Beyond the usual fines with the car that we can have, there are some that we can receive but for which we are no longer directly responsible. We are talking, in this case, of the arrival of a sanction for the infraction with a car we have previously sold. Do we know what we have to do?
A bad processing of the sale can give you problems…
We all know that selling a second-hand car involves a series of procedures. Which, in case of not doing them in a timely manner, can end up giving you headaches. One of them, that after having sold it, the fines for the infractions committed by the new owner continue to arrive.
The cause? Probably, a bad processing of the purchase-sale before the Directorate General of Traffic (DGT), which can be done because, in a way, it is us who receive different communications about it.
And it is that when a transaction of this type occurs, the seller is obliged to communicate it to a Traffic Department. Although it must be done at the time of the transfer, it is possible to do it later as long as the contract signed by both parties is presented…
what do we have to know
If we find ourselves in this situation, as we say, the first thing we have to do to solve this fine that we have received on the car that was ours before, is to confirm that the change of ownership was carried out correctly . To do this, we can request a vehicle background report from the DGT and confirm whether or not our data as the owner appears.
In those, for its part, we must take into account that it is the seller’s obligation to notify the sale of the car in Traffic, this so that it is useful to collect all the information that we have available in case it has not been done and, in case it has not Once the notification of sale has been made, go to a Headquarters with that documentation and the purchase and sale contract that we have to carry it out.
With this documentation, and with respect to this fine that we have been able to receive, the DGT will proceed to notify the change of owner, and from that moment on we will no longer be responsible for the vehicle . Of course, the deadlines count: if the infraction has been committed in the first 15 days from the signing of the contract of sale, you will not have any problem, but if it has occurred later, you must pay the fine since it is the responsibility of the seller to notify to the Directorate General of Traffic of the change of owner.
You can use the defense service in traffic fines
In the event that you have to resort to this procedure, it is best to use the traffic ticket defense service that many car insurance companies offer their users. Normally, after filing this claim, new fines should begin to be sent to the new owner.
Also, and instead of this method, in the event that the transfer notification is not made at the time of the sale, it is best to formalize it as soon as possible . This is a relatively simple procedure that will not take you long to complete.
In this way, the owner of a vehicle that sells it officially communicates the transfer to the General Directorate of Traffic. If this step is ignored, the change of ownership is not recorded and the former owner will continue to be responsible for the sanctions or fines applied to the car.