Did you personally transfer ownership of vehicle while selling it?

Rule says the onus of transfer is on the person who sells the vehicle, and not the one who buys it

May 22, 2019 12:36 am | Updated 12:36 am IST - COIMBATORE

Registering of ownership details is done only in the case of new vehicles and not during resale.

Registering of ownership details is done only in the case of new vehicles and not during resale.

When you sell your motor vehicle (car or two-wheeler or even heavy vehicles), it is important to get the Registration Certificate (RC) and Insurance Policy transferred in the name of the buyer. By failing to do so, the owner as per the RC runs the risk of facing legal problems if the vehicle is involved in an accident or is used in any criminal activity, regardless of the number of times the vehicle has changed hands.

Ensuring the transfer of ownership lies solely with the first seller (whose name is in the RC), senior RTO officials told The Hindu . “In most of the cases, the owners will send a letter to the Regional Transport Office to inform that they have sold the vehicle, which will not suffice,” they said. The owner must personally ensure that the transfer of ownership is duly made.

The original owners, while selling vehicles, sign Form 29 and 30 and hand it over to the buyer and take a delivery note signed by the buyer. However, this does not exempt the original owner from the responsibilities or insulate him from the liabilities arising out of the sold vehicle. In the event of the vehicle getting involved in accident or a criminal activity, the police will land at the doorstep of the original owners, if the ownership has not been transferred. The risk heightens when the buyers fail to renew the insurance cover for the vehicle in their name.

One of the reasons behind the lack of initiative to change the particulars is the fear of decrease in the resale value of the vehicle, if records indicated use by multiple hands, says K. Kathirmathiyon, Secretary, Coimbatore Consumer Cause (CCC).

Also the procedures required to change the particulars is complicated and vehicle owners might be encouraged if the procedure is available online and made more accessible, he says.

As a step in that direction, he points to an announcement made on February 28, 2019 by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways that says No Objection Certificate (NOC) is not required for “renewal/change of address in the driving licence.”

Prior to February 28, people who approached the Regional Transport Offices for change of address in the driving licence were asked to bring an NOC from the original Registering Authority. It has been done away with now, making it easy for the citizens to carry out change of address in their driving licence.

When the payment is made/received and the keys are being handed over to the buyer, the owner and the buyer should go to the RTO and ensure that Forms 29 and 30 are submitted, in order to have the name change recorded in the RC book and the RTO records.

The web application named Sarathi and Vahan, developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, has enabled applications and tracking of status of vehicles and driving licence at the click of a mouse, Mr. Kathirmathiyon points out.

Although the RTO officials insist on the owners ensuring the change in particulars, some officials also admit there are difficulties in enforcing this practice, particularly when a vehicle owner decides to sell the vehicle in an exchange offer made by a dealer.

In such cases, the dealer and the seller assume that all legal procedures are complied with by the mere handing over of the key and relevant forms/documents. This is how the rule that the owner should go through the entire process of legal transfer is not adhered to.

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