Change of financed vehicle ownership
Did you buy a vehicle on hire-purchase? Once you have fully paid off the financing, notify a change of vehicle ownership. If you trade in a financed vehicle at a dealership before making the final payment, the dealership will take care of the change of ownership.
What does a finance agreement mean?
The vehicle is financed if you purchase it on a hire-purchase contract. In that case, the finance company will be marked as the owner of the vehicle. You will be marked as the holder of the vehicle. There may also be more than one holder if you entered into the finance agreement jointly with, for example, a family member.
The ownership of the vehicle will be transferred from the finance company to you after you have paid for the vehicle in full. Before that, the general hire purchase terms and conditions do not allow you to transfer the vehicle to someone else without the finance company's consent.
Once you have paid off the financing
Once you have paid all instalments for your vehicle purchased under a hire purchase agreement, the finance company will transfer ownership of the vehicle to you.
In practice, the finance company will either submit a notification of transfer for the vehicle or provide you with a certificate. You will receive instructions from the finance company on how to notify the change of ownership.
Instructions and the certificate are often sent by post.
If the finance company has submitted a notification of transfer, you can also view it in Traficom’s My e-Services under the My Vehicles list.
Ensure that the vehicle has valid motor vehicle liability insurance before reporting the change of ownership
If the vehicle is in use, make sure it has valid motor vehicle liability insurance before reporting the change of ownership.
The insurance must be held by the vehicle’s owner or keeper. If you want to keep the existing motor liability insurance and the vehicle has multiple keepers, the transfer notification must have been submitted to the policyholder.
Report the change of ownership within 7 days
You can report the change of ownership in My e-Services as soon as the finance company has submitted a transfer notification or provided you with a certificate. If the finance company has done both, the easiest option is to register the change of ownership based on the transfer notification. In his case, a certificate is not required.
Submit a notification within 7 days from the date of transfer. The finance company often records the transfer date as the date on which the final payment was received by the finance company.
Read the more detailed notification instructions:
Change vehicle ownership based on a notification of transfer Ulkoinen verkkopalvelu.
Buyer: Change vehicle ownership based on a notification of transfer Ulkoinen verkkopalvelu.
If you trade in a financed vehicle at a dealership before making the final payment
The owner of the vehicle, that is, the finance company decides who is to be entered and removed as the holder of the vehicle.
If you trade in a vehicle purchased under a hire purchase agreement and there are still instalments outstanding, the dealership will pay the remaining balance to the finance company.
You will remain as the holder in the register until the final debt has been paid and the car dealer becomes the owner of the vehicle.
As a result, the transfer date recorded in the Transport Register may be later than the date on which you handed the vehicle over to the dealership.
If there is a long delay in registering the change of ownership of a trade-in vehicle
If the delay in registering the change of ownership of the trade-in vehicle seems unreasonably long, contact the car dealer and the financing company.
Entries in the register can only be corrected if all parties concerned agree to the correction. Both the car dealer and the financing company must submit a written request for correction to Traficom.