Selling your car in the Netherlands: a guide for expats

What are your options?

Most sellers choose one of three routes. They differ in who you deal with and who arranges the paperwork:

Is the car leased? Then you cannot transfer it yourself: contact the leasing company first. More situations, such as selling a damaged car, are in our Dutch selling guides.

How to sell your car, step by step

Selling to a private buyer goes like this. Selling to an RDW-approved company? Then the company takes care of the transfer and gives you the vrijwaringsbewijs.

1. 1

   Find your papers

   You need the registration card (kentekencard) and the complete 9-digit registration code (tenaamstellingscode). Lost the code? A new one costs €1.25: with DigiD you download it straight away, without DigiD it comes by post.

2. 2

   Check that the buyer can register the car

   A private buyer must be 18 or older and registered in the BRP with a residential or correspondence address in the Netherlands. Does the buyer live abroad? Then the car has to be exported.

3. 3

   Agree on the price and the payment

   Put the price, how you will be paid and the handover moment in writing, and both keep a copy.

4. 4

   Get paid first

   Check your own banking app before you hand over the card, the code and the keys. A screenshot of a payment proves nothing, and never click a payment link from a buyer. More tips are in our guide to safe payment (in Dutch).

5. 5

   The buyer transfers the car

   With your card and code, the buyer puts the car in their name online, at a kentekenloket, or at an RDW desk or inspection station. It costs €13.10. All details are in RDW transfer of ownership.

6. 6

   Get the vrijwaringsbewijs, then hand over the car

   The buyer gives you the vrijwaringsbewijs. Check in My RDW that the car is no longer in your name. Then hand over the car and the report of the last APK inspection.

7. 7

   Stop your insurance

   Road tax stops automatically, because the RDW passes the sale on to the tax office. Your insurance you stop or change yourself.

What does the buyer need for the transfer?

A Dutch address in the BRP, a valid ID, and your card and code. Which ID is accepted depends on where the buyer transfers the car. That matters when you sell to another expat.

Online, the buyer needs the DigiD app with ID check. That check only works with a Dutch passport, ID card or driving licence.

At a kentekenloket, such as a PostNL location, only a valid Dutch driving licence has been accepted since January 2026.

At an RDW desk or RDW inspection station, a passport or ID card also works, including a foreign passport. A residence permit does not.

After the sale: road tax, insurance and liability

With the vrijwaringsbewijs you are no longer responsible for the car. Some things stop by themselves, others you arrange:

How to stop your policy is explained in our Dutch guide to insurance after the sale.

Leaving the Netherlands? Sell before you deregister

Get the car out of your name before you deregister from your municipality. A car can only be registered to someone who is in the BRP with a residential or correspondence address in the Netherlands.

You must deregister if you will live abroad for more than 8 months within a year. You do this in the 5 days before you leave, at the latest on the day itself.

So start selling well before that date. Then you do not have to choose between a lower price and your departure date. Need a new registration code? Request it while you still live here: without DigiD, it is posted to the address registered with your municipality.

Your car checklist before you leave

• Registration card and complete registration code found, or a new code requested.
• Leased car? The leasing company contacted, because you cannot transfer it yourself.
• A buyer with a Dutch address in the BRP, or an export arranged.
• Paid in full before handing over the card, the code and the keys.
• Vrijwaringsbewijs received, and checked in My RDW.
• Insurance stopped.
• Deregistered from your municipality, as the last step.

Taking the car with you instead?

Then you export it. You register it for export at the RDW or an approved export company; only then do your insurance, APK and road tax obligations end. At the RDW this costs €12.00.

Ask first which documents your new country needs, and do not deregister the car here until you know. After the export you may still drive on Dutch roads for 14 days, on white export plates, as long as the car is insured and has a valid APK.

You may get part of the BPM, the Dutch registration tax, back. Among the conditions: the car was first registered on or after 16 October 2006, it is undamaged, and it is registered in another EU country, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway within 13 weeks of the export.

Selling to someone abroad? Let the buyer export the car in their own name. If you arrange the export yourself, you stay responsible until the car is registered abroad. More in our Dutch guide to selling for export.

Selling through Sleutelwissel

You start with your Dutch licence plate, or with 4 photos that the camera guides you through. If we can calculate it automatically, you then see the expected offer from buyers: a range, not yet an offer.

Buyers in our network then make their offers. We negotiate on your behalf, and you decide. If a buyer lowers their offer, we ask for the reason and the evidence and send it to you on WhatsApp. Saying no costs nothing.

If you sell, you pay us one fixed fee of €19.99, and never a penalty. After your request, everything runs through WhatsApp, with a personal status page. See how it works, or first read what your car is worth.

Frequently asked questions

Read next

• RDW transfer of ownershipSteps, costs and the vrijwaringsbewijs in English
• Car value in the NetherlandsDagwaarde, trade-in value and the expected offer from buyers
• Licence plate checkFree public RDW data on any Dutch plate