Last updated: October 2026
Transferring a vehicle registration into the buyer's name in Kerala costs Rs.150 in official fees for a two-wheeler and Rs.300 for a car (non-transport LMV), under Rule 81 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules. The seller and buyer file Form 29 (the seller's notice of transfer) and Form 30 (the buyer's application for transfer) together at the RTO that covers the buyer's address, and the law expects the transfer to be completed within 14 days of the sale. Most same-state transfers are reported to take about one to two working weeks after the application is submitted. Read on for the fee table, the document checklist, the online steps, and what can stall the process.
Rule 81 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules sets the transfer-of-ownership fee at half the registration fee for each vehicle class. Multiple independent sources, including motoring guides and the rule's own fee schedule, converge on these base figures:
| Vehicle class | Official transfer fee |
|---|---|
| Motorcycle / two-wheeler | Rs.150 |
| Car / LMV (non-transport) | Rs.300 |
| LMV (transport) | Rs.300 to Rs.500 |
| Medium goods or passenger vehicle | Rs.400 |
| Heavy goods or passenger vehicle | Rs.600 |
Two add-ons to budget for: a smart card fee of roughly Rs.200 for the new physical RC, and postal or handling charges of roughly Rs.50 to Rs.100, both applicant-reported figures. That puts the honest all-in cost of a straightforward same-state two-wheeler transfer around Rs.400, and a car transfer around Rs.550 to Rs.600. There is no road tax or re-registration charge for a transfer within the same state; you pay those only when the vehicle moves to another state, which needs a separate Form 28 NOC and is a longer road. Verify the exact fee on parivahan.gov.in at the time of payment, because the portal's checkout screen is the final word. Our ownership transfer service page carries the same fee reference.
Section 50 of the Motor Vehicles Act, read with Rule 55 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, requires the registration to be transferred into the buyer's name within fourteen days of the sale. The practical point is one the duty falls on the seller to ensure, not just to hand over a signed form and hope.
Why that matters: the registration record is the state's record of who is answerable for a registration number. Until the transfer is processed, the number still answers to the seller. A camera-issued challan is raised against the registration number, not the rider; if the buyer runs a red light or rides without a helmet, the notice goes to the person named on the record, which is the seller. If the buyer is involved in an accident, the seller is still the documented owner and has to establish after the fact who was actually riding, with whatever evidence they kept. Form 29 is the seller's protection here: it is the dated intimation that the vehicle was handed over on a particular day, filed with an acknowledgement, and it puts that date into the official record instead of leaving it in a phone chat.
Buyers are not off the hook either. Until the RC carries your name, you cannot legally sell the vehicle, your insurance position is untidy (a policy claim on a vehicle registered to somebody else invites questions), and any challans the number collects sit between you and your own transfer. The buyer's best leverage exists before the money moves: insist the paperwork moves with the payment.
Gather everything before you start. Incomplete sets are the top reason applications get held up:
The insurance transfer deserves its own line: a separate Kerala High Court ruling treats the 14-day intimation of the sale to the insurance company (Section 157(2) of the Motor Vehicles Act) as directory rather than mandatory, but it is still the clean way to align the policy with the new registration, so inform the insurer in writing.
Apply at the destination RTO: the office covering the buyer's address, not the office where the vehicle was originally registered. If the buyer lives under a different RTO than the seller, that is where the application goes.
Online or RTO visit? The application, payment, and form generation are online, but the physical document set still goes to the counter, so budget one RTO visit. Anyone offering to handle the filing for you is selling assisted service; treat their price as a service charge on top of the official fee table above and ask for an itemised quote.
The law gives you fourteen days from the sale to complete the transfer, so treat the first two weeks as the deadline, not the start of the process. For the processing itself, applicant reports in Kerala put a straightforward same-state transfer at about 7 to 15 working days after a complete submission at the destination RTO.
| Stage | Typical time |
|---|---|
| Online application, fee payment, form generation | Same day |
| Getting the signed forms and documents together | 1 to 3 days, if both parties cooperate |
| RTO counter submission and verification | Same day |
| Record update and new RC issue | About 1 to 2 weeks (applicant-reported range) |
What I could not verify: a published official processing timeline from Kerala MVD. The 7-to-15-working-day figure is a reported range from applicant guides, and individual cases vary with the RTO's workload and whether anything in the file needs correction. The RTO officer confirms your next step at submission; if they say to come back in a week, that is your real timeline for that office.
Transfers with extra steps take longer: removing an old hypothecation entry needs Form 35 with the bank's NOC (see our hypothecation removal guide), and a vehicle moving from another state needs the Form 28 NOC from the original registering authority first, plus re-registration and road tax in the new state. Since January 2026, that NOC step also waits on clearance of any unpaid toll dues recorded against the vehicle, so check the dues position on the registration number before you start.
Form 29 is the seller's notice: the registered owner tells the registering authority that the vehicle has been handed over, to whom, and on what date. Form 30 is the buyer's application: the new owner asks the authority to amend the record into their name. Both travel together in one transfer file.
No. The official transfer fee is Rs.150 for a two-wheeler and Rs.300 for a car (non-transport LMV). Add roughly Rs.200 for the smart card and Rs.50 to Rs.100 for handling when budgeting.
Both sign, and the law makes the seller responsible for seeing it through within 14 days. In practice the buyer usually drives the RTO errand, but the seller must chase it until the record actually changes, because the risk sits with the name on the record.
Get the duplicate RC issued first, then file the transfer; the RTO needs an RC to amend. Our duplicate RC guide covers the Thuna-first process.
The application goes to the RTO covering the buyer's address. That destination RTO handles the transfer; a same-state transfer does not need a Form 28 NOC, which is only for vehicles changing states.
Ordinarily no. Ownership transfer is a document process; inspection applies to fitness and renewal, not to the transfer itself. Bring the file, not the vehicle.
On parivahan.gov.in, at the fee payment step of the transfer application. Fees change without notice, and the portal screen is the final word.
Fees and rules change without notice. Verify all fees and rules on parivahan.gov.in before applying. This guide reflects the Kerala RC transfer process as documented in October 2026.
Keralam Transport