How do you transfer a used vehicle in Peru, and what happens to the tarjeta de propiedad?

How the transfer works

Sunarp (Peru’s public registry agency) describes the procedure like this: once buyer and seller agree, both go to a notary’s office and sign the acta de transferencia vehicular (vehicle transfer deed). The deed records both parties’ details, the vehicle’s details and the price. Then the notary’s office files it for registration at Sunarp, so the buyer appears as the new owner in the Registro de Propiedad Vehicular (vehicle property registry).

Sunarp’s guidance page on this procedure lists as the requirement the “acta de transferencia expedida por Notario Público”, filed by the notary or by an authorized third party. There is also SID-Vehicular: the notary’s office sends the deed to Sunarp online, with the notary’s digital signature.

What to bring to the notary, according to Sunarp:

• The buyer’s and the seller’s identity documents.
• If the vehicle belongs to a married couple’s joint estate (sociedad conyugal), both spouses must take part.
• The physical tarjeta de identificación vehicular or, if it exists, the TIVe.
• Where it applies, proof that the vehicle property tax has been paid.

This procedure does not replace the checks you should run before buying (liens, movable collateral, mechanical condition, legal warranties). Those are covered in Buying a used car in Peru: what to check.

What Sunarp charges: three official figures

The March 2026 resolution (00038-2026-SUNARP/GG) amended Anexo 2 but kept the same percentages for the vehicle registry. We do not pick a winner: the official fee is the one in the schedule in force, and Sunarp shows you the amount before charging it. None of these figures includes the notary’s fee, which is not part of Sunarp’s schedule.

Registry review can take up to seven business days, according to Sunarp.

The card: TIV and TIVe

The Tarjeta de Identificación Vehicular Electrónica (TIVe) identifies the vehicle by its registered technical features without showing the owner. That is why the Consulta Vehicular page recommends checking who the registered owner is when you buy a used vehicle, “above all” when the TIVe does not state the owner’s name.

According to gob.pe, you get or update the TIVe when you register a new vehicle, replace an old plate (registered before 2010), change features (colour, engine, fuel), ask for a voluntary switch from the old card, or request a duplicate. You download it from the Síguelo platform with the filing number and year, the plate and a verification code.

Duplicate. If the physical card is lost, stolen or damaged, you request a duplicate at any Sunarp office, even if the vehicle is registered at another. If someone else files it for you, they need a form with the owner’s signature certified by a notary. The gob.pe page (updated 14 February 2025) says S/ 48.10; the 2026 fee schedule sets 0.9% of the UIT (S/ 49.50). The TIVe is available on Síguelo within three business days at most. The same page warns that driving without the card is a traffic infraction punished with a fine and impoundment of the vehicle.

The vehicle property tax

According to the page of SAT Lima (Lima’s tax administration service, updated 18 June 2026):

• The impuesto al patrimonio vehicular is levied on ownership of cars, pickups, station wagons, trucks, buses and other vehicles.
• It is paid for three years, counted from the year after the vehicle’s first registration in the Registro de Propiedad Vehicular.
• It is owed by whoever was the owner on 1 January of each year.
• The rate is 1% of the taxable base (the original purchase value, which cannot be lower than the reference table the Ministry of Economy and Finance approves every year). The amount is never lower than 1.5% of the UIT (S/ 82.50).
• If you sell, you pay the tax for the whole year in which the transfer took place. SAT says that since Decreto Legislativo 1246 (November 2016) the seller no longer has to file a declaración de descargo: the buyer files the declaration.
• If you buy and your address is in the province of Lima, you declare the vehicle by the last business day of February of the following year. If you don’t, SAT applies a fine for late filing.

Under this rule, after those three years the vehicle no longer pays the tax. The page we cite is SAT Lima’s: if the vehicle is in another province, confirm the deadlines with your provincial municipality.

Traffic tickets: what SAT says

SAT Lima explains who pays a traffic fine under the infractions table:

• The driver is liable for every infraction.
• The owner is jointly liable only for a listed set of codes (for example M01, M02, G08, L06, among others the page lists).
• For electronic tickets (detected by cameras or other electronic means), the ticket is served on the owner at the address shown in the Registro de Propiedad Vehicular, and the owner is presumed to have committed the infraction (article 327, subsection 2, letter b of the Reglamento Nacional de Tránsito, according to SAT).

No official source we read says expressly that a ticket issued before the sale “passes” to the buyer. What Sunarp does say is that before transferring, the seller should have tickets and vehicle tax settled. What happens when a ticket goes unpaid (coercive collection, seizure) is covered in Traffic tickets in Peru: how to appeal.

How the seller protects themselves

This follows from the rules above, but no norm says it in these words: until the transfer is registered, you still appear as the owner in the Registro de Propiedad Vehicular, and that is the registry SAT uses to serve electronic tickets. So:

1. Register, don’t just sign. Ask the notary’s office for the filing number and track it on Síguelo until it shows as registered.
2. Add the vehicle’s registry file (partida) to Alerta Registral. It is free and notifies you by SMS or email when a filing is presented on that file.
3. Keep your copy of the deed. If you receive a ticket for an infraction after the sale, it is the document that shows the transfer date. In Lima, the challenge (descargo) is filed with SAT within five business days of being served.
4. Pay the vehicle tax for the year of the sale, if the vehicle is still subject to it.

SOAT (mandatory accident insurance) has its own rules: see SOAT in Peru.

If you are a foreigner

Sunarp’s August 2026 note asks buyer and seller for their “official identity documents”; the Minjusdh note of October 2025 speaks of “original DNIs”. Neither says which document is accepted from a foreigner (carné de extranjería, passport): ask the notary’s office when you book.