The sale itself takes an afternoon. The post about it carries on for weeks.
Most of what lands needs nothing from you at all. One or two envelopes are the opposite, and they come with a limited window to answer. Below is each one, roughly in the order it turns up, with what it means and whether it deserves a reply.
The RDW does not write to say the car has gone
No letter arrives from the RDW to confirm the car left your name. Stop watching the letterbox for it.
Your confirmation already exists, and you were handed it on the day. The RDW sets out who receives what: the buyer passes the proof of transfer (vrijwaringsbewijs) to you, and the RDW posts the registration card (kentekencard) along with part two of the registration code (tenaamstellingscode) to the buyer’s Dutch address. The buyer also receives a run of confirmation emails. Your side of it is one slip of paper and no correspondence whatsoever.
So file that slip somewhere you will find it in a year. Our guide to what is still on your list after the sale covers the jobs that go with it.
The road tax letter, which is usually good news
Road tax (motorrijtuigenbelasting) is billed for three months at a time, so by the time you sell you have almost certainly paid for days you no longer own the car. The Belastingdienst works that out without being asked. Tax you had already paid covering time after the register stopped putting the car in your name comes back automatically, and paying by direct debit changes nothing about that.
Two cases produce no money. Very small sums are not paid out, and a car on the oldtimer transitional scheme gets nothing back on sale. Otherwise the Belastingdienst says overpaid road tax reaches you within eight weeks.
If you are leaving the country, treat those eight weeks as a warning. The money has to land in an account that is still open when it arrives.
A road tax bill after the sale is not an error
This is the envelope people get wrong. Road tax is charged ahead of the period it covers, so a bill issued before your handover can reach you after it, and it covers weeks the car genuinely was yours. The Belastingdienst is short about it: if you have sold the vehicle and received a bill for it, pay the bill.
Two instincts make this worse. Cancelling the direct debit does not speed up a refund, because the refund is calculated and paid on its own. Reversing a payment because you think you have overpaid is the other one, and the Belastingdienst lists exactly that as a reason people end up with an additional assessment, alongside a payment that arrived late or not at all.
The insurer only writes once you have written to them
Nothing about your sale reaches your insurer. The RDW has no line into your policy, the cover simply continues, and so does the premium.
Ring them with the proof of transfer in front of you and read out the date and the time printed on it. The letter that follows should carry an end date, and that letter is worth keeping beside the proof itself. Liability cover is compulsory for as long as you are the registered keeper, which is why the end date matters down to the day.
A letter about insurance or the APK means the register still says you
The RDW checks the registration records against insurance and APK records every day. Where a vehicle obligation looks unmet, the registered keeper gets a letter, from the RDW or from the Central Judicial Collection Agency (CJIB).
For insurance, there is a window of six weeks in which the keeper can show that cover was in place at the moment of the check. Six weeks of silence and a fine may follow from one of the RDW’s enforcement officers. The APK, the Dutch roadworthiness test, works less gently: a keeper who has not met that obligation receives a fine from the CJIB directly, with no six-week window at all.
If one of these lands weeks after you sold, the letter is telling you something about the register. It means the transfer did not go through, or went through later than you believed. Look the plate up before you draft a word of reply, then answer with the date on your proof of transfer.
A fine for a date before the handover
Compare two timestamps and the answer falls out. The proof of transfer carries a date and a time. Anything the camera caught before that moment was yours, and you pay it. Anything after it is answerable with the proof attached.
The route for disagreeing, and the term you have to do it in, are printed on the notice itself. Work from that, because terms differ by the kind of notice and we are not going to guess at yours.
When nothing arrives at all
One envelope you should chase is the one that never came. If the buyer never passed you the proof of transfer, the RDW asks you to report it within three months and can issue a replacement.
If the slip existed and then went missing, there is a free overview of the vehicles that have stood in your name going back up to nine years, downloadable with DigiD. Most insurers accept it in place of the original.
If you have not sold yet and would rather watch the transfer happen in front of you, ask us for an offer. The car is taken out of your name at the handover, with the proof of transfer in your hand before it is loaded.
Frequently asked questions
Will the RDW send me a letter confirming the sale?
No. The RDW posts the registration card and part two of the registration code to the buyer, and the buyer passes you the proof of transfer by hand. That slip is your confirmation, and nothing follows it in the post.
Do I have to apply for the road tax refund?
No. The Belastingdienst calculates it from the date the register changed and pays it out on its own, direct debit or not. Very small amounts are not refunded, and cars on the oldtimer transitional scheme get nothing back.
I received a road tax bill after selling. Do I pay it?
Yes. It covers a period before the transfer, which was a period the car stood in your name. The Belastingdienst tells sellers plainly to pay a bill they received for a vehicle they have sold.
Why would I get a letter about insurance for a car I sold?
Because the register still shows the car as yours. The RDW compares the two records daily, so a letter like that is a sign the transfer never completed. Check the plate first, then reply with your transfer date.
A fine arrived for the week before the handover. Can I pass it on?
No. The date decides it, and that date was still yours. Attach the proof of transfer only where the fine is timed after the moment it records.
How long should I keep all of this?
Keep the proof of transfer, the insurer’s confirmation and anything the Belastingdienst sent for as long as a letter about that car could still reasonably reach you. The RDW sets no retention period, so the question is a practical one.