Paperwork before any money moves
On a private sale the documents decide whether you own a car or a dispute. This chapter sets out the order we work in: titleholder, settlement, roadworthy, clearance, transfer, and only then payment.
Keys, a service book and a registration certificate laid out on a desk at handover.
01
Owner is not the same as titleholder
The registration certificate names an owner and, if there is finance on the car, a titleholder. The titleholder is usually a bank, and while the bank is the titleholder the seller cannot give you clean title no matter how sincere they are. Read the document in your hand, compare the vehicle identification number on it with the number stamped on the body and shown in the windscreen, and compare the engine number if it is listed.
Ask for the seller's identity document and check the name against the registration certificate. A car being sold on behalf of a relative, a deceased estate or a friend who is working in Gauteng is not impossible to buy, but it needs the right authority in writing, and that is the point at which plenty of buyers decide the car is not worth the admin.
02
The settlement letter, and how payment should run
If there is finance, the seller asks their bank for a settlement letter: a figure, a reference and a deadline. You pay the settlement figure directly to the bank, not to the seller, and the balance to the seller only once the bank confirms the account is closed and releases the papers. Doing it the other way round, with a cash transfer to the seller and a promise to settle, is how people end up chasing a car that a bank still owns.
Do it on a working morning, in a branch or on a recorded instruction, with both of you present and your phones out. Never on a Friday evening. We have sat through this at a bank in Vincent more than once; it takes an hour and it removes the single biggest risk in a private purchase.
03
Roadworthy, clearance and the physical checks
A change of ownership into your name needs a valid roadworthy certificate, and the certificate is issued after a test at a registered testing station. A roadworthy is a minimum-standards check on lights, brakes, steering, tyres and glass; it is not an inspection, it does not look at your cambelt and it says nothing about rust you cannot see. Treat it as a legal step, not as reassurance.
Where the identification numbers look tampered with, where the car was imported, or where anything about the history is murky, the car goes for a police identification and clearance check before you pay anything. It is free, it is not quick, and a seller who will not wait for it is telling you something. Also ask directly whether the car has ever been written off and recoded; a Code 3 car can be perfectly sound, but it is worth materially less and some insurers will only cover it on limited terms.
04
Transferring the registration and the licensing admin
The seller must notify the authorities that they have sold the car, and you must apply to register it in your name at a licensing office with the registration certificate, the roadworthy, the change-of-ownership form signed by both of you, your identity document and proof of residence. Allow for queues at the East London and Qonce offices, especially at month end. Keep a photograph of every signed page before you hand anything over.
Budget an indicative R250 to R600 for the registration and licence fees on an ordinary passenger car, plus roughly R500 to R1 000 for the roadworthy test itself. If the licence disc expires within a month of the sale, that renewal is yours now, so factor it in rather than discovering it at a roadblock near Qumrha.
05
Voetstoots, dealers and what you can actually rely on
A private seller sells voetstoots, as it stands, and your recourse afterwards is thin unless you can show they actively hid a defect. A dealer is in a different position: consumer protection law gives you an implied warranty of quality on a used car bought in the ordinary course of business, and a dealer who tells you that used cars are sold voetstoots and nothing more is overstating their case. Get every promise about a repair, a service or a warranty written on the offer to purchase.
Our own view is unfashionable: for a buyer who does not want admin, the extra few thousand rand on a dealer car with a verifiable record and a transferable service plan is usually money well spent. For a buyer who is willing to do the bank visit, the clearance wait and the licensing queue, a private sale on a car with every invoice is the best value on this market.
Pay the settlement figure to the bank and the balance to the seller only once the bank releases the papers.
A roadworthy certificate is a legal minimum, not an inspection; it tells you nothing about rust or a cambelt.
Get the licence expiry, registration fees and any recoded status in writing before you agree a price.
Tell us about the car you are looking at
Send the kilometres, the asking price, the body style and where the car has lived, and we will tell you on the phone whether it is worth an inspection. That conversation is free, and it has talked people out of appointments more than once.