You need a safety certificate to sell a car in Queensland. You no longer need one just to advertise it.
That distinction matters, because a great deal of the advice online — including at least one page published by Queensland's own transport department — still describes the old rule, under which a registered vehicle had to be inspected before it could be offered for sale, with the certificate displayed on the vehicle. That requirement was removed by the Transport Operations (Road Use Management — Vehicle Standards and Safety) Regulation 2021, which you can read in full.
So: advertise freely, but have the safety certificate before you hand over the keys.
Check the date on any Queensland selling advice you read, including ours. The pre-advertising rule was removed in 2021 and plenty of pages haven't caught up.
The safety certificate
For a private seller, the certificate is valid for 2 months or 2,000 km, whichever comes first — see Queensland's safety certificate page. That's a shorter leash than it sounds if you're driving the car while it's listed, so time the inspection to when you're genuinely ready to sell.
An Approved Inspection Station does the inspection. If the car fails, you repair it or you sell the vehicle unregistered.
Before you advertise
- Gather the registration papers and service history.
- Note the odometer reading — you need it for the disposal notice and the receipt.
- Deal with any finance owing before you list.
- Book the safety certificate when you're close to selling, not months out.
Selling the car
Write a receipt: both names, the date, the sale price, the VIN, the odometer reading, both signatures. Keep a copy. Hand over the safety certificate with the keys.
Take the buyer's details from their driver licence, not from what they tell you. A mismatch is a reason to stop the sale, not a detail to smooth over.
Lodging the disposal notice — 14 days
Queensland's guidance is 14 days to lodge the disposal notice, telling the department you no longer own the vehicle — see the rules for selling.
Lodge yours before the buyer attempts their transfer. Queensland's online transfer process is a strict two-step where the seller has to go first. If you haven't lodged, the buyer simply can't proceed — which usually means a phone call from a confused new owner a week later.
Do it the day you sell. Until it's in, the car is still registered to you, and fines and tolls follow the registration.
What the buyer does and pays
The buyer completes the transfer, pays the transfer fee, currently $33.65, and pays vehicle registration duty.
Queensland calculates duty unusually: it's based on the number of engine cylinders, ranging from $2 to $4 per $100 of value up to $100,000. So a four-cylinder and a V8 of identical value attract different duty. Worth knowing if you're selling something with a big engine, because the buyer will factor it in.
If the car has been written off
We could not find a current Queensland requirement obliging a private seller to disclose a vehicle's written-off history — and the department has flagged reforms to the written-off vehicle scheme, including mandatory seller disclosure, expected around 2027. Check the current position before you rely on that, because it is precisely the kind of rule that changes.
In any case, the absence of a legal duty is not a reason to stay quiet. A buyer will find it on a PPSR check, and one who finds it after paying you has a grievance whether or not you were obliged to volunteer it. Repairable write-offs sell perfectly well when they're disclosed honestly and priced accordingly.
Insurance
Cancel or transfer your comprehensive cover once the sale is done and the notice is lodged — not before the buyer drives away. Ask your insurer specifically about test drives; that's the gap most sellers don't consider until it matters.
What this means if you're selling on MotorLoop
The safety certificate and the disposal notice are between you and Queensland. What we can do is the listing side: listing a car on MotorLoop is free, and buyers message you in the app so your phone number stays private until you choose to share it.