Selling or buying a used car in Luxembourg: the steps
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You're selling: your to-do in 5 steps
Practical guide · trigger.lu
Selling or buying a used car in Luxembourg: the steps
- Signed by
- you and the buyer
- Contains
- car, chassis, mileage, price, date
- Attach
- copies of both your identity cards
- Templates
- on the Automobile Club (ACL) website
Details
On this contract, you must be listed as the car's last official owner. The buyer keeps the original: they need it to register the car.
- Mandatory
- when selling, the seller removes their plates
- Personalised number
- reserved in your name for 12 months
Details
If you don't reuse your plates on another car, you must destroy them or have them destroyed.
- Deadline
- 5 working days after the sale
- Online
- MyGuichet.lu (individuals)
- Or
- registered post to the SNCA, B.P. 23, L-5201 Sandweiler
- Or
- in person, without an appointment
Details
Documents: signed deregistration form, parts 1 (grey) and 2 (yellow) of the registration certificate, your identity document. You receive an acknowledgement of receipt from the SNCA.
- When
- as soon as the car is deregistered
- Send back
- the green card or the insurance certificate
- Result
- policy cancelled, or transferred to your new car
- What
- the unused balance of the vehicle tax
- Where
- Caisse centrale des douanes, with your IBAN
- Deadline
- no later than 60 days after the end of the tax disc's validity
Details
The refund is calculated from the recorded date of sale. Our sheet vehicle tax explains how the tax is calculated.
This is for you if
You're selling your Luxembourg-registered car to a private buyer or a garage.
You're buying a used car registered in Luxembourg and you live in Luxembourg.
You're selling your car to a cross-border worker who will register it in their country.
you're buying a car registered abroad: follow our sheet registering your car in Luxembourg. And if you're buying from a garage, it generally handles all the paperwork for you.
What the sale changes, for papers and insurance
The registration certificate expires on transfer. When the car changes holder or owner, the registration certificate and the certificate of conformity sticker automatically expire. Once the car is deregistered, it can no longer be driven under the old registration. The buyer can only drive it from the place of purchase to the SNCA or to a garage, with their new plates and their third-party liability insurance.
The seller's insurance stops. For movable property like a car, the law provides that insurance ends automatically as soon as the insured person no longer has possession of the property, unless the policy sets another date. As the seller, your policy is cancelled with a refund of the remaining premium, or transferred to another car, depending on what you agree with your insurer.
Why the declaration matters for the seller. Deregistration cuts your link with the car at the SNCA. It's what allows you to cancel your insurance and get the rest of the tax refunded. Don't leave it to the buyer.
Buyer: insurance before the SNCA
Guichet.lu sets out the order of the steps: your registration number if needed, then third-party liability (RC) insurance, then the fee stamp, then the appointment at the SNCA. Without a valid insurance certificate, the SNCA won't register the car. Your insurer can issue it as soon as you give it the chassis number and your Luxembourg plate number.
It's also the time to choose your cover. Mandatory third-party liability pays for the damage you cause to others, not to your car: for a recent or expensive used car, extra cover (accident, theft, glass breakage) can be worth it. If you change car, your bonus-malus level follows you. The simplest approach: an insurance advisor can compare for you and call you back before your SNCA appointment.
An advisor from the agency will call you back.You're buying: your to-do in 5 steps
Practical guide · trigger.lu
Selling or buying a used car in Luxembourg: the steps
- Contract
- signed by the seller and you
- Certificate
- parts 1 (grey) and 2 (yellow)
- Roadworthiness test
- currently valid
- EU conformity
- if first registered after 1 February 2016
Details
Without a contract or invoice, the SNCA can register you as holder, but not as owner. If the car has already been deregistered, the seller gives you the SNCA acknowledgement of receipt instead of the certificate. Buying from a company or a garage? An invoice on letterhead, with its intra-community VAT number, replaces the contract, and your signature isn't required on it.
- Number
- standard series or personalised
- Plates
- from an approved manufacturer in Luxembourg
- You receive
- the insurance certificate
- You need
- chassis number and plate number
Details
With your new plates and this insurance, you can drive between the place of purchase and the SNCA, or to a garage.
- Chancery fee
- 50 €
- Personalised number
- 200 € extra
Details
- Transfer of personalised number: 24 € extra
- Where: AED offices, bank transfer, or SNCA (3 € fee)
- Appointment
- online, or file by registered post
- You leave
- with a temporary 30-day tax disc
- Bring
- form, fee stamp, original contract, insurance, certificate, roadworthiness test, identity document
Details
All documents must be presented as originals. Then, customs informs you of the amount of the annual tax.
The roadworthiness test in the sale
At the time of the new registration, the car must be up to date with its roadworthiness test: the SNCA asks for a currently valid certificate, issued by an approved body in Luxembourg, if the car is subject to periodic testing. If the certificate has expired, the test must be retaken before registration. The schedule and prices are in our sheet roadworthiness test in Luxembourg.
You're selling to a cross-border worker or abroad
Your buyer doesn't live in Luxembourg and wants to register the car in their country? They need an export certificate. You can request it from the SNCA (19.80 €) with the same documents as for deregistration, then hand it to them. If you haven't done so, the buyer can request it themselves with the original invoice or proof of ownership. If the car is sold abroad, your standard-series plate number loses its validity.
Common mistakes
Seller forgetting the SNCA
Without deregistration within 5 working days, you remain linked to the car.
Leaving the plates on the car
It's up to the seller to remove them.
Cancelling the insurance before deregistration
Declare the sale first, then inform your insurer.
Buyer driving with the seller's papers
The certificate expires on transfer.
Sales contract without the buyer's signature
Between private individuals, it must be signed by both.
Forgetting the tax refund
You have up to 60 days after the end of the tax disc's validity.
Frequently asked questions
5 working days after the sale. You declare the deregistration to the SNCA, online on MyGuichet.lu, by registered post or in person.
Yes. The SNCA asks for a sales contract signed by the seller and the buyer, with the details of the car and of both parties. The buyer keeps the original.
Not with the seller's papers: the registration certificate expires on transfer. With your own plates and third-party liability insurance, you can go from the place of purchase to the SNCA or a garage, then you drive with your temporary 30-day tax disc.
Inform your insurer after deregistration and send back the green card. The policy is cancelled with a refund of the remaining premium, or transferred to another car.
50 € chancery fee (plus 200 € for a personalised number), the plates, and a roadworthiness test if the certificate is no longer valid. Not forgetting the insurance and the annual tax.