Handing the vehicle file to the buyer

A vehicle file is not a form but everything that documents a car's history. It has three classic parts: the registration papers without which the car cannot be registered; the records of servicing, repairs and tests; and the keys along with the accessories that belong to the car. For many people there is a fourth part that is not filed anywhere: due dates, mileages and notes in an app or an account.

For the buyer, the file is the difference between a car he knows and one he still has to get to know. With the invoice for the last cambelt change he plans the next one; without it he does it straight away to be safe. For you, the file is the record of what you knew and said at the sale.

Put it together before the sale, not on handover day. If you notice while sorting that a test report is missing, you can still get a copy; if you only notice in front of the buyer, you are negotiating.

The papers that belong to the car go with it; the ones that belong to you do not. Exactly which registration papers the buyer receives, and in what state, depends on the country and on whether you deregister the car first; the road traffic office or registration authority has the binding answer. For everything else, the line is usually clear.

Keep a copy or a photo of everything that goes. Not out of mistrust, but because a question from the buyer months later is easier to answer when you can look up what you handed over. What was handed over also belongs in the handover record, and the number of keys in the contract as well. Whatever you promised beforehand, in the seller's statements for instance, should actually be on the table at handover.

If you kept your car in “My vehicles” on Carvexia, part of the file is there in digital form: year, fuel, engine, VIN, mileage, the next roadworthiness test and the next service by date or kilometres, plus notes. You can pass these details on to the buyer with “Hand over to buyer” on your vehicle.

You choose field by field what goes with it. Make and model are always included, the plate never: it belongs to you, not the car, and in Switzerland, for instance, it stays with the keeper anyway. Everything else you tick. The buyer needs the VIN for parts and for queries to the manufacturer, the next service so he does not have to guess, and the mileage if it matches what the contract says.

What you hand over are your details. Carvexia does not check them, and they are not part of the purchase contract; that is what it says when you create the link, and it is what the buyer reads: “Details from the previous owner, not checked, not part of the purchase contract.” Anything that is meant to be contractually binding, such as the mileage at handover, therefore still belongs in the contract.

Notes only go along with a tick of their own, and for good reason. Over the years a notes field collects whatever you wanted to remember: the workshop's phone number, the mechanic's name, a quote you never accepted, sometimes the plate. The buyer sees everything in it.

So read the notes through before handing them over and ask of each line whether it helps the buyer look after the car. “Oil only to the approval stated in the service book” helps. “Winter wheels stored at the village garage, storage slip in the glovebox” helps too. “Invoice still unpaid” helps nobody. If the notes mention a defect you did not name in the listing or the contract, the problem is not the note but the contract: name it there.

If in doubt, leave the notes out and write the two or three points that really matter to the buyer directly. Once he has taken something over, you cannot take it back.

After ticking, you create a handover link. You can copy it or save it as a QR code and print it. The obvious place for it is the contract or the handover record: one more sheet in the folder, and the buyer opens it at home.

The buyer opens the link, signs in and takes the details into his own account under “My vehicles”. There he finds matching parts with one click and can get e-mail reminders for the test and service dates on record. The vehicle keeps a note of where the details came from: the previous owner, taken over on a given date, not checked.

A few rules make the link safe enough for its purpose. It can be redeemed once and is valid for 30 days; the exact expiry date is shown with the link. You can withdraw it, and a new link for the same car replaces the old one. Anyone who has the link can see the details you shared. So only pass it on once the contract is signed, and not to an interested party for a look.

If your listing is linked to a vehicle in “My vehicles”, for instance because you created it from there, Carvexia asks what should happen to it when you mark it as sold: create a handover link, stop reminders, or remove the vehicle from “My vehicles”. All three make sense, ideally in that order.

Switch the reminders off in any case. Otherwise next year brings an e-mail about the test for a car that is no longer yours. If you remove the vehicle, its details, dates and notes disappear from your account as well; a handover link you already created stays valid all the same.

Open links for vehicles no longer in your list can be found under “Open handover links”. They stay valid until they expire or are redeemed. If the buyer has not taken anything over after a few days, ask; if nobody needs the link any more, withdraw it. And file the copies of the papers you kept with the contract and the handover record, where you will still find them in a year.