Selling and Buying a car in Queensland

09/14/2018

If you wish to offer your registered vehicle for sale in the state of Queensland you are obligated to attain a valid Queensland Safety Certificate BEFORE you offer it for sale. With the introduction of Queensland Government’s ICO (Inspection Certificates Online) system transferring a Queensland registered vehicle can be done online at the time of the sale. This prevents any fines or illegal activities (not paying toll fees, speeding fines, running red lights etc.) done by the buyer or new owner to be received by the previous owner. As the buyer of a registered vehicle in Queensland, you are required to transfer the vehicle under a new registered vehicle operator within 14 days of the purchase.

Safety Inspection Morals as a Seller

When you are a selling your vehicle we understand that you are trying to maximise your profit margin or simply obtain as much as possible for your vehicle during a sale. Therefore we can also understand that you wish to spend as little as possible on repairs and maintenance before the sale. Our inspectors conduct thorough safety inspections in which they obey Queensland Government safety regulations related to your vehicle. If your vehicle fails this inspection for any reason, it simply means that it did not meet the minimum safety standards prescribe by the Queensland Government. Think of the situation from the buyer’s perspective; would you buy a registered vehicle that didn’t even meet the minimum safety standards? We sure hope not.

Safety Inspection Morals as a Buyer

As a buyer we understand that you wish to purchase a safe and hopefully trouble free vehicle without breaking the bank. As a Queensland Safety Inspection (also called, RWC or Roadworthy) only covers the safety standards prescribed by the Queensland Government, further inspections at a licensed mechanical work shop may reveal further problems with your vehicle. However since these issues do NOT contradict, offend or violate Queensland Government safety standards related to your vehicle, the inspector had no right to fail it during inspection. On average 8 out of 10 complaints are disregarded for this reason alone. There is nothing wrong with complaining about something you believe was an unfair service, but please keep in mind that the fault may have had nothing to do with conducting the inspection.