6/23/2020 Selling a used vehicle by auction | Your rights, crime and the law | Queensland Government

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motor transactionMethods of selling a used vehicleSelling a used vehicle by auction

Selling a used vehicle by auction

 Consumer protections for used car buyers increased from 1 September 2019.
Licensed motor dealers and chattel auctioneers must provide a ‘class B’ statutory warranty
when selling a car that is 10 or more years old or has an odometer reading of 160,000km or
more. The warranty period is for 1 month or 1,000km, whichever comes rst.

You must follow the rules of chattel auctioneering when you auction a used vehicle. You must
also follow certain rules of motor dealing.

Find the rules for chattel auctions (https://www.qld.gov.au/law/laws-regulated-industries-and-

accountability/queensland-laws-and-regulations/regulated-industries-and-licensing/regulated-
industries-licensing-and-legislation/auction-industry-regulation/legal-requirements-for-a-
transaction-by-auction)

Find the rules of motor dealing (https://www.qld.gov.au/law/laws-regulated-industries-and-

accountability/queensland-laws-and-regulations/regulated-industries-and-licensing/regulated-
industries-licensing-and-legislation/motor-industry-regulation/legal-requirements-motor-
transaction)

Receiving the vehicle

To hold an auction of a used vehicle, you may either:

own the vehicle yourself

be the appointed agent of a seller (sell by consignment (https://www.qld.gov.au/law/laws-
regulated-industries-and-accountability/queensland-laws-and-regulations/regulated-
industries-and-licensing/regulated-industries-licensing-and-legislation/motor-industry-

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regulation/legal-requirements-motor-transaction/methods-of-selling-used-
vehicles/selling-on-consignment-in-the-motor-industry)).

Reserve price
You must ask the seller to set a reserve price.

Store book
You must keep an auction store book. This will record relevant information about both the
vehicle and the auction.

Your store book must remain at your registered of ce.

When you acquire a vehicle (by purchase or consignment), you must record:

a description of the vehicle

any identifying marks or numbers (such as a serial number)
the reserve price of the vehicle
the seller’s name and address
the date you received the vehicle.

Display
When you put the vehicle on display, you must:

make sure any signage or prices are not misleading

display the safety certi cate (https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/registration/roadworthy)
(formerly called a roadworthy certi cate).

Preparing for the auction

Registered bidders
You must keep a register of all bidders at an auction.

This means you will need to:

register them with you before the auction starts

see suitable identi cation (e.g. drivers licence) before you allow a bidder to register
give each bidder an identifying marker (e.g. a numbered card or baton) that they must use
to indicate a bid
announce at the start of the auction that only registered bidders may bid.

You must not identify any bidder during the auction. After the auction, you may only do so in
order to help nalise the property sale.

You must not identify a bidder in any other circumstances, except to an inspector or a court.

Disclosures to bidders and conditions of sale

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As a chattel auctioneer, you must display your name at the site of an auction.

It must be in:

clear and legible text

a conspicuous position in the premises.

A conspicuous position might be:

by the entrance to the premises

at an obvious location on the lot (visible during the auction).

Some limited exemptions apply—for instance, if:

you are moving around a large, open outdoor area

bad weather makes it impossible to use the sign.

For example, this might be:

an auction of multiple vehicles in a large, open lot

an outdoor auction in very strong wind.

In these cases, you must announce your name at the start of an auction.

You must also disclose the conditions of sale at the start of an auction. These might include:

the required deposit

inspection details
any other relevant details.

Announcing relevant details

You must announce certain details at the start of the auction.

Buyer’s premium
You may charge a fee to the buyer (usually a percentage of the sale price) when you nalise the
sale. This is known as a buyer’s premium and is in addition to your commission.

You must have the seller’s written consent to charge a buyer’s premium.

In order to charge a buyer’s premium, you must tell all buyers that you charge this fee, and at
what percentage.

You will need to:

make the statement verbally at the start of the auction (except for online auctions)
display the statement so it is visible to each prospective bidder (including at an online
auction)
include it on all advertisements.

Statutory warranty — warranted and unwarranted vehicles

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You must give a 'class A' statutory warranty for a used vehicle when it has:

an odometer reading of less than 160,000km on the day of its sale

and
a built date of no more than 10 years before the day of its sale.

The warranty expires after 3 months or the rst 5,000km, whichever occurs rst. During this
period, you must x any defects (https://www.qld.gov.au/law/laws-regulated-industries-and-
accountability/queensland-laws-and-regulations/regulated-industries-and-licensing/regulated-
industries-licensing-and-legislation/motor-industry-regulation/legal-requirements-motor-
transaction/guarantees-and-warranties-for-second-hand-vehicles) that the warranty covers.

From 1 September 2019, you must give a 'class B' statutory warranty for a used vehicle when it
has:

an odometer reading of 160,000km or more on the day of its sale

or
a built date of more than 10 years before the day of its sale.

The warranty expires after one month or the rst 1,000km, whichever occurs rst.

You do not need to offer a ‘class B’ statutory warranty for vehicles more than 20 years old that
you are offering for sale for restoration. These are called restorable vehicles.

Find out more about statutory warranties (https://www.qld.gov.au/law/laws-regulated-

industries-and-accountability/queensland-laws-and-regulations/regulated-industries-and-
licensing/regulated-industries-licensing-and-legislation/motor-industry-regulation/legal-
requirements-motor-transaction/guarantees-and-warranties-for-second-hand-vehicles).

You must tell all bidders if a vehicle does not have a statutory warranty. To do this, you must:

clearly display the words “No statutory warranty” on a sign on the vehicle
and
verbally announce this at the very start of an auction.

Written-off vehicles
You need to tell prospective buyers if the vehicle has been written off.

A written-off vehicle isn’t t to register for safety reasons. This could be:

a repairable write-off
a statutory write-off.

You must announce before the bidding for a repairable write-off that it:

is subject to the Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995

must pass a written-off vehicle inspection under that Act
cannot be registered until it does.

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You must announce before the bidding for a statutory write-off that the vehicle can never be
registered. Usually, these vehicles sell for parts or scrap metal.

Restorable vehicles
You must announce before the bidding for a restorable vehicle that:

the vehicle is a restorable vehicle because it is more than 20 years old and is for sale for
restoration
is the buyer is considered to have waived the vehicle’s statutory warranty.

Multiple written-off or restorable vehicles

For an auction of 2 or more repairable write-offs or restorable vehicles in a row, you may make a
single announcement. This must:

clearly identify which vehicles are affected

take place before you auction the rst of the vehicles.

Finalising a sale
Previous owner and clear title statements
You need to give the buyer a signed statement telling them about the vehicle’s previous owner.
You can include this information in the contract for sale.

The details must include:

the current date

the name of the immediately previous owner (this is you, unless you’re selling on
consignment (https://www.qld.gov.au/law/laws-regulated-industries-and-
accountability/queensland-laws-and-regulations/regulated-industries-and-
licensing/regulated-industries-licensing-and-legislation/motor-industry-regulation/legal-
requirements-motor-transaction/methods-of-selling-used-vehicles/selling-on-
consignment-in-the-motor-industry))
the vehicle’s
engine number (or chassis number if it’s a caravan)
identi cation number and registration number
built date
odometer reading (both in words and gures)
the price the buyer is paying.

You must include if you are aware that:

the odometer has ever been replaced

the engine has ever been replaced (include the date, if you know it).

A vehicle that has a clear title of ownership is:

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entirely owned by the seller (this is you, unless you’re selling on consignment
(https://www.qld.gov.au/law/laws-regulated-industries-and-accountability/queensland-
laws-and-regulations/regulated-industries-and-licensing/regulated-industries-licensing-
and-legislation/motor-industry-regulation/legal-requirements-motor-
transaction/methods-of-selling-used-vehicles/selling-on-consignment-in-the-motor-
industry)) and
may legally be sold by that person
not subject to any mortgage, security or debt.

You must guarantee to a buyer that a vehicle has clear title. You must include this guarantee as a
statement in your contract.

Motor dealer and trust account receipts

Motor dealer receipt
You must give a correct motor dealer receipt whenever you accept any money from a buyer.

A receipt will need to include:

your name and signature

name of your principal licensee
buyer’s name
total cost of the vehicle
amount of money paid in that transaction.

The receipt must also clearly describe the vehicle by including its:

make, model and colour

identi cation and registration numbers
engine number (for most vehicles) or chassis number (for caravans).

If you auction the vehicle on consignment (https://www.qld.gov.au/law/laws-regulated-

industries-and-accountability/queensland-laws-and-regulations/regulated-industries-and-
licensing/regulated-industries-licensing-and-legislation/motor-industry-regulation/legal-
requirements-motor-transaction/methods-of-selling-used-vehicles/selling-on-consignment-in-
the-motor-industry), you must:

deposit the money in your trust account (https://www.qld.gov.au/law/laws-regulated-

industries-and-accountability/queensland-laws-and-regulations/regulated-industries-
and-licensing/regulated-industries-licensing-and-legislation/motor-industry-
regulation/managing-your-motor-dealer-business/dealing-with-trust-accounts-in-the-
motor-industry)
give the buyer a trust account receipt (https://www.qld.gov.au/law/laws-regulated-
industries-and-accountability/queensland-laws-and-regulations/regulated-industries-
and-licensing/regulated-industries-licensing-and-legislation/motor-industry-
regulation/managing-your-motor-dealer-business/dealing-with-trust-accounts-in-the-

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motor-industry/trust-accounts-for-the-property-motor-auction-and-debt-collector-
industry).

As soon as possible after the auction, you must record in your store book:

the date of the auction

a description of the goods
the sale price
the name and address of the buyer
a cross-reference to the relevant entry when you acquired the vehicle.

Last updated: 23 January 2018 (//creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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