Buying a used car: the rego and pink slip

If the car has current NSW rego, you don’t need a pink slip to buy it or to transfer it into your name. You have 14 days to transfer the registration, and the pink slip comes due at the next renewal, if the car is more than five years old. Before any of that, a free check of the plate tells you what you’re buying.

Before you pay

Run the plate through Service NSW’s free registration check. For a car that is or was registered in NSW, it shows:

• when the rego expires, and whether it’s suspended or cancelled
• any restrictions on the registration
• any concessions, which can mean extra charges when it’s transferred to a new owner
• who the car’s CTP insurance (the green slip) is with, and when that policy ends
• up to three recent yearly odometer readings

It doesn’t show whether the car has been written off. Service NSW sells a vehicle history report that does, and a search of the PPSR, the national Personal Property Securities Register, shows written-off and stolen records and any money owing on the car. What a pre-purchase inspection finds covers the PPSR, and how to spot a wound-back odometer explains what to do with those odometer readings.

If the check says the rego has run out, look at the date. Under three months expired, the car can still be renewed, with a pink slip if it needs one. More than three months, and it has to be registered again with a blue slip, the fuller inspection an unregistered car needs. A car coming from another state also needs a blue slip. Pink slip or blue slip? explains where the line sits.

The day of the sale

Once the money changes hands, the seller lodges a notice of disposal with Service NSW, which tells Transport for NSW the car is sold.

If you might transfer the rego in person rather than online, get the certificate of registration from the seller on the day, completed and signed on the back. You’ll need it at the Service NSW centre.

Transferring the rego

You have 14 days from the day you get the car to transfer the registration into your name. After that, there’s a late transfer fee.

You pay the transfer fee and stamp duty, unless you’re exempt, and the duty is worked out on the purchase price or the market value, whichever is higher. If the seller had a registration concession that you don’t qualify for, motor vehicle tax may be payable too.

You can do it online with a MyServiceNSW Account if the car is registered in NSW and the seller has already lodged the notice of disposal. Otherwise it’s a visit to a service centre with the completed application form, proof of identity and the signed certificate of registration.

When the pink slip comes due

The rego check shows when the registration expires, so put that date in your phone. Most light vehicles more than five years old, counted from the month and year on the car’s compliance plate, need a pink slip before each renewal. The renewal notice tells you whether this one does.

A pink slip lasts six months from the inspection, so the month or two before the rego is due is the time to book it.

If the seller hands over a recent pink slip, that’s fine, but it isn’t a condition report. Is a pink slip enough when buying a car? explains the difference.

Buying a car from another state

The free check only covers cars that are or were registered in NSW, so it won’t show anything for a car that has only been registered interstate. A car brought into NSW from another state or territory needs a blue slip, which checks its identity and that it meets the standards to be registered here, as well as its safety. A blue slip is valid for 42 days.

We don’t do blue slips. Our sister business, Blue Slip Today (opens in a new tab), does.

Where we come in

Before you buy, our pre-purchase inspection checks the car at the seller’s address, road test included, and sends you a report with photos. After you buy, when the rego is due, we do the pink slip at your home or work.

Book a pre-purchase inspection while you’re still deciding, or read the rest of our guides to buying a used car first.