Selling a car in South Australia: disposal notices and rego

In South Australia you lodge a free notice of disposal with Service SA within 14 days of selling your car, and the driver’s handbook makes clear this is now a legal requirement. If the buyer is from SA you can lodge it online through mySAGOV, but if the buyer is interstate, including an interstate dealer, you have to use the paper form.

What the notice doesn’t do is transfer the registration. Until an SA buyer completes the transfer, the car stays in your name. This guide covers both points, then roadworthies, special plates, CTP and what the buyer pays. Selling somewhere else? Our guide to selling a car in Australia covers every state and territory.

What does an SA seller have to do?

Who’s buying changes how you lodge the notice and what Service SA records afterwards. Here’s the whole job side by side.

Whoever buys, the order of jobs is much the same:

1. Before you sell: decide about special plates, find the logbook and spare keys, and get a payout figure if there’s finance owing. Our checklist of documents you need to sell a car has the full list.
2. On the day: check the money has actually landed in your account before the keys change hands. An email saying a payment is on its way isn’t the same thing.
3. The same day, or close to it: lodge your notice of disposal and keep a copy.
4. Within 14 days: an SA buyer applies to transfer the rego. If they leave it later, they pay a late transfer fee.

How do you lodge the notice of disposal, and by when?

You have 14 days from the sale, and lodging it is free. If the buyer is from SA, you can do it online through mySAGOV. Service SA says to use mySAGOV in a web browser, not the app.

For an interstate buyer, the paper form is the only option. The SA driver’s handbook says the disposal notice is on the back of your registration certificate and should also be signed by the buyer. You lodge it at a Service SA customer service centre or post it to Service SA, GPO Box 1533, Adelaide SA 5001. If you can’t find your certificate, ask Service SA for the paper form before the sale.

Whichever way you lodge, it helps to have these to hand before you start:

• your own details as they appear on the registration
• the buyer’s full name and address, or the business name if a dealer is buying
• the car’s registration number
• the date and time of the sale, and the price

Don’t treat the 14 days as a target. The notice is what tells Service SA the car has left your hands. Lodging it the day you sell keeps the gap between the sale and your record of it as short as possible.

Keep a copy once it’s lodged, along with your bill of sale. Service SA’s disposal notice page explains both the online and paper options and the current rules.

Why doesn’t the notice take the car out of your name?

Because in SA the notice and the transfer are two separate jobs done by two different people. You tell Service SA you’ve sold the car. The buyer then applies to transfer the registration into their own name, and they have 14 days to do it. Service SA puts it plainly: with an SA buyer, “the vehicle remains in your name until they complete the transfer”.

So what does the notice actually do for you? According to Service SA:

• It may protect you from the buyer’s offences. If the buyer racks up fines in the gap before the transfer, your notice is your record that you’d already sold it.
• It stops your rego direct debit. You won’t keep paying registration on a car you’ve sold.

The gap between your notice and the buyer’s transfer is where problems come from. A buyer who never gets around to transferring leaves the car in your name.

You can’t force the buyer to transfer, but you can make the gap less risky. Write down the buyer’s name and address as they appear on their licence, keep your copy of the notice, and keep the bill of sale. If a fine or notice turns up for a date after the sale, those papers are your evidence. Contact Service SA and the agency that issued it.

What if the buyer is interstate?

Then you can’t lodge online. Service SA says the notice can’t go through mySAGOV if the buyer is from interstate, or if the car is written off or has gone to a wrecking yard. In those cases you use the paper notice of disposal instead. That includes selling to a dealer based in another state.

What Service SA records is different too. With no SA buyer to take over the registration, Service SA keeps you recorded as the last registered owner in SA.

The 14-day deadline doesn’t change because the form is on paper. Fill it in at the handover, while you have the buyer’s details in front of you, get the buyer’s signature on it, and take it to a Service SA centre or post it straight away. Our guide to selling your car to an interstate buyer covers what else changes when the buyer is in another state.

When the interstate dealer is us

We’re a NSW-licensed motor dealer (MD 077404), so selling your SA car to us means the paper form. Here’s how a sale to us runs:

1. The offer. You get a genuine offer by phone from a licensed dealer, not an online estimate.
2. The deposit. Once you accept, a deposit is often paid the same day.
3. The inspection. It happens after you accept, at a time and place that suits you.
4. The balance. It’s paid into your bank account. If there’s finance, we pay out your lender directly, then pay you any equity.
5. The paperwork. We prepare the sale paperwork and help you fill in the paper notice of disposal at pickup.
6. Collection. The car is collected only after you confirm the funds have cleared.

Your part is making sure the notice reaches Service SA within the 14 days. We’ll make sure it’s filled in correctly.

Do you need a roadworthy to sell a car in SA?

Usually not. South Australia doesn’t ask for a roadworthy certificate to transfer a registered car, whether you sell privately or to a dealer. That sets SA apart from Victoria and Queensland, where a private seller generally has to give the buyer a roadworthy or safety certificate.

Service SA’s transfer rules do mention a change-of-ownership inspection, but for some heavy vehicles and trailers, not an ordinary registered car. If you’re also selling a trailer or a heavy vehicle, check Service SA’s transfer page first. And if the buyer is interstate, their own state decides what they need to register the car there.

A buyer may still ask for their own pre-purchase inspection. That’s their choice, not part of the SA transfer. When you sell to us, we confirm on the call what applies to your car. Our guide to whether you need a roadworthy to sell to a dealer compares every state.

How do you keep your special or personalised plates?

Do it before you sell. Service SA says to get new standard plates at a Service SA customer service centre before the sale. As at October 2026 that costs $68. If you then want the special plate on another car you own, there’s a further $33 reallocation fee.

A hypothetical example. You’re selling and want your personalised plate on your next car. You pay $68 for standard plates before the sale, then $33 to move the special plate onto your next car. That’s $101 as at October 2026, and you pay it, not the buyer.

If the car wears special plates, tell the buyer early. If you’re selling to us, mention it on the call so the swap happens before collection. Our guide to keeping personalised number plates covers the rules in every state.

What happens to your CTP, direct debit and insurance?

• CTP. In SA, your registration fee includes CTP insurance. When the rego transfers, the current CTP insurer passes to the new owner, who takes over the remaining rego and CTP.
• Direct debit. Lodging the notice of disposal stops your rego direct debit. Check your next bank statement to be sure.
• Your own car insurance. Service SA says to check with your insurer about cancelling it. Keep it running until the car has actually left your hands, then cancel it or move it to your next car.

What does the buyer pay in SA?

The buyer pays a $33 transfer fee plus stamp duty, as at October 2026. If they transfer after the 14 days, a $108 late transfer fee applies, according to Service SA’s transfer page. These apply when an SA buyer transfers the registration.

RevenueSA works out stamp duty on the price paid or the car’s market value, whichever is higher. These are its rates for a non-commercial vehicle, as at October 2026:

Commercial vehicles top out at $3 per $100. RevenueSA’s rates page has the details.

A hypothetical example. Say an SA buyer pays $40,000 for a non-commercial car, and that’s also its market value. The amount over $3,000 is $37,000, which is 370 lots of $100 at $4, or $1,480. Add the $60 base and the duty is $1,540. With the $33 transfer fee, the buyer needs $1,573 on top of the price. If they transfer late, add $108.

If a buyer asks you to write a lower price on the bill of sale to cut their duty, say no. Duty is charged on the price or the market value, whichever is higher, so a lower figure on paper doesn’t lower the duty owed. Put the price actually paid on the bill of sale.

Private buyer or dealer: which suits your SA sale?

A private sale to an SA buyer means an easy online notice, but the car stays in your name until the buyer transfers, and you handle the ads, test drives and payment checks. Selling to an interstate dealer means the paper form, but no ads or test drives.

We buy cars, utes, SUVs and 4WDs 2021 or newer with 100,000 km or less. If yours is older or has done more kilometres, send it through anyway and we’ll tell you straight away if we can help. You get a genuine offer by phone from a licensed dealer, and once you accept, a deposit is often paid the same day. The inspection happens after you accept, at a time and place that suits you, then the balance is paid into your bank account, and the car is collected only after you confirm the funds have cleared. Usually no roadworthy is needed when you sell to us, and we confirm what applies on the call. We prepare the sale paperwork, help with the transfer of ownership and make sure your notice of disposal is filled in correctly.

“I was paid before Autohaus took possession of my car, which from my experience normally doesn’t happen.” Spiros.

We arrange collection anywhere in Australia, from Adelaide to Mount Gambier. Read more about selling your car in South Australia, or call 1800 73 55 73 for a free valuation with no obligation and no fees taken out of the offer.