No valid APK
Selling a car with no valid APK
The APK is the Dutch annual roadworthiness test. Without a valid one the car may not be used on public roads, apart from driving it to a booked appointment for the test itself. None of that stops you selling it. Paying for a test, and then for whatever the test finds, on a car you are getting rid of is money going in the wrong direction.
The offer
What this does to the price
No valid APK does affect the figure, because whatever the test would have demanded still has to be paid for by somebody down the line. It does not affect whether we buy the car. What it genuinely changes is the logistics: a car without a valid APK cannot legally be driven on a public road, so the collection is arranged around that from the start. Tell us where it stands and we bring the right vehicle.
What's covered here
If your car looks like one of these, you are on the right page. None of it has to match exactly.
The date simply passed
Nobody noticed, or the car was not being used anyway. This happens constantly after a few months abroad, a winter indoors, or a change of job that removed the commute.
It failed and you have the list
The garage handed back a report with items to put right before a retest. That report is useful to us, so keep it and send a photograph of it. The failure itself does not stand in the way of a sale.
It would fail and you know it
Rust where rust should not be, a suspension arm with play in it, an exhaust held on with hope. There is no reason to pay a garage to confirm what you already know about your own car.
The registration is suspended
A suspended registration, geschorst in Dutch, means no road tax, no insurance obligation and no APK requirement while it lasts. It also means the car may not stand on a public road. Say so in your request, because it decides where the handover can happen.
Before you ask
Two things worth settling first
The fuller the picture now, the firmer the number stays once we see the car at the handover.
When selling makes sense
- What the APK would demand costs more than the car would be worth with a fresh certificate.
- The car has been standing for months and you want the space and the paperwork back.
- Your own APK expires after your flight leaves the Netherlands.
- The test would be the third thing you paid for on a car you intend to be rid of by the end of the month.
Tell us this upfront
- The expiry date, if you can find it on the certificate or in the register
- What it failed on, from the report if you kept it
- Whether the registration has been suspended, and since when
- Whether the car starts and drives, and exactly where it is parked
Common questions
How long can the car stay parked on the street after the APK runs out?
Not indefinitely. The RDW allows a short window, up to two months past the expiry date, in which the car may still be parked on a public road. After that it needs to pass a test or have its registration suspended, and a fine becomes possible.
What changes when I suspend the registration?
Schorsen takes the car off the road in the eyes of the register. The road tax stops, the insurance obligation stops and no APK is required. In exchange the car may not be driven or parked anywhere public. A suspended car can be sold and transferred like any other.
Can I drive it to you to save the collection?
Not without a valid APK. The only driving permitted is to a booked appointment for the test itself, so the car stays where it is and we come to it. Collection is free, so there is nothing to save.
Is it better to sell before I deregister at the gemeente?
Before you deregister at the gemeente, your municipality, if the dates allow it. Selling while you still hold a Dutch address keeps the whole thing simple, and it stops the road tax and the insurance running on a car you have already finished with.
Other cars we buy
Ready to sell your car?
Your number plate is all we need to start.