How do I tell DVLA I have sold my car?
Register the new keeper with DVLA online, or complete the V5C’s new-keeper section and post it. Either way, fill in the green new-keeper slip for the buyer. DVLA then cancels your tax and refunds any full months.
Last reviewed . The official sources it draws on, and the date each was read, are listed at the foot of the page.
Online
GOV.UK’s service lets you change the registered keeper of the vehicle and send a log book to the new keeper. You register the vehicle to the buyer online, fill in the green new-keeper slip and give it to them, and destroy your V5C. You cannot use the service if you have already sent the V5C by post or if you do not have a log book.
By post
Complete section 2 of the V5C if it is the new style, with multi-coloured numbered blocks on the front cover, or section 6 if it is the older style. If it is the older style V5C you also sign the declaration in section 8, and the buyer must sign it too. Fill in the green new-keeper slip, give it to the buyer and send the V5C to DVLA.
If you have no log book
Write to DVLA with your name and address, the vehicle registration number, the make and model, the exact date of sale, and the name and address of the new keeper or motor trader. GOV.UK gives DVLA’s postal address and reminds you to pay the correct postage.
What happens next
Once you tell DVLA, your vehicle tax is cancelled and you are refunded for any full months of remaining tax, and you will receive confirmation that you no longer have the vehicle. If you are later sent a tax reminder for the car, you do not need to make a SORN for a vehicle you have already sold.
The buyer’s side
The tax is not transferred to the buyer, who must tax the vehicle, or declare it off the road with a SORN, before driving it. The buyer needs the green slip’s reference to tax it straight away.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Tell DVLA you’ve sold, transferred or bought a vehicleRead on 6 October 2026. The online service, when you cannot use it, what to write if you have no log book, and that the tax is cancelled, refunded and not transferred.
- GOV.UK: Vehicle registrationRead on 6 October 2026. The seller’s steps online and by post, including the sections of the V5C and the green new-keeper slip.
- GOV.UK: Cancel your vehicle tax and get a refundRead on 6 October 2026. Tax is cancelled and any full months are refunded when you tell DVLA you have sold the vehicle.
- GOV.UK: When you need to make a SORNRead on 6 October 2026. You will receive confirmation after you tell DVLA you have sold the vehicle; no SORN is needed for a vehicle you have sold.
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