How to tell the DVLA you sold your car
Use the DVLA’s online service with the 11-digit reference from the V5C as soon as you sell. It moves the car into the buyer’s name, cancels your tax and starts any refund, and stops fines for the new owner landing on your doormat.
Updated 14 October 2026
Doing it online
Search GOV.UK for "sold or bought a vehicle". You need the V5C, the buyer’s name and address, and the date of sale. The service runs from 7am to 9pm on weekdays and 7am to 8pm at weekends.
You cannot use it if you have already posted the log book to the DVLA or if you do not have one.
If you do not have the log book
Write to the DVLA in Swansea, SA99 1BA, with your name and address, the registration, the make and model, the exact date of sale and the buyer’s name and address.
Your road tax
Tax does not transfer with the car. When you tell the DVLA, your tax is cancelled and you get a refund for any full months left.
The buyer must tax the car before driving it away, even if it is only to take it home.
Before you hand over the keys
Take payment that has cleared, not a promise. Give the buyer the green new keeper slip from the log book. Remove your own things from the glovebox, unpair your phone, and sign out of any connected car app.
Keep a note of the date, time and mileage at handover. If a parking ticket arrives later, that is your proof.
Selling to a dealer, or scrapping
Selling or part-exchanging with a motor trader is told to the DVLA in much the same way, and the online service has a route for it. Ask the dealer to confirm the car is in their name before you leave.
Scrapping a car means taking it to an authorised treatment facility, which gives you a certificate of destruction. Without that certificate you are still the keeper.
How you know it worked
The DVLA confirms by email when you use the online service, and a letter follows. Keep both. If you hear nothing, call before assuming it went through, because until the record changes, fines for that car are addressed to you.
Selling with Odomint
The sale pack in Odomint gathers the service history, MOT record and documents into one shareable bundle, so a buyer sees the car’s whole story before they come to look.
Common questions
Do I get a road tax refund when I sell my car?
Yes, for any full months left. Telling the DVLA cancels the tax and starts the refund.
Does the tax transfer to the new owner?
No. The buyer must tax the car before driving it.
How do I tell the DVLA without a log book?
Write to the DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BA, with the vehicle, sale date and the buyer’s details.
Check any car before you buy it
MOT history, every advisory and the full mileage record are free for any UK registration. An Odomint Check adds outstanding finance, insurance write-offs, stolen markers and salvage history, with a £10,000 data guarantee.