Selling privately, to a dealer or to a buyer service

The four ways to sell a car here

Whichever way you choose, the car ends up registered in someone else's name, and the transfer rules are the same. What differs is who finds the buyer, who takes on the risk of the sale, and how much of the work stays with you. The RDW, the Dutch vehicle authority, describes the sale to a private person and the sale to a registered business as separate cases, so they are treated separately below.

• A private sale. You advertise the car, answer questions, show it and agree a price with the buyer yourself.
• A sale to a dealer. The dealer makes an offer, usually after looking at the car, and takes the car themselves.
• A trade-in (inruil, what this meansinruilHanding in your current car as part of the payment for another car from the same business.). The dealer lowers the price of the car you buy from them by the amount they allow for yours.
• A buyer service. A company buys cars from the public, and you ask it for an offer on yours.

What a private sale asks of you

In a private sale you do everything yourself. You write the advertisement and take the photographs, you handle the messages, and you show the car to anyone who wants to see it. You also decide the price, and nobody stands behind it. A buyer can ask for more than you want to give, and you can say no.

The paperwork is shared between you and the buyer. You hand the buyer your registration card and the full registration code, and the buyer registers the car in their own name. Our guide to the RDW transfer covers it, and the documents you need lists what to find beforehand. A private buyer must also be at least 18 years old, have a Dutch address and be entered in the BRP, the Personal Records Database.

Marktplaats and other places to advertise

Marktplaats is the best known Dutch site for advertising a used car. When we checked, the site and its buttons were in Dutch, and we did not find an English language option, so an expat who wants to use it should expect to use a browser translation. Check the live site yourself, because this can change.

Writing the advertisement in English is possible, but the people who read it are mostly on a Dutch site and may answer in Dutch. If you advertise anywhere, state the facts you can check: make, model, year, mileage, the APK expiry date and any damage. A buyer who can look up the registration number in the RDW Kentekencheck will do so. If you would prefer to skip the advertisement altogether, selling without Marktplaats sets out the other routes.

Viewings and test drives

Meet a viewer in a public or well lit place, tell someone where you will be, and keep the keys and the documents with you. Ask to see the viewer's driving licence before a test drive, and check that they are insured to drive. Your own insurance policy sets out who may drive your car, so read it or ask your insurer before you hand over the keys.

Go along on the test drive. Do not leave the registration card or the registration code in the car. Keep them until the sale is agreed.

Getting paid safely

Hand over the car only after two things have happened: the money has reached your account, and you hold the proof of transfer (vrijwaringsbewijs, what this meansvrijwaringsbewijsYour written proof of the change of registration. Hold it before the buyer drives away.). The RDW advises sellers to release the vehicle only once they have that proof. You can check in Mijn RDW, with your DigiD, or in the Kentekencheck that the car is no longer registered to you.

Be careful with payment links and screenshots. A link sent to you in a message and a screenshot of a transfer are not payment. Look in your own banking app. The RDW itself warns about fake text messages that claim to come from the RDW, and says not to click the links or to share your details.

A buyer who offers more than you asked and wants you to send money back, or who cannot meet you, is a warning sign. If you are unsure, do not hand over the car.

Selling to a dealer or trading in

A dealer buys the car to resell it, so its offer allows for its own costs. The ANWB, which publishes the Koerslijst indication of car values, lists them: warranty, making the car ready for sale, the risk of stock and the expected speed of sale. Our guide to what your car is worth explains what that means for the offers you receive.

If you sell to a business that is recognised by the RDW, you give the complete registration documents to its staff and receive the proof of transfer from the business. You can recognise such a business by the RDW sign. A trade-in follows the same logic and has one more factor: the price of the car you buy and the amount allowed for yours are bound together, so ask for both figures to be shown separately.

Using a buyer service

A buyer service gives you an offer for the car, usually after you describe it online, and then arranges the purchase. That removes the advertising, the viewings and the test drives. In return you do not meet several buyers, so if you want to compare you ask other buyers for their offers as well. Our guide to using a car buyer lists the checks worth doing before you agree to anything.

That is how our own service works. You enter the registration number at sellcar.nl, we contact you with an offer, and you decide whether to accept it. It is free and without obligation, and you are welcome to compare it with a dealer or a private sale.

How to choose between them

The routes differ in what they ask of you. A private sale asks the most time and attention, and gives you control over the buyer and the price. A dealer or a buyer service asks less, and you accept or refuse what is offered. A trade-in is convenient when you are buying another car from the same dealer. The right choice depends on how much time you have, how you feel about strangers coming to see the car, and what you need to have finished by a certain date.

If you are leaving the country, the date is the deciding factor. Read selling before you leave before you decide, because a Dutch buyer has to be registered at a Dutch address and you want the sale completed before you deregister.

What you need

• The registration card (kentekencard) and the complete registration code (tenaamstellingscode)
• The report of the latest APK test, if the car has had one
• Photographs of the car, including any damage
• The service book and invoices for work done
• Your insurance policy, to check who may drive the car
• Access to your banking app, to confirm the payment yourself
• The proof of transfer (vrijwaringsbewijs), received before the car leaves