Selling a vehicle requires paperwork from both sides: the seller must notify the registering authority, and the buyer must register the vehicle in their own name within 21 days of purchase.
The government’s vehicle-transfer guide sets out the separate responsibilities. The seller completes and submits the Notification of Change of Ownership/Sale of Motor Vehicle form, known as NCO, and gives the registration certificate to the buyer.
The buyer completes the Application for Registration and Licensing of Motor Vehicle form, RLV. The guide also requires the registration documents and a roadworthiness certificate when submitting the application at the registering authority.
Additional documents may apply. A change to the vehicle’s tare requires a mass-measuring certificate, while company-registered vehicles require the relevant company documentation. The authority may also request evidence of the right to be registered as title holder, such as an invoice or sales agreement.
Check the full official requirements with the local registering authority before visiting. Fees are set provincially. This is an explanation of the existing process, not a new deadline or an online application service.
Official guidance: Change owner or title holder particulars for a vehicle, checked on 9 November 2026.
Contextual motoring archive: an N10 road sign in the Northern Cape on 14 September 2009, not a vehicle-transfer transaction or registering office. Photo: NJR ZA / Wikimedia Commons. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:South_Africa-N10-001_(cropped).jpg . Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ . Source cropped by Waddie96 in 2018; further cropped and resized for display. Display adaptations are licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
