Documents You Need to Sell Your Motorcycle

If you need to sell your motorcycle, we can help you throughout the process, and we even buy motorcycles ourselves. In this article, we will show you all the documentation you need to sell a motorcycle without any hitches.

Taxes on the Sale

When a sale is made between private individuals, the Property Transfer Tax (Spanish: Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales) must be paid. The amount payable varies in each autonomous community. The Tax Agency (Spanish: Agencia Tributaria) publishes updated tables annually with the percentages for each community and for different types of vehicles.

The Road Tax (Spanish: Impuesto de Circulación) is another tax that must be up to date for the change of ownership to be processed by the Directorate-General for Traffic.

Change of Ownership

If the purchase or sale is carried out by a professional, the latter usually handles all the paperwork. In the case of a private sale, the buyer typically takes care of all the procedures at the Directorate-General for Traffic (DGT) and settles the Property Transfer Tax. Furthermore, it is recommended that after 30 days, a report be requested from the DGT to verify that the motorcycle's ownership has been changed, thereby avoiding potential surprises such as fines or taxes.

Required Documentation

Vehicle Registration Certificate
Valid Technical Inspection Card
Buyer's and Seller's DNI (National Identity Document)
Road Tax receipts
DGT Report Fee

Handling Procedures through an Administrative Agency

Another option to consider is entrusting all the management to an administrative agency (Spanish: gestoría). This is undoubtedly the simplest and most recommended approach if you don't have enough time or don't want to complicate matters. However, it is also the most expensive option, as their fee for this type of service usually ranges between 100 and 150 Euros. It is most common for the buyer to cover the costs of the change of ownership, unless otherwise agreed.

The administrative agency will provide you with a provisional certificate, allowing you to ride your motorcycle normally. This certificate will be valid for 30 calendar days. The motorcycle documentation in your name will be delivered to you, on average, within about 15 days.

Before starting the procedures, it is highly recommended to request a full report on the motorcycle to check that it has no encumbrances (Spanish: cargas) or anything that would prevent the change of ownership. The administrative agency can request this for you for a price of around 15 Euros. You can also request it yourself on the DGT website or the GANVAM website.