Selling a used car privately in Canada? The Ontario UVIP, BC ICBC transfer, lien check, and safe-payment steps that keep the car out of your name.
Applies in: across Canada
Do the paperwork before you take the money, and do not let the buyer drive away on your plates or your insurance. A private used-car sale in Canada is two transactions at once: the money, and the registration transfer that takes your name off the car. The second one is what protects you after the sale. If the buyer gets tickets or is in a collision while the car is still registered to you, you are the person the record points to first.
The exact form changes by province, but the shape is the same everywhere: prove the car is yours to sell, disclose any lien, write a signed bill of sale, take payment you can verify, transfer the registration, then remove your plates and cancel your insurance. This guide covers the two provinces with the most specific seller paperwork — Ontario and BC — plus the steps that apply in the rest of Canada. It is a process guide, not legal advice, and your provincial registry or broker is the final word on your sale.
Start with the lien check, because it decides whether you can sell cleanly at all. A lien means a lender has a registered claim on the vehicle. In Ontario, the UVIP includes lien information, so ordering it early shows you — and the buyer — where you stand. Outside Ontario, run a lien search through your provincial personal property registry using the VIN before you advertise.
If a loan is still outstanding, talk to your lender about the payoff before you agree on a price. A buyer will not want a car with a lien hanging over it, and you should not promise a clear title you cannot deliver. Get written proof that the lien is discharged once the loan is paid off, and keep it with your sale papers.
Confirm the registration is in your name and matches your photo ID. If more than one person is on the registration, every owner normally has to sign the transfer. Sort that out before a buyer is standing in your driveway.
In Ontario, the seller is legally required to provide a UVIP to the buyer when selling a pre-owned vehicle — it is an offence under the Highway Traffic Act for the seller not to provide one. Order it before the sale, not on the day of it: you need the VIN or the licence plate number plus your Ontario driver's licence number or registrant identification number, or your name and address, to order one. It costs $20, and an online order is mailed within 5 business days, with up to 10 days allowed for delivery.
The package tells the buyer what they are buying: vehicle details — year, make, model, colour, body type, cylinders, and power — Ontario registration history with previous owners, their city of residence, and odometer readings, lien information, Retail Sales Tax information including the average wholesale value, and the last known status, including whether it is registered as unfit and needs a Safety Standards Certificate or has been reported as wrecked. It also has a bill of sale section.
The buyer must register the vehicle in their name within 6 days of the sale. To register the transfer, the buyer goes to a ServiceOntario centre with the completed UVIP, proof of purchase such as a receipt or the bill of sale from the package, proof of insurance from an insurer licensed in Ontario, and the original vehicle permit from you with the transfer portion completed. A Safety Standards Certificate is also part of registering a road vehicle in most cases: the buyer can register without one, but cannot put plates on the vehicle until they have one, and a certificate is valid for 36 calendar days after the inspection.
BC runs private sales through ICBC and its Autoplan brokers. Remove your licence plates from the vehicle you are selling. Your insurance and registration are two parts of the same document: tear off the bottom, signed vehicle registration portion carefully and give it to the buyer.
After you have been paid, fill out and sign the Transfer/Tax Form (APV9T) in full. Each of its four pages must carry original signatures — photocopied signatures do not count. Then bring the registration and the Transfer/Tax Form to an Autoplan broker. ICBC strongly recommends going with the buyer so the transfer is processed promptly and your name, insurance, and licence products come off the vehicle record. If you cannot go with the buyer, keep a copy of the form with original signatures from both of you for your records. Then cancel your insurance or transfer it to a new vehicle. The buyer must register the vehicle within 10 days of the sale, and both of you certify the sale price on the Transfer/Tax Form: on a private sale the buyer pays PST at registration, generally 12 percent, on the greater of the purchase price and the Canadian Black Book average wholesale value.
Every other province and territory follows the same pattern with its own form and office: a signed bill of sale, the signed registration or ownership document handed to the buyer, and the buyer registering the vehicle in their own name at a registry agent or provincial office. Check your provincial registry's selling page before the sale and confirm which form it wants.
Whatever province you are in, write a bill of sale that covers the essentials: both parties' full legal names and addresses, the year, make, model, colour, and VIN, the odometer reading at the time of sale, the sale price, and the date, with original signatures from both parties. Print two copies so each party keeps a signed original. That signed copy is your proof of the sale date and price if a ticket, toll, or incident tied to the vehicle shows up later.
Agree on the payment method before you meet, and hold the line on it. The safest routine is to meet at the buyer's bank, watch the bank draft get issued or verify it with the bank, and confirm the funds before you sign the transfer papers or hand over the keys. A draft can be forged, so "I have a draft" is not the same as "the bank confirmed the draft." For smaller amounts, an in-person electronic transfer that you see land in your account before signing works the same way.
Never accept cash you cannot count in a safe place, and never accept a payment method that asks you to send money back. The classic private-sale scams all share one shape: the buyer overpays, invents a reason you must refund the difference, and the original payment then bounces. Other walk-away signs include a buyer who will not view the car or speak on the phone, a buyer who wants to send a courier to collect a car sight unseen, payment by gift card or cryptocurrency, and pressure to sign the transfer before payment clears.
Meet in a public, well-lit place, and ask to see the buyer's driver's licence before handing over the keys for a test drive. Ride along, agree on a route in advance, and confirm the buyer has insurance that covers the drive. Do not hand over the only key, the registration, or the signed transfer papers during a test drive — those change hands when the deal closes.
When the price is agreed and the payment has cleared, do the closing steps in order. Sign the bill of sale and the transfer papers, both parties, with the odometer reading and date filled in. Hand the buyer the signed registration portion and any transfer form your province requires, and go to the broker or registry office together where that is possible. Take your licence plates off before the buyer drives away, and remove your personal items, garage remote, and any paired phone or toll account from the car.
After the buyer leaves, finish your side the same day: cancel the insurance on that vehicle or transfer it to a new vehicle, and file your signed copy of the bill of sale somewhere you can find it. If a ticket or notice tied to the old car arrives later, that dated, signed copy — plus the record of the processed transfer — is what shows you no longer owned it. A sale is not finished when the car leaves your driveway. It is finished when the registry says it belongs to someone else.
The Used Vehicle Information Package (UVIP) is the seller's disclosure document for a private used-vehicle sale in Ontario. The seller is legally required to give it to the buyer. It lists the vehicle details, its Ontario registration history, odometer readings, lien information, the average wholesale value used for Retail Sales Tax, and whether the vehicle is registered as unfit or reported as wrecked. It also has a bill of sale section. It costs $20, and not providing one when you sell a covered vehicle is an offence under the Highway Traffic Act.
Remove your licence plates, then tear off the signed vehicle registration portion of your insurance and registration document and give it to the buyer. After you have been paid, complete and sign the Transfer/Tax Form (APV9T) in full, with original signatures on each of its four pages. Take the registration and the form to an Autoplan broker. ICBC strongly recommends going with the buyer so the transfer is processed promptly and your name and insurance come off the record. The buyer must present the form to an Autoplan broker within 10 days of the sale.
Whether any loan or lien is still registered against it, and whether the registration is in your name alone. A lien claimant can have a claim against the car or the lien amount from the buyer once the transfer is completed, so a surprise lien can kill a sale or leave the buyer chasing you. If there is a loan, arrange the payoff with your lender first and get written proof the lien is discharged before you close the deal.
A bank draft verified at the issuing bank, or an in-person payment you watch clear before you sign the transfer papers. Meet in a public place, and meet at the buyer's bank for a large amount if you can. Never accept a cheque for more than the price with instructions to refund the difference, a payment by gift card, or a story about a courier collecting a car you have never shown anyone. Those are walk-away signs, not payment methods.
No. Take your plates off before the buyer drives away. In BC, ICBC's selling steps start with removing your licence plates, and the same habit protects you anywhere: plates left on a sold car can tie tickets, tolls, and liability back to you. The buyer registers the car in their own name and gets their own plates or transfer arrangement through the provincial registry or broker.
When the registration transfer is actually processed, not when the money changes hands or the buyer drives off. That is why going to the broker or registry office with the buyer matters, and why you keep a signed copy of the bill of sale with the date, price, VIN, and odometer reading. After the sale, cancel the insurance on that vehicle or transfer it to a new vehicle so you are not paying for, or listed on, a car you no longer own.
Related guides: how to fight a traffic ticket in Ontario, how to dispute a traffic ticket in British Columbia.