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Buying guides
Practical guides for buying a used car, with sources for each guide.
Buying guides in the Netherlands
- What does an RDW licence-plate check show, and what doesn't it?An RDW licence-plate check shows technical and fiscal details such as make, fuel type, APK expiry, open recalls, registered liability insurance, and a verdict on the odometer reading (consistent or inconsistent since 2014). The free open data that most plate checks run on, Plateop included, holds no accident history, service records, or owner name, and doesn't even carry an owner count, only the date of the last registration change. That count only shows up on RDW's own free checker at rdw.nl. For damage, servicing, or the full odometer history, a source other than the RDW register is needed.
- How do you check a used car before viewing it?Before you view a used car in the Netherlands, run four checks at home: the registration through the free RDW licence-plate check (odometer verdict, owner count, last registration date, and whether a block is attached), the listing text for what is and isn't included in the asking price, that price against a few comparable listings, and whether you're dealing with a private seller or a business. A registration block, recorded since 1 April 2021, means the car cannot be transferred into your name; you can see that at home on rdw.nl, well before you book a viewing. Together these four checks take about fifteen minutes.
- What does a logical mileage reading mean?A logical mileage reading means the Dutch vehicle authority RDW sees a higher reading each time a car's mileage is registered than it did the time before. As soon as a lower reading appears in that sequence, the verdict switches to Illogical. More than 30,000 recognised businesses report mileage readings to the vehicle register at legally required moments, including the periodic roadworthiness test (APK), export and servicing, and Belgian and German readings have counted too since 2025 and 2026 respectively. The verdict does not prove every kilometre was recorded correctly: it only covers readings from 1 January 2014 onward, and fraud before the first registration, or between two required moments, stays invisible.
- What does the APK inspection history really tell you about a car?A Dutch car's APK inspection history comes from RDW Open Data and shows, for each reported defect, the inspection date, a defect code, its description and how many times it was recorded, alongside the car's current expiry date. Petrol and electric cars get their first inspection at four years old, then every two years until age eight, then annually; diesel and LPG cars go annual already from age three. The open data carries no severity rating for a defect and no separate line for a clean pass, so a spotless history means nothing was reported up to the last inspection date, not that the car is in good condition now.
- How do you spot an imported car in the Netherlands?You spot an imported car by comparing two dates held in the RDW's vehicle register: the date of first admission (when the vehicle was first registered anywhere in the world) and the date of first registration in the Netherlands (when it was first put in someone's name here). A wide gap between the two means the car spent time elsewhere first. The RDW doesn't show a plain 'imported: yes' flag anywhere, with one exception: on its odometer check, the RDW lists 'the vehicle is imported' as an explicit reason it can't give a verdict on the mileage, because the foreign mileage history isn't in Dutch systems.
- What does a WOK status mean on a Dutch car?WOK is the older Dutch term for what the RDW now officially calls a 'driving ban' (verbod voor rijden over de weg): a car carrying this status cannot be used on public roads until it has been repaired and approved at an RDW inspection station. The RDW imposes it after damage, including water damage, after a technical defect that fails permanent requirements, after an unapproved modification, or if the owner does not present the car for inspection when the RDW asks. Insurance and road tax obligations still apply while the ban is active. You can check the status for free through the RDW licence-plate check at ovi.rdw.nl, under 'Overzicht' next to 'Status van het voertuig'.
- How do you check for an outstanding recall via the RDW?You check for an open recall on a specific car for free via the RDW licence-plate check at ovi.rdw.nl, under the 'Overzicht' (Overview) tab, in the 'Terugroepacties' (Recalls) section. That check confirms whether a reported action is outstanding; the exact defect isn't shown in that web tool itself, but it can be traced per licence plate through the underlying open data, because the linking table also carries the manufacturer's reference code. That table's coverage is incomplete, though: manufacturers aren't legally required to supply the RDW with a list of affected chassis numbers, so a plate that isn't in the table yet doesn't rule out an outstanding action for that make and model. The importer and the brand dealer remain the parties who can confirm that with certainty when in doubt, and they always carry out the repair free of charge for the owner.
- What questions should you ask a car seller?When buying a car in the Netherlands, don't just ask about maintenance and damage: ask about what you can also verify yourself, for free, at the RDW. That's the number of registered owners and the date of the last registration transfer, the official verdict on the odometer reading, whether the registration has ever carried a driving ban, still commonly called WOK status, and whether it carries a registration block. For an imported car, add the foreign registration document, the RDW inspection report and proof of the BPM tax filing. Every one of these points can be checked on rdw.nl before you even view the car, so a seller whose story doesn't match what's on record is a reason to ask more questions.
- Test drive checklist: insurance and driving licence rules in the NetherlandsIn the Netherlands, a test drive is covered by the car's own compulsory third-party liability insurance, not by a policy tied to the driver: the Wet aansprakelijkheidsverzekering motorrijtuigen (WAM), the Dutch motor liability insurance act, ties the insurance duty to the registration plate, so it automatically covers whoever is driving, including a prospective buyer on a test drive, for damage to third parties. That cover does not extend to the driver's own injury if they cause the crash, and it does not cover damage to the test car itself; that depends on the owner's own comprehensive (casco) policy. If the car carries a driving ban, it cannot be driven on public roads at all, not even for a short test drive. A 17-year-old holding a 2toDrive licence must also have a coach who is pre-registered with the RDW sitting next to them, including during a test drive. At a registered dealer, a test drive sometimes runs on dealer plates (handelaarskenteken) rather than the car's own registration, with its own separate insurance.
- How do you assess the asking price of a used car in the Netherlands?You assess the asking price of a used car in the Netherlands by comparing it with similar current listings for the same age, mileage and trim level, and by checking whether the listed price already meets the ACM's rules on unavoidable costs, such as a valid periodic inspection (APK) where the old one has expired. For an imported car, BPM registration tax also plays into the price: it falls due the moment a car is first registered on a Dutch plate, calculated over a depreciation the importer can determine, via either a flat-rate table or a trade purchase value from a wholesale price list; a valuation report is only allowed for above-average damage. The RDW vehicle register holds a car's original list price, but no current market price; for the comparison itself you still need listings or a valuation source outside the register.
- Buying from a dealer or a private seller in the NetherlandsBuy a car from a garage or dealership in the Netherlands and you get statutory conformity protection, often loosely called 'the statutory warranty': the car has to do what you can reasonably expect of it, and if something breaks within a year, the seller has to prove the fault wasn't already there at delivery. Buy from a private seller and the general conformity requirement still applies, but three things fall away: the reversed burden of proof, the mandatory-law status that makes a 'sold as seen' clause void at a trader but not with a private seller, and the specific consumer remedies. It's then on you to show a defect was already present at the time of sale. A BOVAG guarantee isn't a legal requirement but a private, additional scheme that only runs through affiliated businesses. Buy at a distance, online or by phone, from a trader, and a 14-day cooling-off period usually comes with it; walk into the showroom and sign there, and it doesn't.
- What information is usually missing from a licence-plate check?A Dutch licence-plate check, whether it's the free one direct from RDW or part of a fuller report like Plateop's, shows what sits in the Dutch vehicle register: specs, APK history, recalls, and a verdict on the odometer reading. What falls structurally outside that comes down to four categories: damage repaired without an insurance claim, service history, a car's history before it was imported, and how many keys come with it. RDW's own Gekentekende_voertuigen dataset holds no field at all for damage, accidents, insurance claims, or servicing. That is not a design choice by any particular check; the vehicle register was never built to be a purchase history.