A driving ban does not stop a sale. It stops the car moving under its own power. Ownership can still change hands while the ban sits in the register, which surprises most people, because the letter reads as though the car has been impounded on paper.
The RDW has changed the name, too. What everybody still calls a WOK status, short for wachten op keuring, now appears in the register as a ban on driving on the road (verbod voor rijden over de weg). The RDW’s own page on inspection after a driving ban says the status used to be called WOK, so the two words lead to the same place. The sale itself runs the ordinary way, and the RDW transfer, step by step sets out that part.
Who put it there, and on what grounds
Three parties can place a ban on a vehicle: the police, an insurance company, or the RDW. The RDW lists four grounds for it.
- The vehicle no longer meets the permanent technical requirements, brakes and lighting being the usual suspects.
- It has damage that has to be repaired and then certified.
- Something has been modified or rebuilt and the result has not been approved.
- The owner was asked to present the vehicle for investigation and did not.
The RDW does not say which of the three parties registers the most of them, and for an owner it changes nothing about what comes next. Whoever entered it, the way out is one inspection at an RDW inspection station, and until that inspection passes the car may not use a public road.
Finding out whether your own car has one
The check is public and costs nothing. Put the number plate (kenteken) into the RDW plate check and read the vehicle status on the overview tab. That is the same screen a buyer will be looking at, which is worth remembering before you describe the car to anybody.
Signing in to Mijn RDW with DigiD gets you the same answer for every vehicle in your name at once. If you bought the car recently and nobody mentioned a ban, check anyway. A ban applies to the vehicle and stays attached to it when the registration moves, so it can arrive with a car you have only just taken on.
It can go into somebody else’s name while the ban stands
This is the part owners get wrong. The register does not lock a vehicle because it carries a ban. When a transfer is keyed in at a counter, the RDW’s system raises a notice against the plate, and the handbook the RDW issues to recognised businesses tells the operator what to do with it: say out loud that the vehicle has a ban on driving on the road, and ask whether the customer still wants to go ahead. If the customer agrees, the transfer completes. If the customer does not, the transfer is cancelled there and then.
So the buyer cannot be walked into it by accident, and you are not holding a car that the register has frozen. What the buyer takes on is the obligation to get it inspected before it turns a wheel on a public road.
Where this does bite is the figure. Any buyer is working out what the repair and the inspection will cost them, and that lands in what they offer. A ban is not a secret you are keeping, so there is no advantage in being vague about the damage behind it.
Whether to repair it and clear the ban first
Usually, no. A repair done to lift a sale price rarely earns back what it costs, and clearing a ban is a repair plus an inspection plus your afternoon. We would honestly prefer you did not bother. Describe the damage, say the ban is on the register, and let the offer account for it.
The case for doing it is narrower than people think. It is worth the trouble when the damage is small, the repair is already paid for by somebody else, and you intend to keep driving the car for a while yet. Selling it is not that case.
If you do decide to clear it, the RDW wants the work finished before you arrive. Its inspection after damage page asks for the damage repaired, undertray panelling taken off where that is possible, the wheel alignment checked and put right, and the chassis number, engine number and manufacturer’s plate left clearly readable. Appointments are booked online with DigiD or eHerkenning, the inspection takes between 45 and 70 minutes, and you bring valid identification. The fee is published on rdw.nl.
You are told the result on the day. Pass, and the RDW removes the ban from the register within five working days and writes to you to confirm it. Fail, and you get a report listing what still needs doing.
Moving a car that may not be driven
There is exactly one exception to the ban, and it is narrow. On the day of the inspection appointment you may drive to the station and home again by the shortest route, with the car insured for that day. It covers the inspection trip. It does not cover a run to the garage for the repair, so that leg of it needs a trailer.
If the car is also suspended (geschorst), the Belastingdienst confirms the same day works for tax: its page on inspection during a suspension says you may drive a suspended vehicle to an inspection connected with a driving ban, and owe no road tax for that day, as long as you can show written proof of the inspection if you are stopped.
For a sale, none of that applies. A car with a ban goes on a transporter and never moves under its own power. Collection is free anywhere in the Netherlands, villages included, and the whole thing runs in English, including the driver who turns up.
What the ban leaves running
Nothing about a ban switches off the costs of ownership. While the car is registered to you it still owes road tax (motorrijtuigenbelasting), it still needs third party insurance, and the APK, the Dutch roadworthiness test, still falls due on its own date. The RDW compares the register against the inspection and insurance data every day, and a fine from the CJIB, the agency that collects Dutch fines, follows a gap in either.
A suspension stops those three, which is why owners of banned cars reach for it. It comes with one hard condition, which is that the car may not stand on a public road or be driven on one for a single day of the term.
If you would rather be rid of the car as it stands, ask for an offer and say in the request that the register shows a ban. The car is transferred out of your name at the RDW at the handover, you are paid before it is loaded, and the proof of transfer (vrijwaringsbewijs) stays in your hand.
Frequently asked questions
Can a car with a WOK status legally be sold?
Yes. The ban restricts driving on a public road. It does not block the transfer of the registration, and the RDW’s instructions to counter staff describe exactly how such a transfer is completed once the customer has been told about the ban.
Does the ban disappear when the car changes owner?
No. It belongs to the vehicle. The new owner inherits it and has to put the car through the RDW inspection before using it on the road.
May I drive it to the garage to have the damage repaired?
The exception the RDW describes covers the day of the inspection appointment, the station and the way home by the shortest route. It says nothing about a trip to the garage, so arrange a trailer for that leg.
How do I know the ban has actually been lifted?
The RDW removes it from the register within five working days of a pass and sends you a letter. You can also watch for it yourself in the public plate check, where the vehicle status should stop mentioning the ban.
Does the car have to be repaired before you will collect it?
No. We buy cars with the ban still on the register and with the damage untouched, and we would rather you did not spend money on it first. Tell us what happened to it and let the offer reflect that.