What to do with the V5C when selling

Tell DVLA when you no longer own the vehicle. Use the online service if you have the logbook. You cannot use it if you have already sent the V5C by post, or if you do not have a logbook. The service is available Monday to Friday 7am to 9pm, and Saturday and Sunday 7am to 8pm.

Give the buyer the green new keeper slip (V5C/2). Do not give them the whole logbook as if they were a motor trader unless they are one. Keep the confirmation that DVLA accepted the transfer. That confirmation is what you produce if a late licensing letter arrives later.

If you want to keep the registration number, take it off the vehicle before you tell DVLA you sold it.

GOV.UK's motor trade path uses the 11 digit reference from the latest V5C. Give the logbook to the buyer, including the green new keeper slip, tell DVLA you have sold the vehicle using the service, and destroy the yellow 'sell, transfer or part-exchange your vehicle to the motor trade' section (V5C/3) when you have finished. You do not send that yellow section if you have used the online service.

If you apply by post instead, get the motor trader to fill in the yellow section and send the perforated section to DVLA Swansea SA99 1BD.

A trader notifying DVLA does not remove your duty if you are the one who sold it without a logbook. Write to DVLA Swansea SA99 1BA with the sale details if you have no V5C.

After you tell DVLA, your vehicle tax is cancelled. If you pay by Direct Debit, that Direct Debit is cancelled automatically. You get a refund cheque for any full months left. The refund is calculated from the date DVLA gets your information, and the cheque is sent to the name and address on the vehicle log book.

You will not get a refund for credit card fees, the 5% surcharge on some Direct Debit payments, or the 10% surcharge on a single 6 month payment. If the refund is for the first tax payment on the vehicle, the amount is based on whichever is lower of that first payment and the rate for the second tax payment onwards.

Contact DVLA if the refund cheque has not arrived after 8 weeks. If the cheque is in the wrong name, return it to Refund Section, DVLA, Swansea SA99 1AL, and tell them the right name. Contact them if a replacement cheque has not arrived after 4 weeks.

The online transfer service cannot be used. Write to DVLA Swansea SA99 1BA 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. A notification can be rejected if you omit any of that, which also affects any tax refund you are owed.

A genuine keeper who has lost the V5C can usually replace it before a planned sale. Doing that, then selling with a green slip, is cleaner for both sides than a letter after the fact.

The seller forgets to notify DVLA. Late licensing penalties then land on the person still showing as keeper.

The buyer's name is taken as 'J Smith' without an address. DVLA can reject the notification.

The seller hands over the whole V5C and then cannot prove what they did. On a private sale the buyer needs the green slip; you keep the confirmation.

The address on the V5C is three house-moves old, so the refund cheque never arrives. Contact DVLA after 8 weeks and update the name if the cheque is wrong.

Myth: leaving the V5C in the glovebox transfers the car. Only a DVLA notification transfers the keeper.

Myth: you should wait until Monday because DVLA is closed. The online service runs at the weekend from 7am to 8pm.

Myth: the buyer can notify the sale for you on a private sale. GOV.UK's service is for the person who no longer owns the vehicle, or who has bought it, using the right path. Do your own notification.

DVLA writes to whoever the record still shows as keeper. If you notified the sale, produce the confirmation and the date. If you did not, notify now, in writing if you have no V5C, and keep a copy. A late licensing penalty is a separate DVLA process from the keeper change; sorting the record is the first step.

The refund cheque is sent to the name and address on the logbook. If you have moved, that is why it never arrived. Contact DVLA after 8 weeks, and return a wrong-name cheque to Refund Section, DVLA, Swansea SA99 1AL.

A company that sold a van on a Saturday and waited until accounts opened on Monday can still notify over the weekend: the online service runs 7am to 8pm on Saturday and Sunday. Waiting is how the buyer drives around still showing you as keeper.