Leiden
Sell your car in Leiden
Leiden fills up with people on three year and four year contracts: the university, the LUMC, the companies on the Bio Science Park. The car gets bought in the first spring and sold in the last. We handle the selling part in English.
Zuid-Holland
Selling a car in Leiden
Leiden University opened in 1575 and is the oldest in the country. Between it, the Leiden University Medical Center and the firms on the Bio Science Park, the city holds a large population of international researchers and medics, most of them here on a contract with an end date. ESA's technical centre, ESTEC, is a short drive up the coast at Noordwijk, which adds more of the same.
The old centre was laid out for boats and carts. Narrow streets, canals, bridges, and parking that is both scarce and regulated. People living inside the singel cycle everywhere and keep the car for the things a bike cannot do, which can mean it goes a fortnight at a time without moving. A car that stands still in a Dutch winter develops a flat battery and a soft set of tyres.
Further out it is a different city. In the Merenwijk, the Stevenshof, or over the border in Oegstgeest and Leiderdorp, there are driveways and daily driving and no permit queue to think about. Both kinds of Leiden car come to us, and the questions we ask about them are not the same.
Worth knowing in Leiden
Rules at a local level can shift. For anything official, check the municipality's own site; each note below links straight to its source.
Changing the plate on your permit needs DigiD
Leiden's parking permits are issued per zone and registered against one number plate. The change or the cancellation is done through the municipality's online service, and that service wants a DigiD, the Dutch digital identity login. The central zone has a waiting list, so if another car is replacing this one, move the plate across and do not cancel, or you go back to the end of the queue.
Changing the plate on your permit (Gemeente Leiden, in Dutch)No environmental zone here
Leiden sets no emission class limit on passenger cars, so an older diesel is free to drive in the city. The Hague and Amsterdam are both close and both do restrict them, which catches people out when a Leiden car starts commuting.
Which cities have an environmental zone (milieuzones.nl, in Dutch)A car that has not moved since the autumn
Tell us roughly when it last ran properly and whether the APK, the Dutch roadworthiness test, is still valid. Neither answer stops us buying it. What they change is how the car leaves: under its own power, on a charger, or on the back of a transporter.
Collection
Where we collect around Leiden
We collect across Leiden and the surrounding villages. If the car is inside the old centre we need a little more from you: which street, whether there is a bollard or a loading window, and whether the car still drives. Those are the details that decide whether we arrive with a van or with a transporter, and getting them right first time saves everyone an afternoon.
Not on either list? Ask for an offer anyway. We buy cars everywhere in the Netherlands, in all twelve provinces.
Neighbourhoods and areas
- Binnenstad
- Stationsdistrict
- Leiden Noord
- Merenwijk
- Stevenshof
- Boerhaavedistrict
- Roodenburgerdistrict
- Bio Science Park
Towns nearby
- Oegstgeest
- Leiderdorp
- Voorschoten
- Katwijk
- Noordwijk
- Zoeterwoude
Questions from sellers in Leiden
I never got a DigiD. Can I still deal with the parking permit?
The online route needs one, so without it you will have to call the municipality of Leiden on 14 071 and sort it out by phone. The permit and the car are separate matters, though. Not having a DigiD has no effect at all on selling us the car.
My contract at the university ends in the summer. When should I ask?
A few weeks ahead is plenty, and earlier does no harm. The offer stays on your page until you answer it, so asking in April for a June handover costs you nothing and takes one job off a busy month.
The car is parked in the binnenstad and barely runs. Can you still take it?
Yes. Tell us the street and whether it moves under its own power. The old centre has access restrictions we plan around, and a car that does not start simply means we send a transporter and not a driver.
Will you still buy the car if the APK ran out months ago?
Yes. The APK is the Dutch roadworthiness test and it does not need to be valid for us to buy the car. Tell us when it expired, or what the garage listed if it failed. A car without a valid APK may not be driven on public roads, so we collect it on a transporter.
Other cities we cover
Ready to sell your car?
Your number plate is all we need to start.