How to sell a car in Ontario

The paperwork at a glance

Step by step: a private sale

1. Check the car is ready to sell

Ontario asks you to do two checks before you sell: make sure the VIN on the car matches your permit, and make sure there’s no money owing on the car. The UVIP shows any lien. For questions about one, call the Personal Property Security Branch at 1-800-267-8847.

2. Buy the UVIP

You’ll need the VIN or plate number, plus your driver’s licence number or your name and address. It costs $20, by Visa or Mastercard. Ontario sends an online order within 5 business days and says delivery can take up to 10 days. If you’re in a hurry, any ServiceOntario centre will issue one the same day.

3. Decide who handles the safety certificate

See the section below. Your answer changes your asking price, so decide before you list.

4. Set a price

Look at live ads for the same year, trim and mileage, then check a valuation tool such as Canadian Black Book or Carfax Canada. An instant offer from a company that buys cars gives you a useful floor: if a private buyer won’t beat it by enough to justify the work, take the offer. Our comparison of where to sell covers those companies.

5. List it and meet buyers

Good photos and an honest list of faults save you time, because they filter out people who would walk away anyway. For a meeting spot, some police services run buy-and-sell exchange zones, including Peel and Halton. Before a test drive, look at the buyer’s licence and check your insurance covers them.

6. Get paid, then hand over the papers

Don’t release the keys or sign the transfer until the money is really yours. A bank draft can be forged, so the safest draft is one you watch a teller issue. If the buyer offers e-Transfer, wait until it lands in your account.

7. After the sale

Take your plates off the car. Keep the plate portion of the permit, because you’ll need it to put those plates on another vehicle. You can ask for a refund on any full months left on your plate stickers, where stickers applied to your vehicle. Call your insurer. Ontario’s deadline is the buyer’s, not yours: they have 6 days to register as the new owner at ServiceOntario.

What a bill of sale must say

The UVIP has a section you can use. If you write your own, it must be an original, and handwriting is fine. Ontario requires:

• The VIN.
• Make, year and power source (gas, diesel or electric), plus body type, colour and model if you have them.
• The purchase price.
• Your name, address and signature.
• The buyer’s name and address.
• The date of the sale.

Ontario also says the bill of sale must be signed and dated by both of you. Keep a copy for yourself.

Do you need a safety certificate to sell?

Ontario lists the certificate among the things you give the buyer, “if required”. Its certificate page says you need one to transfer a used vehicle to a new owner, unless the new owner is your spouse, and that nobody can put plates on a vehicle without one.

Ontario’s pages don’t define an “as is” sale. But if you sell without a certificate, the buyer has to get one before they can plate the car, and that can cost them repairs as well as the inspection. Say so plainly in your ad and on the bill of sale, and expect it to affect your price.

If you do get one, time it. A certificate lasts 36 calendar days after the inspection, so one bought too early can run out before you find a buyer. The UVIP also shows whether a car is registered as unfit, which means it needs a certificate before it can be registered at all.

Who pays the tax

You don’t. The buyer pays retail sales tax when they register the car, and in most cases that’s 13%. It’s charged on the purchase price or the wholesale value in the Canadian Red Book, whichever is greater. The UVIP shows the wholesale value.

Say you agree on $8,000 and the Red Book wholesale value is $10,000. The buyer pays tax on $10,000, which is $1,300, unless they get an appraisal that supports a lower value. Red Book values don’t take mileage or condition into account, so this comes up often with high-mileage cars.

Two cases work differently. A gift to a close family member can be tax-free, using a sworn statement. A car 20 years old or older needs an appraisal.

If you still owe money on the car

You can still sell, but the buyer has good reason to care. Ontario warns that a lien claimant has a right to the car, or to the amount of the lien, from the buyer once the transfer is done.

Ask your lender for a payout figure, pay the loan off out of the sale, and get written proof that the lien is discharged. A private buyer will usually want to see that before paying. It’s often simpler with a company or dealership that buys cars, since some handle the payout for you. Both Clutch and Canada Drives say they pay off an existing loan, and you get the difference.

What changes when you sell to a dealership

You don’t have to find a buyer, host test drives or chase a payment. The trade-off is price: a dealership has to resell the car at a profit, so expect less than a private buyer would pay for the same car.

Ontario’s buy-and-sell page is written for private sales and doesn’t cover selling to a dealer. Its list of cases that need no UVIP doesn’t mention one either, so ask the dealership what it wants from you. Autotrader’s checklist for a sale to a dealership is your ownership, proof of insurance, and lien discharge papers if there was a loan.

You pay no tax when you sell to a dealership. If you’re also buying from that dealership, a trade-in can save you tax, because the Canada Revenue Agency’s rule charges GST/HST on the price minus the trade-in allowance when the person trading in isn’t a registrant. A $15,000 trade-in saves $1,950 of Ontario’s 13% HST.

Where Swapt fits

Swapt is a way to sell to a dealership without visiting one. You enter your plate, take guided photos and see an estimate. Your car then goes out to dealerships across Ontario, and a limited number of them get your name, phone and email and call you. You agree the price with them and pay nothing.

Know how it works before you use it. Dealerships pay Swapt for your contact. They sign up on their own, and Swapt doesn’t check them, so look a dealership up on OMVIC’s public search before you hand over a car. You won’t see a firm price online, and withdrawing your car later doesn’t take your details back from a dealership that already has them. The Seller Terms have the full rules.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. Ontario: Buy or sell a used vehicle (updated June 18, 2026)
2. Ontario: Used vehicle information package (updated October 19, 2026)
3. Ontario: Safety Standards Certificate (updated September 14, 2026)
4. Canada Revenue Agency: RC4022, Trade-ins
5. Autotrader: Sell your car to a dealership, paperwork questions

Swapt wrote this guide, and Swapt is one way to sell a car. Government rules can change, so check the sources below before you rely on a detail. This is general information, not legal advice.