Selling a car privately in Ontario: the seller's checklist

To sell a vehicle privately in Ontario you must, by law, give the buyer a Used Vehicle Information Package (UVIP), sign over the vehicle portion of your green ownership permit, and keep your licence plates — they stay with you, not the car. The buyer then has six days to register the transfer. Do all four correctly and the vehicle stops being your problem the day it leaves the driveway.

1. Buy the UVIP before you advertise

The UVIP is required of every private seller under Ontario's Highway Traffic Act. It is issued by ServiceOntario, can be ordered online or in person, and contains the vehicle's registration history, lien information registered under the Personal Property Security Act, the wholesale and retail value used for tax, and the bill of sale form.

Buy it early rather than at closing: it is the document that tells you whether a lien is still registered against the car, and a lien discovered on the day of sale kills the deal. If the package is more than about a month old when you sell, order a fresh one — the buyer's tax and lien position depends on current information.

2. Get a safety certificate — or sell it "as is"

A Safety Standards Certificate is what the buyer needs to plate the vehicle. As a private seller you are not obliged to provide one: the alternative is to sell the vehicle unfit, with the buyer registering it as unfit and getting it certified themselves. Say which it is in the ad and in the bill of sale, because a buyer who assumed a certificate was coming will argue about it later.

A safety certificate is valid for 36 days from inspection, so timing matters. And it is not a warranty of condition — it certifies that the vehicle met the minimum safety standards on the day it was inspected, nothing more.

3. Sign the right pieces of paper

Two documents, both easy to get wrong:

• The vehicle portion of the permit (the green ownership). You keep the plate portion. Sign and date the vehicle portion and hand it to the buyer.
• The bill of sale, which is a page inside the UVIP. It must show the names and addresses of both parties, the date, the vehicle identification number, and the purchase price. Fill it in, both parties sign, and keep a copy for yourself.

There is no legal ceiling on writing a separate, fuller bill of sale as well — and there is a good reason to. The UVIP page records the transaction; it says nothing about condition, "as is" wording, odometer reading, what is included with the car, or how payment was made. Those are the terms people argue about.

4. Keep the plates, then deal with them

Ontario plates belong to the person, not the vehicle. Remove them before the buyer drives off. Then either transfer them to another vehicle you own, or return them to ServiceOntario for a refund of the unused portion of the validation fee.

Cancel your insurance only after you have confirmation that the transfer went through, and tell your insurer the date of sale.

What the buyer does next

The buyer has six days from the date of sale to register the transfer at ServiceOntario, bringing the signed vehicle portion, the UVIP with the completed bill of sale, the safety certificate (unless registering as unfit), and proof of Ontario insurance.

They will pay retail sales tax at 13% on the greater of the purchase price and the wholesale value shown in the UVIP — which is why a suspiciously low written price does not save the buyer money and does expose both parties. Family transfers between qualifying relatives can be exempt with a sworn statement.

Two things that keep a sold car in your name

Not getting the plates back off it. A buyer driving on your plates leaves you attached to the tickets and the toll charges.

Not confirming the transfer. Ontario puts the registration obligation on the buyer, so a buyer who does not bother leaves the vehicle registered to you. Ask them to text you a photo of the new permit, and if nothing arrives within a couple of weeks, call ServiceOntario with your bill of sale to show the date you sold it. Your signed, dated copy is the evidence.

→ Vehicle bill of sale — guided bill of sale with odometer reading, as-is wording, lien declaration and payment terms. PDF and Word, one-time payment. See also the guide.

Related: bill of sale Ontario: what the UVIP does and does not cover · bill of sale Alberta.