Ask an expert


Anon

I know it's a legal requirement for a privately sold motor vehicle to have a new WoF (under 1 month old) when sold.

My question, is there a similar requirement for registration and diesel Road Users Charges (RUC), apart from them being up to date?

Stephen

From the "Ask Jack" archive - 16 September 2009

jbiddle

The RUC permit must be current at the time of sale however, there is no requirement for the seller to purchase a certain amount of RUC going forward.

In other words, the RUC could expire a day after purchase without any comeback on the seller.

A car can be sold legally with an expired registration but any potential buyer needs to be aware of what they are possibly getting themselves into.

A registration can be expired for up to 12 months before the car is removed from the Transport Registry data base.

If that happens, the car then needs to go through a compliance process which is an expensive and in-depth check before it can be re-registered and issued with new plates.