Won a car? How to sell a prize car
Key takeaways
- Read the prize terms before you accept the car: they decide whether there's a cash alternative, which on-road costs are paid and whose name goes on the rego.
- Keep the winner's letter and the handover paperwork with the rego papers. Together they show a buyer you're entitled to sell the car.
- The ATO says private cars are generally exempt from CGT. If the prize is a ute, came through your work or will be used in a business, ask your accountant.
- A prize car handed over new sits inside our buying range of 2021 or newer with 100,000 km or less. Get a real offer before you decide.
The best way to sell a car you won is to read the prize terms before you take delivery, register the car in the name of whoever will sell it, and keep the prize paperwork as proof it’s yours. Then get a genuine offer from a licensed dealer and weigh it against any cash alternative and the work of a private sale.
In most ways a prize car is easy to sell. It’s usually near-new, there’s no loan on it and the factory warranty often has years to run. The traps sit around it: the gap between the prize value and what buyers pay, a lapsed or missing rego, and tax questions to put to your accountant.
Can you take cash instead of the car?
Sometimes. It depends on the competition’s terms and conditions, which the promoter sets. Some prize terms offer a cash alternative and some say the prize can’t be exchanged for cash. Read them before you accept, because the choice may have to be made then.
If you’re not sure you want the car, put these questions to the promoter by email, so the answers are in writing:
- Is there a cash alternative, and what is the figure?
- Are on-road costs included, such as stamp duty, registration and compulsory third party (CTP) insurance?
- Whose name will the car be registered in, and can it be a different family member?
- Where and when is the car handed over, and is there a deadline to collect it?
- Can the model, variant or colour be changed?
If the car is being handed over at a dealership, you can also ask that dealer whether it would buy the car from you before it’s registered in your name. That’s entirely up to the dealer, and you’d be dealing with a single buyer, so treat any figure as one offer to compare rather than the going rate.
To compare a cash alternative with selling the car, put the cash figure next to a real offer for the same car. From that offer, take off what holding and selling the car would cost you: insurance from the day you take the keys, any rego you pay yourself and the time a sale takes.
What proves the car is yours to sell?
The NSW Government’s advice to private sellers is that you must have proof you are entitled to sell the vehicle. Any careful buyer, in any state, will want to see it. With a car you bought, the purchase invoice does that job. With a prize car, you build the paper trail yourself:
- The letter or email telling you that you’d won, with the prize description.
- The handover paperwork from the dealer or promoter, showing the VIN.
- The registration certificate in your name.
- Photo ID showing the same name and address as the rego.
Keep these together from day one, with the owner’s manual, the service logbook and every key, because a buyer will ask for those too. Register the car in the name of the person who will sell it, so the name on the rego matches the name on the sale paperwork. If the prize came from a shared ticket, agree who the car belongs to before it’s registered. Our guide to selling a car in joint names explains who signs when two people are on the rego.
Run a search on the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) before you list the car. It costs $2 online as at October 2026, and you need the VIN. A car you won and haven’t borrowed against shouldn’t show any money owing. If a security interest does appear, go back to the promoter or the delivering dealer before you sell, because every buyer who checks will see it too. Our guide to the documents needed to sell a car covers the extra forms each state asks for.
Can you sell it new, unregistered or barely driven?
Yes, but the rules change once a car isn’t registered. If your prize car was registered at handover and the rego is current, this part won’t affect you. It matters if the car is handed over unregistered, or if the rego runs out while the car sits unused.
A car that has never been registered is a special case. VicRoads lists brand-new vehicles that have never been registered among its roadworthy certificate exemptions, but a car that has been registered to you no longer fits that description. Queensland’s rule is wider: you can sell any unregistered vehicle there without a safety certificate, whether it’s brand new or the rego has lapsed.
If the rego lapses later, here’s what the transport authorities say.
| State | When it applies | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | Rego expired more than 3 months ago | The car has to be re-registered, which needs a blue slip inspection. |
| QLD | Whenever the car is unregistered | No safety certificate is needed to sell it. The buyer needs one to register it, and moving it on the road needs an unregistered vehicle permit and CTP. |
| WA | Licence expired more than 15 days | The car is deemed unlicensed, and only currently licensed vehicles can be transferred. Ask the Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure what the buyer needs to get it licensed again. |
| TAS | Unregistered for 3 months or more | It must be inspected before it’s registered to the buyer. |
| NT | Unregistered for 12 months or more | A roadworthy inspection is needed. |
| VIC, SA, ACT | Rego lapsed | Check with VicRoads, Service SA or Access Canberra before you list. |
Queensland’s page on selling an unregistered vehicle says to use a contract or receipt. It should include both signatures, the VIN, chassis number or engine number, the make and model and the date of sale.
A car that has barely moved needs a quick check before anyone inspects it. Look at the battery, the tyre pressures and any warning lights, and check the rego expiry date. Our guide to selling an unregistered car goes through each state in more detail. If your prize car isn’t registered, tell us on the call and we’ll tell you straight away whether we can help.
Do you pay tax when you sell a car you won?
We can’t give tax advice, but we can point you to what the ATO says. Its list of CGT assets and exemptions says “Your car or motorcycle is exempt from CGT”, and defines a car as a motor vehicle that carries a load of less than 1 tonne and fewer than 9 passengers. It also says GST is not payable on the disposal of privately owned assets.
So the ATO says private cars are generally exempt from CGT. If the car was used in a business, talk to your accountant about GST. A prize car raises a few extra questions to take to your accountant before you sell:
- How you won. Ask whether the prize itself counts as income. Say if it came through your job, a sales incentive or a promotion you entered through your business.
- What you won. Some dual-cab utes have payloads close to or above 1 tonne, so ask whether yours fits the ATO’s definition of a car.
- How the car is used. If it will be registered to your ABN or used for work before you sell, ask how GST applies to the sale.
If you receive a Centrelink payment, ask Services Australia whether you need to report the prize or the money from the sale. Our guide do I pay tax when I sell my car? covers the ute question and business vehicles in more depth.
Why don’t offers match the prize value?
The prize value in the competition terms is usually a new-car figure. If the prize was described as drive-away, that value includes on-road costs such as stamp duty and registration. Stamp duty in particular isn’t recovered when you sell: it was paid when the car was first registered, and any duty on a later transfer is charged to the buyer.
Once the car is registered to you, it’s sold as a used car, however few kilometres it has done. Buyers compare it with what the same model costs new and with other near-new examples for sale, not with the figure on the prize certificate. In 2016 a national motoring advice column was asked this exact question by a winner who wanted to sell the car back to the dealership before taking delivery. Its answer was that the dealer would have to agree to a buy-back, and that the price would be well under the prize’s stated value.
What does move the price of a near-new car is the same list any buyer checks:
- The exact variant and options, which the prize description should list.
- Kilometres and condition, including the wheels, paint and interior.
- How much factory warranty is left, and whether it passes to the next owner.
- All keys, the owner’s manual and the logbook.
- Any accessories that came with the prize, such as a tow bar or roof racks.
Private sale or dealer: which suits a near-new car?
A private sale can work for a near-new car, but you take on the steps a dealer would otherwise handle.
- Roadworthy. In Victoria, a private seller of a registered car must give the buyer a roadworthy certificate less than 30 days old, even if the car is only months old. In Queensland, a private sale needs a safety certificate when the rego is transferred. The inspection fee Queensland lists for a vehicle up to 4,500 kg GVM is $102.70 as at October 2026, and a private seller’s certificate lasts 2 months or 2,000 km.
- Payment risk. Scamwatch warns about buyers who will pay for an expensive item without seeing it, buyers who send more than the agreed price and ask for the difference back, and payments split across several PayIDs. Don’t sign anything that transfers ownership until the money is in your account.
- Time and strangers. You write the ad, answer the calls and sit through test drives with people you don’t know.
Our guide to the true cost of selling a car privately adds up those costs. When you sell to a licensed dealer, the private-sale roadworthy or safety certificate rule usually doesn’t apply in Victoria and Queensland, and we’ll confirm what applies to your car. In NSW, Service NSW says a pink slip isn’t needed to transfer a current registration.
A prize-car timeline: from the winner’s call to the notice of disposal
| Stage | What to do |
|---|---|
| You’re told you’ve won | Read the terms. Ask about a cash alternative, on-road costs and whose name goes on the rego. |
| Handover | Check the car against the prize description. Collect every key, the manual, the logbook and the handover paperwork. |
| Day one of ownership | Insure the car, and keep the insurance active until the buyer has collected it. |
| Before you list or ask for offers | Run a PPSR search, check the rego expiry date and gather your documents. |
| Offer accepted | Don’t sign the transfer or hand over keys until the money has cleared in your account. |
| After the sale | Notify your state’s transport authority: within 14 days in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, SA and the NT, within 7 days in WA and Tasmania, and as soon as you sell in the ACT. Take out any toll tag. |
Once the car has gone, contact your insurer to cancel the policy or move it to your next car.
Keep it, take the cash or sell it?
If you love the car, keep it. If you don’t, the decision comes down to three numbers: the cash alternative (if there is one), a real offer for the car, and what a private sale would cost you in time, paperwork and risk. Getting the offer early means you’re comparing real figures rather than the prize value.
A prize car handed over new sits inside the range 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. Sell Your Car Australia is run by Autohaus Australia Pty Ltd, NSW licensed motor dealer MD 077404, and our valuer has priced cars since 1992. You get a genuine offer by phone from a licensed dealer, not an online estimate, and a deposit is often paid 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 we collect the car from anywhere in Australia only after you confirm the funds have cleared.
“I was paid before Autohaus took possession of my car, which from my experience normally doesn’t happen.” Spiros.
We prepare the sale paperwork, help with the transfer of ownership and make sure your notice of disposal is done correctly. In most states it’s a quick online form. Ask for a free valuation or call 1800 73 55 73. There’s no obligation and no fees taken out of the offer.
Questions sellers ask
Can I sell a prize car before registering it?
Possibly, but it isn't your decision alone. The prize terms set out how the car is handed over, and buying it back before it's registered to you is up to the delivering dealer, so ask the promoter and the dealer in writing. If you do sell it unregistered, your state's rules apply: Queensland lets you sell an unregistered vehicle without a safety certificate, and VicRoads lists brand-new, never-registered vehicles among its roadworthy exemptions.
What if we won the car on a shared ticket?
Agree in writing who owns the car, and how any sale money will be split, before it's registered. If it's registered in more than one name, plan on every registered owner signing the sale paperwork. Some states also change the form: in WA, a transfer to joint owners, or between spouses or de facto partners, can't be done online through DoTDirect and goes on the paper MR9 form.
Is the prize itself taxable?
We can't give tax advice on the prize itself. Tell your accountant how you won, especially if the prize came through your job, a sales incentive or your business, and ask whether it counts as income. Selling the car is a separate question: the ATO says private cars are generally exempt from CGT, and if the car was used in a business, talk to your accountant about GST.
Does the new-car warranty go to the next owner?
For some brands the manufacturer says so in writing. Kia says the balance of its warranty remains with the vehicle for the new owner, Hyundai says the balance transfers to the new owner, and Isuzu UTE says its warranty can be transferred to subsequent owners. For other brands, check the warranty booklet that came with the car, and keep it with the logbook for the buyer.
