Selling a campervan or motorhome in the Netherlands

The transfer works as it does for a car

A campervan has an ordinary Dutch registration, so its sale runs through the RDW exactly like a car sale. The new owner needs your kentekencard and the complete tenaamstellingscode, the nine digits split over two documents. With those, they put the campervan in their name and pass you the vrijwaringsbewijs, which proves it is no longer yours. Our guide to the RDW transfer explains each part.

Up to that point the register still lists you as the keeper. Road tax, insurance and fines remain your responsibility, whatever you and the buyer agreed. Release the campervan when the payment is visible in your own banking app and the transfer proof is with you.

The APK depends on the weight of the campervan

According to the RDW, a campervan up to 3,500 kg needs an APK on the same schedule as a car of the same fuel type. A heavier campervan falls under the rules for heavy vehicles and is tested every year. You can look up the weight and the date the APK runs out in the RDW Kentekencheck.

A valid APK matters to most buyers, because without one the vehicle may not be driven on a public road. If the APK has expired or the campervan failed it, you can still sell it. Tell the buyer, and read our page on cars without a valid APK for what that means for a sale to us.

The camper road tax rate and the new owner

The Belastingdienst has a separate road tax rate for campervans that meet its interior requirements, the kampeerautotarief. Those requirements are not the same as the RDW's, so the word kampeerauto on the registration does not by itself mean the vehicle qualifies for the lower rate.

For a sale this is mostly the buyer's concern, but a buyer will ask. The Belastingdienst states that when the previous owner already paid the camper rate, it applies automatically to the new owner too. For your own side, the road tax stops once the vehicle is out of your name, and anything you paid in advance is refunded. Our guide to road tax when you sell covers how that refund works.

Selling a campervan that is suspended for the winter

Many owners suspend a campervan (schorsen, what this meansschorsenTaking a vehicle off the road in the RDW register for a period. Many owners do this with a campervan over the winter, and the vehicle must then stand on private ground.) for the months they do not use it. A suspended vehicle is exempt from road tax, insurance and the APK, but it may not be driven or parked on a public road, so it stands on a driveway, in a barn or at a storage site.

You can sell a suspended campervan. According to the RDW, the suspension stops by itself once the campervan is registered to a new owner, so you do not need to end it yourself first. Tell the buyer about it, and tell us where the campervan stands if you ask us for an offer, because a suspended vehicle is collected without driving it on the road. The guide to suspending your car explains the rules in full.

What a buyer wants to know about a campervan

A campervan is a vehicle and a small home at once, and buyers look at both. Describe the living area as precisely as you describe the engine and the mileage, and photograph it in daylight.

• The layout: the number of sleeping places and seats with seat belts
• The kitchen, the fridge, the heating and the gas installation, with the date of any gas inspection
• Any damp, leaks or soft spots in the walls, floor or roof, however small
• The water tanks, the toilet and the leisure battery
• Extras such as an awning, a bike rack, solar panels or a reversing camera
• Where the campervan was stored, and whether it stood outside or under cover

Telling a buyer about a weak spot at the start saves a difficult conversation at the handover, and it keeps the offer you receive close to the one that stands on the day.

Asking us for an offer on a campervan

We buy campervans as well as cars. You use the same form: enter the number plate, and we look the vehicle up in the RDW register. Then tell us the mileage and the condition, and add photographs of the living area as well as the outside and the dashboard. You can ask for an offer here. It is free and without obligation.

Your offer stays open until you answer it, which is useful if you want to compare it with other buyers or wait until after a last trip. Once you accept, a free collection follows anywhere in the country. The registration moves out of your name at the RDW during that visit, and the payment is made at the handover. Anyone moving abroad should also read the guide for people leaving the Netherlands.

What you need

• The registration card (kentekencard) and both parts of the registration code
• The latest APK report, and the weight shown in the Kentekencheck
• Any gas inspection certificate for the living area
• Daylight photographs of the outside, the dashboard and the living area
• Manuals and invoices for the habitation equipment and any extras
• Every key, including those for the doors, lockers and the fuel cap
• The proof of transfer (vrijwaringsbewijs), received before the campervan leaves