Compulsory third party (CTP) insurance is bundled into your Queensland rego. If a toll notice or camera fine arrives for a date after the sale, our guide to a fine or toll for a car you sold explains what to do next.

What does the buyer pay, and how does engine type change it?

The buyer pays both government charges. As at October 2026, the transfer fee is $33.65. Vehicle registration duty is charged on the higher of the price paid or the car’s market value, at a rate that depends on what powers the car. These are TMR’s rates for light vehicles up to 4.5 tonnes, charged for each $100 or part of $100:

TMR’s table puts hybrids at the lower rate whatever the number of cylinders.

Here’s a worked example with hypothetical numbers. A private buyer agrees to pay $36,000 for your car, in line with its market value. That’s 360 lots of $100, so their bill to TMR looks like this:

You pay none of it. It still affects you, because a private buyer who knows the on-road cost may factor it into the offer. Selling a hybrid? Its lower duty rate is a fair point to mention in your ad.

A sale to a dealer works differently. TMR says duty does not apply to transfers of a vehicle to a vehicle dealer if the vehicle is acquired as trading stock. The transfer and inspection fees in this guide are the ones that applied from 1 July 2026, so check TMR’s current figures before you quote one to a buyer.

Private buyer or dealer: what suits your Queensland car?

Sell privately and every row of the checklist is yours: the inspection, the timing, the paperwork, getting paid safely and chasing a buyer who doesn’t finish the transfer. Sell to a licensed dealer and you’re usually left with your plates, your toll account and your direct debit.

That’s how it works with us. Sell Your Car Australia is run by Autohaus Australia Pty Ltd (NSW motor dealer licence MD 077404), and our valuer has priced cars since 1992 and supplies dealerships nationwide. 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 buy cars, utes, SUVs and 4WDs 2021 or newer with 100,000 km or less, and arrange collection anywhere in Australia, from the Gold Coast to Far North Queensland. 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 Brisbane page or our Townsville page, or call 1800 73 55 73 for a free, no-obligation valuation.