Buying a used car in NSW: the rules and the checks

NSW makes a private sale simple on paper: no safety inspection to transfer a current rego, and an online transfer once the seller has done their part. That simplicity is also the risk. Nothing in the process checks the car, its history or the seller for you.

Buying privately in NSW

• No pink slip needed. To transfer a car with current NSW registration you do not need a safety inspection report.
• You have 14 days from the sale to transfer the registration into your name, or a late transfer fee applies.
• The online transfer works once the seller has lodged a notice of disposal, so ask them to do it at the handover.
• Stamp duty is yours to pay, on the purchase price or the market value of the car, whichever is higher. Writing a low price on the receipt does not lower it.

Buying from a dealer in NSW

• Dealer guarantee: a car under 10 years old with under 160,000 km on it comes with a guarantee of 3 months or 5,000 km, whichever comes first.
• Cooling-off: only when the dealer arranged your finance. You then have one business day, ending at 5pm the next business day, and cancelling costs $250 or 2% of the price, whichever is less. You can be asked to sign it away (Form 12), so read what you sign.
• A licensed dealer generally protects you from repossession if there was finance registered against the car.

Written-off cars in NSW

NSW is strict. A written-off light vehicle cannot be re-registered in NSW except in limited circumstances: the damage must fall short of a statutory write-off, and the person applying must have been its registered operator for more than 28 days before the damage, have inherited it, or the damage must be from hail only. Even then it needs authorisation to repair and two inspections, and the rego certificate is marked as written off. In practice: if a check shows a write-off on a car you are looking at in NSW, find out exactly how it got back on the road before going any further.

Worth knowing in NSW

• If the seller has not lodged the notice of disposal, you cannot finish the transfer online. Do not leave without it sorted.
• A cheap NSW car with a write-off on its record and a current rego is a car to ask hard questions about, given how few written-off cars can legally be re-registered here.

The checks that are the same in every state

1. 1.Before you travel, check money owing (with the lender named), written-off history, stolen status and registration status. Money owing matters most on a private sale.
2. 2.On arrival, check the VIN on the car matches the rego papers, and the seller's licence matches the name and address on them.
3. 3.Inspect it cold, in daylight, and drive it for at least 15 minutes. Check the faults that model is known for: the used car inspection guide goes through it.
4. 4.Pay by bank transfer to the account in the name on the papers, and get a signed receipt with the VIN, plate, price and date.

The whole process, start to finish, is in how to buy a used car in Australia.

A KickTyres Vehicle Check reads the official records for one Australian plate: money owing (with the lender named), written-off history, stolen status and registration status, alongside the documented faults for that model and engine. A$17.90, or A$28.90 with the guided inspection.