Selling your car for export when the buyer comes from Germany

We handle cars built in 2008 or later. Typical examples are:

• cars with more than 200,000 km on the clock;
• diesel cars;
• ex-lease cars;
• company vans;
• damaged cars.

Not sure whether your car fits? Send us the details and we will let you know.

The car does not need to be in perfect condition: damaged cars and cars with a high mileage are among the vehicles we pass on. Describe any damage honestly and add clear photos, so that the dealers abroad know what they are making an offer on.

1. You send the details of the vehicle (registration number, make and model, year of manufacture, mileage, fuel, condition and any damage) with photos, for example via WhatsApp or the form below.
2. We pass the vehicle on to our network of car dealers abroad, and they make an offer.
3. We pass that offer on to you, and you decide.
4. If you accept, the export transfer can take place at our desk in Hengelo. You receive the vrijwaringsbewijs; the buyer receives the export documents and, if they drive the car to its destination, export insurance and 2 white export plates.

Asking for an offer is free and non-binding. We do not buy cars ourselves: we act as an intermediary and arrange the export papers. Offers come from car dealers abroad, not from us, and we cannot promise that an offer will come.

For you as the seller, asking for an offer costs nothing. The buyer pays for the export papers: the export document starts from €50, export insurance with white plates from €100 and the complete package from €150. If you sell to a buyer you found yourself, the same export prices apply. The price is always confirmed in advance.

Have you found a buyer in Germany yourself? Then the RDW advice is clear: the buyer exports the car in their own name. Their details go on the export certificate, also called kentekenbewijs deel II, and they receive the kentekencard (registration card) with a corner cut off. You receive the vrijwaringsbewijs as proof that the car is no longer registered to you.

The buyer brings a valid passport, identity card or driving licence and gives their full address abroad. They then arrange the Zulassung (German registration) themselves; our guide on how to register a car in Germany explains how. If they cannot come to the Netherlands, a contact person in the Netherlands may arrange the export for them. A company name on the export certificate is only possible at an RDW location. If the buyer wants to drive the car home, they can take export insurance and white plates with them: see export insurance for the drive.

When a car is sold to a buyer abroad, it is not transferred to the buyer's name in the Dutch register. Instead, the buyer exports it, and that is how the transfer works at export. The export certificate then goes with the buyer to the German Zulassungsstelle (vehicle registration office), together with the registration card. Which paper goes where is explained on the page about Dutch car export documents.

Selling a company van or truck? The same steps apply: see importing a van or truck. For questions, contact our export desk, or read our overview of importing a car from the Netherlands.