Selling your car before you leave the Netherlands

Three things you can do with the car

When you move abroad, a car registered in your name in the Netherlands has to go somewhere. Until it is sold, exported or suspended, it stays your responsibility, wherever you are living. The three routes below are the only ones the RDW, the Dutch vehicle authority, offers, so it helps to choose early.

• Sell it here. A buyer who lives in the Netherlands puts the car in their name, and from that moment it is no longer yours. This is the route with the least paperwork for you.
• Take it with you. The car is registered for export, drives on export plates for a short period and is then registered in your new country.
• Leave it here unused. You suspend the registration for one to three years and the car is kept off the public road, for example on a private drive or in a storage unit.

Registering the car in your new country brings its own tax and insurance there, and sometimes an inspection, so compare that with selling before you decide. The rest of this guide covers all three routes, starting with the sale.

A timeline that works backwards from your moving date

Selling a car is quick on the day itself. The time goes into what comes before it: finding the documents, sorting out anything that is missing, finding a buyer and fixing a date that leaves you some margin before you fly. Start as soon as you know when you are leaving.

1. Find the registration card (kentekencard, what this meanskentekencardThe credit card sized registration document that cars have had since 2014. Older cars that have not changed owner since then may still have a paper registration (kentekenbewijs).) and both parts of the registration code (tenaamstellingscode, what this meanstenaamstellingscodeA nine digit code in two parts that belongs with the registration card. The buyer cannot put the car in their name without the complete code.). Check them with the free RDW card check, which tells you whether the card is valid and the code belongs to it.
2. If anything is missing, order a replacement now. A new code or card sent by post goes to the address the municipality has for you, so do this while you still live there.
3. If the car is leased or financed, contact the lease or finance company first. They hold the registration code for such cars and decide how the car can be sold.
4. Look up the APK expiry date in the RDW Kentekencheck. If it runs out before your sale date, decide whether you will have the car tested or sell it without a valid APK.
5. Choose how you will sell and start asking for offers. Allow time for viewings, or for an offer to be prepared and accepted.
6. Agree a handover date before the day you deregister from your municipality, with a few days in hand in case something moves.
7. On the day, hand over the documents, wait for the proof of transfer (vrijwaringsbewijs) and only then give the buyer the car and the keys.
8. Afterwards, end your insurance and keep the proof of transfer with your moving papers.

Why the sale should happen before you deregister

If you will live abroad for more than eight months within a year, you must deregister from the BRP, the Personal Records Database kept by your municipality. You do this at your municipality from five days before your departure, and at the latest on the day you leave. Your citizen service number (BSN) stays valid after you have left.

The RDW conditions for a transfer describe the buyer: they must live in the Netherlands and be registered in the BRP. Nothing in them says the seller must still live here. In practice, though, selling from abroad is much harder. Replacement documents are posted to your registered address, the car needs someone to look after it, and you need to receive the proof of transfer from the buyer. While the car is unsold it also stays in your name, with the road tax and the insurance that come with it.

For those reasons, treat the date you deregister as your deadline for the sale, and the handover as something that happens before it.

What the buyer needs, and why it matters to you

The person who takes over your car must be at least 18 years old and registered in the BRP with a Dutch residential or correspondence address. They also need valid identification, and to transfer online they need the DigiD app with an ID check. A friend or colleague who is moving abroad with you, or a buyer in your new country, cannot simply put the car in their name.

If the buyer lives abroad, the car has to be exported. The RDW advises that the buyer then exports it in their own name. If you export it yourself and hand it over, you remain responsible for it until it is registered in the other country.

Who does what on the day of the sale

The buyer registers the car in their name, online or at a counter, using your registration card and the registration code. With an old paper registration they need the original documents and must go to a counter, because a paper registration cannot be transferred online. The full procedure is explained in our guide to the RDW transfer.

The buyer then receives the proof of transfer and gives it to you. The RDW is clear about the order: only let the car go once you have that proof. You can check in Mijn RDW or the RDW Kentekencheck that the car is no longer registered to you. Our guide to the proof of transfer explains the document.

If the car has had an APK test, give the buyer the report of the most recent one. A list of everything to bring is in our guide to the documents you need.

Road tax, insurance and the APK until the car is sold

As long as the car is registered to you, the obligations that come with it stay with you. The Belastingdienst bills the road tax (motorrijtuigenbelasting) automatically. The car must have at least third party liability insurance (WA), and the RDW regularly checks whether registered vehicles are insured. The APK has to stay valid as well, unless the registration is suspended.

When the transfer goes through, the RDW passes it on to the Belastingdienst. Any road tax you paid in advance for the time after the transfer comes back to you without a request, whether or not you pay by direct debit (road tax when you sell has the details). If a bill still arrives for the period before the sale, pay it. If you plan to close your Dutch bank account, ask the Belastingdienst how a refund will reach you.

Insurance is different: the RDW states that you stop or change the policy yourself. Ring or email your insurer once you have the proof of transfer. The steps after the sale are listed in after you sell.

If the car is still in your name when you leave

Plans slip, and sometimes the car is still unsold when the flight leaves. You then have two realistic options while it is in the Netherlands: keep it insured, taxed and tested while someone you trust looks after it and the sale is finished, or suspend the registration.

A suspension runs for one, two or three years and starts as soon as it is registered; suspending your car covers the rules in full. You cannot pick a later start date. You can only suspend a car that is registered in your name, and a fee applies, which you do not get back if you end the suspension early. During the suspension the car needs no road tax, insurance or APK, but it must be parked on private property. A suspended car can still be sold: the suspension ends automatically when the car is transferred to its new owner.

If you will need DigiD from abroad, set it up before you leave. DigiD advises adding the ID check to the DigiD app and activating SMS verification while you still live here. The ID check works with a Dutch passport, identity card or driving licence, and foreign identity documents cannot be used for it.

Taking the car with you: export comes first

A Dutch registered car that moves with you must first be deregistered in the Netherlands by registering it for export. You do that with the car at an RDW inspection station, an RDW desk or an authorised export company, and you hand in the number plates. Check what documents your new country asks for before you start, because the RDW warns against deregistering until you know. The steps are set out in exporting a car from the Netherlands.

After the export registration you receive a proof of transfer, the export certificate you need to register the car abroad, and either the registration card with a corner cut off or the paper registration part. You may then drive in the Netherlands for 14 days on export plates: your own registration number on white plates with black characters. The car needs insurance and a valid APK for that drive. Road tax, insurance and APK obligations in the Netherlands end once the car is registered for export.

For a used car that goes to another EU country, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway, you may be able to get part of the BPM (the purchase tax on cars) back. The Belastingdienst sets conditions, including that the car is registered in the new country within 13 weeks of getting the export status. Read them on belastingdienst.nl before you count on it.

Lease, finance and company cars

With a leased or financed car, the lessor or lender receives the registration code, and only they can order a replacement. Selling such a car before you leave therefore starts with a conversation with them about ending the contract. Our guide to selling a car with finance or a lease sets out the order of steps.

A car registered to a company works the same way at the RDW, with eHerkenning taking the place of DigiD for online services. If the business is closing because you are moving, deal with the car before the company is deregistered.

What you need

• The registration card (kentekencard), or every part of the old paper registration
• Both parts of the nine digit registration code (tenaamstellingscode)
• A valid passport or ID card
• Every key that belongs to the car
• The report of the most recent APK test, if the car has had one
• The service book and any repair invoices you kept
• Your moving date and the date you will deregister from the municipality
• Your insurer's details, to end the policy after the sale