Documents Needed to Sell Your Car

Selling your car becomes smooth and hassle-free if you get the documentation part right and complete. It is essential for you as a seller to have all the necessary documents that are required to sell a car. This saves you from future issues and more importantly when you apply for the transfer the ownership, the complete documentation will help you sail through the process effortless. We at CarDekho Gaadi get numerous queries related to the documents and in this article, we present a list of all the essential documents that you require to sell your car.

1) Registration Certificate (RC): As the name suggests, RC of a car certifies that it is registered in your name and you are the legal owner of the vehicle. The RC is required for selling not only the car but also any kind of vehicle that comes under the Motor Vehicles Act 1988. You must have RC of your car without any kind of misprint or defect as any discrepancy in the RC would certainly obstruct the ownership transfer process. In case you have lost your RC or it has been stolen, you need to register an FIR with the local police station and apply for a duplicate RC by filling the Form 26. (Download Form 26 here)

2) Valid Insurance Certificate: A valid insurance certificate is required to sell your car. Without having a valid insurance, you won’t be able to sell your car to a new buyer. If the insurance of your car has been expired, renew it, and then sell your car. Without insurance, the resale value of your car can suffer tremendously and you won’t be able to apply for the ownership transfer process to the Regional Transport Office (RTO). If you don’t want to invest much in buying new insurance or renewal, you can opt for a third-party policy that will at least clear the legal obstruction in selling your car.

3) Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate: Another mandatory document required for the sale is a PUC certificate. It certifies that the emission levels of the car are well within the limits prescribed by the regulatory agencies under legal provisions. There are different emission limits for petrol, diesel, and CNG vehicles; however, the battery-operated vehicles are exempted from the emission test.

You can get the PUC certificate easily as most of the fuel stations have the emission-checking facility. Even the cost of obtaining PUC is very nominal and ranges between Rs 60 and Rs 100 depending upon the vehicle type and capacity. It is important to note that vehicles manufactured after April 2010 need to renew PUC once in a year while cars manufactured before April 2010 have to renew PUC every three months – albeit the rule might vary depending upon state legislation, types of vehicles, etc.

4) Self-attested PAN Card (1 copy): You have to produce a self-attested copy of your pan card while selling your car to a buyer. If you don’t have the PAN card, you can give a copy of Form 60 to complete the selling process.

5) Proof of Address (1 copy): Most of the states require you to give a self-attested copy of your address proof. You can use any one of the following documents and present to the authority as a valid proof of the address:

• Aadhar card
• Passport
• Voter ID card
• Ration card
• Any other document issued by the Government of India

In some states, documents like electricity bill and rent-agreement are also considered as a valid address proof. Please note that not all states/cities require you to produce address proof for car’s sale as in Mumbai, you can transfer the ownership without providing any address proof.

6) Self-attested photographs (2 copies): For ownership transfer of a car, it is mandatory for you to have at least two self-attested photographs that will be attached along with the transfer forms and submitted to the RTO.

7) Form 28 (3 copies): Form 28 is also called a no-objection certificate as it certifies that the registration authority (with which the car has been registered) has no objection while you sell your car to the buyer. It also means that you hold no outstanding liabilities against the vehicle and you can sell it without legal complications.

You require three copies of Form 28 which you can download here (Form 28) or get the hard copies from the RTO. Once you get the form 28, you require pencil imprint of your car’s chassis number on these three forms and then need to submit it to the RTO with an application of RC transfer process.

8) Form 29 (2 copies): Form 29 is used to intimate the RTO that you have sold your vehicle to the buyer. It is a confirmation that all documents required to sell the car have been handed over to the buyer. You need to submit this form to the RTO office along with a requisite fee to complete the sales process. (Form 29)

9) Form 30 (2 Copies): After intimating the RTO that the car has been sold through Form 29, it is your responsibility as a seller to request the RTO to transfer the ownership of the car to the new buyer. This is done through Form 30 which declares that all the legal and financial liabilities related to vehicles have now been transferred to the new buyer. You must apply for the ownership transfer process within 14 days of the sale of the car. Submit two copies of Form 30 to RTO with the applicable fee to get transfer of ownership done as soon as possible.

10) Sales Affidavit: The sales affidavit will be made in your name (the seller) having a declaration that all the liabilities related to the vehicle have now been transferred to the buyer. Once RC transfer is done and both seller and buyer sign the sales affidavit attested by the public notary, the new buyer will become liable for all the liabilities related to the vehicle.

In addition to these mandatory documents, there are some other optional things that you can hand over to the new buyer. These include duplicate keys, owner’s manual, service history and maintenance record of the car, original purchase invoice, etc. Remember, these are optional in nature and there is no legal binding that you must provide these things while selling your car. In sum, we can classify the mandatory documents required to sell your car into three categories (Table 1) that will help you to understand things easily and intuitively.

Documents Classification

Car-related Documents

• Registration Certificate (RC)
• Insurance
• Pollution Under Control

Personal Documents

• PAN card
• Address Proof
• Self-attested Photographs
• Sales Affidavit

RTO-issued Documents

• Form 28
• Form 29
• Form 30

If you have got all these mandatory documents with you, you can easily sell off your car. You need not hire any car-selling agent or broker and add to your saving by selling the car on your own. Most of us hire agents as we don’t want to take the hassle of the ownership transfer process which requires constant follow-up with RTOs and other concerned departments. It’s a genuine concern though you can save yourself from these hardships if you decide to sell your car at CarDekho Gaadi. The car-buying portal assures the best price for your used car and to make things absolutely convenient for you, Cardekho will take care of the RC transfer process and that too absolutely free of cost. So what are you waiting for? Visit Cardekho.com, call us at on 1800-12345-2323 or drop us an email at support@gaadi.com to experience car-selling experience like never before.

Also Read:- Selling Your Old Car: Top 5 Things to be Careful About