What are the reasons why a car cannot be transferred?
3 Answers
Reasons why a car cannot be transferred include lack of insurance, modified vehicles, traffic violations, etc. The specific circumstances are as follows: No insurance purchased: Vehicles without compulsory traffic insurance cannot be transferred. Modified vehicles: Vehicles that have been modified, altered, or had their cargo weight or passenger capacity changed without approval. Traffic violations: Vehicles with unresolved traffic violations or accidents, or those under suspicion by the public security authorities. Other reasons: Vehicles that have not undergone regular inspections or failed inspections; smuggled, customs-supervised, or stolen cars cannot be transferred; vehicles under court-ordered freeze or with unresolved mortgages; commercial vehicles converted to non-commercial use that have reached the scrapping age or will reach it within one year; for used cars being relocated in or out, those that do not meet local standards cannot be transferred.
Last time when helping a friend with a used car transfer, I encountered many pitfalls, mainly stuck on documentation issues and vehicle status. If the original owner still has an outstanding car loan and the bank has registered a mortgage at the DMV, the car simply cannot be transferred. I've also seen cases where the owner defaulted on debts, and the car was sealed by the court. In some areas, older National III diesel vehicles are no longer allowed to be transferred, so it's essential to check local environmental policies first. Some careless sellers have lost the vehicle registration certificate or original invoice, and replacing them takes time. The most troublesome situation is when a deal is agreed as a private transaction, only to find out it's a commercial-to-non-commercial converted taxi—such vehicles have mandatory scrapping deadlines, making resale particularly difficult. It's advisable to check the vehicle's records at the DMV before the transfer to avoid 90% of the pitfalls.
As a professional who has handled hundreds of used car transactions, I've summarized the most common deal-breakers in transfer failures. Vehicles with unresolved liens top the list, especially those with GPS trackers installed by financial companies - they're the most troublesome. Incomplete documentation is also frequent, like missing purchase tax payment certificates for cross-province transactions. Once, after both parties signed the contract, we discovered the original purchase invoice was water-damaged, requiring the original owner's cooperation to reissue it at the tax bureau. Modified vehicles require special attention too - major modifications like unauthorized turbo additions or frame cutting won't pass DMV inspections. Always check the vehicle's lien status with the registration certificate first, then verify if the engine number matches the registration.
