Sold or bought a vehicle? Make sure to change ownership

You’ve sold a car on Trade Me, the trade was smooth, however a few weeks down the line you start receiving parking infringements and speeding tickets.

You forgot to notify the NZTA about the sale of your vehicle, didn’t you?

If the appropriate agencies aren’t notified of the change of ownership of your vehicle, they will continue to assume it still belongs to you, meaning you end up with someone else’s pesky parking tickets.

The change of ownership process has been made relatively easy in recent years, and can even be done online.

There’s two parts to the change: the seller’s and the buyer’s.

If you’re selling a vehicle:

• Notify the NZTA about the sale of the vehicle straight away.
• Complete the “Notice of person selling/disposing of motor vehicle form” (MR13A) through the NZTA. This isn’t mandatory, but it’s strongly recommended that the MR13A be filed. If the buyer doesn’t file their required paperwork, any licensing/infringements will be the responsibility of the seller.  
• Ask the buyer to give you a transfer receipt to show they are registered to the vehicle before you hand over the keys.

If you’re buying a vehicle:

• Complete the “Notice by person acquiring motor vehicle form” (MR13B) through the NZTA.

• Request a transfer receipt, which you may need to give to the seller when you pick up the vehicle to show you are now registered to the vehicle.

The NZTA website has all the information you need to transfer the ownership of a vehicle so check it out.

Of course, before you hand over your cash for the vehicle, you really should check if there is any money owing on the vehicle. 

Creative Commons image used courtesy tiffany terry on Flickr.