What Happens to Your Licence Plate When You Sell Your Car

Your licence plate isn't part of the car you're selling. In Alberta it belongs to you, not the vehicle, so it comes off before the buyer drives away. Here's when to take it off and what to do with it after.

Does the licence plate stay with the car when you sell it?

No. The plate is issued to you, and selling the car doesn't sell the plate.

The buyer registers the car with the signed bill of sale. Your plate plays no part in it, so there's no reason to leave it on.

Take it off before the car leaves, not the next morning.

When does the plate actually come off?

At the very end, after the money is settled and every registered owner has signed the bill of sale.

When we buy a car, it leaves on our dealer plates. A private buyer can't do that, but either way your plate is never needed to move the car.

The order: settle the money, sign, unscrew the plate, hand over the keys.

Want the number for your own car? Get a free offer. It takes about a minute.

What do you do with the plate afterwards?

Keep it. If you're buying another car, it can go on that one. If not, put it somewhere you'll find it.

Don't leave it in the glovebox, put it on a car that isn't registered to you, or give it to the buyer. All three leave your name attached to a car you don't own.

What does the buyer drive away on?

Not your plate. Getting the car home is the buyer's job.

The 14 days on the bill of sale is a plate rule, not a transfer deadline. A buyer who already has a valid Alberta plate can move it onto the car if they register it within 14 days. Either they have a plate or they don't, and that's for them to sort out before they arrive.

What if the buyer asks to borrow your plate to get home?

Say no, and say it before the day.

While your plate is on their car, anything that reads a plate reads yours: parking tickets, collision reports, complaints.

When you agree on the price, tell the buyer the plate comes off before the car leaves. Serious buyers have already planned how to get it home.

Does taking the plate off take the car out of your name?

No. These are separate steps:

1. 1. The plate

   comes off in the driveway, and that part is done the moment it's in your hand.

2. 2. The registration

   leaves your name when the buyer completes the transfer at a registry agent.

3. 3. Insurance

   ends when your insurer says so, so call them.

Only the plate is in your hands on the day. Here's the paperwork the buyer takes to the registry.