Motor Traffic Department warns against selling vehicles on open transfer documents

The Department of Motor Traffic has urged the public to stop selling vehicles on open transfer documents, NewsFirst reported.

Commissioner General of Motor Traffic, retired Air Vice Marshal Thushara Indunil Fernando, said both the transferor and the transferee should sign the MTA 6 document and submit the relevant copy to the Department.

He said the measure is intended to curb various illegal activities involving motor vehicles and to protect the public from scams.

What an “open” transfer document means

An open transfer is one where the seller signs the transfer form but the buyer’s details are left blank, so the paperwork is never lodged and the vehicle stays registered in the seller’s name while changing hands — sometimes repeatedly.

The practice is common because it is convenient and avoids transfer costs at each sale. The exposure falls on the registered owner: until the Department records the change, the person named on the certificate of registration remains the owner of record, with whatever follows from that if the vehicle is used in an offence, abandoned, or accumulates fines and unpaid revenue licences.

That is the risk the Department is addressing by asking for both signatures and a lodged copy — it closes the gap between the sale and the record.

Context

The Department has been tightening registration administration through the year, including the restart of number plate printing at Werahera and an emissions-linked block on revenue licences. The warning also arrives during a period of unusually heavy turnover in the vehicle market following the lifting of import restrictions.

Not reported

The filing does not say whether any penalty attaches to selling on an open document, whether the Department intends to make the dual-signature requirement enforceable by regulation, or how many vehicles are currently believed to be held on unlodged transfers. No figures are given for vehicle-related fraud, and no deadline or grace period is mentioned. No other verified newsroom had carried the announcement at the time of writing.