A separation means sorting through a lot of things, and the car often comes late on the list. Yet it keeps losing value, costing insurance and taking up a parking space. It also creates tension: who keeps it, who sells it, at what price, and which account the money goes into. This article takes these practical questions in order. It does not replace a lawyer, a notary or a mediator. Dividing a couple's assets is their job, not a garage's.
The name on the registration document does not tell you who owns the car
The registration document (permis de circulation) names the keeper. This is the person answerable to the authorities for the vehicle, and the insurance is normally taken out in their name. The keeper is not necessarily the owner. A car can be registered to one partner and have been paid for by the other, or by both.
To find out who owns it, look instead at:
- the purchase contract or invoice, and the buyer's name on it
- the account the payment came from
- any joint contribution: a deposit paid by one, monthly instalments paid by the other
- the old car traded in as part payment, if it belonged to one of you
Gather these documents early, before relations become strained. They will be useful to your adviser and to the buyer alike. The difference between keeper and owner, and the driver's role, is explained in our article on test drives: keeper, driver and owner: three separate roles.
Married or not: the framework is different
A married couple
For a married couple (the same principles apply to a registered partnership), what happens to the car is settled when the matrimonial property regime is dissolved. The outcome depends on which regime applies, when the car was bought, how it was financed, and often on the overall agreement reached between the spouses. The car is rarely dealt with on its own: giving it to one spouse can be balanced out elsewhere in the division.
This calculation is not a garage's business. Your lawyer, notary or mediator will handle it with all your assets in view. One practical rule: do not decide anything about the car on your own until this framework is in place.
An unmarried couple
Without marriage, there is no matrimonial property regime. The question goes back to ownership. Either the car belongs to one of you, or it belongs to both of you jointly, as co-owners.
If each of you paid a share without putting anything in writing, proof becomes harder. Bank statements and the purchase invoice are then your best evidence. If you disagree about ownership itself, you still need legal advice before any sale.
Selling before or after the court decision
For a married couple, the question is often whether to wait for the court decision. Waiting until the end of the proceedings seems prudent. For a car, it is often expensive:
- it loses value every month, whether the proceedings move forward or not
- it keeps costing money: insurance, cantonal vehicle tax, parking space, maintenance
- a car that is rarely driven deteriorates: battery, tyres, brakes
- a sum of money is easy to divide, a car is not
In practice, selling early calls for a written agreement from both of you, at least with joint ownership or for a married couple. If proceedings are under way, ask your adviser first. For a married couple, during the proceedings, the judge may give one of you the use of the vehicle. Check where things stand before putting an advert online.
Who signs the sales contract
The owner or owners sign. If the car belongs to one of you, that person signs, after settling with the other whatever needs to be settled. For a married couple, have this point confirmed by your adviser.
With joint ownership, both sign. One of you can also sign with a written power of attorney from the other. This power of attorney must identify the vehicle unambiguously (make, model, chassis number, plates), expressly authorise the sale and, ideally, set the minimum price. It does not solve everything: depending on the situation, especially if proceedings are under way, a buyer or a garage may ask for both signatures. Find out before relying on it.
For identifying the parties and the vehicle, the mileage and the declared defects, see what a car sales contract must contain.
A written agreement on the price and the account
Most disputes arise during the sale, not before. An offer comes in on a Sunday evening, one of you wants to accept, the other does not reply. The buyer moves on.
Before the advert goes live, set out in writing:
- the minimum price accepted by both, in francs, and how long it stands
- who handles viewings and test drives, and where the car can be seen
- who may accept an offer, alone or after the other's agreement, and how quickly the other must reply
- which account receives the price: joint account, one partner's account, or another agreed solution
- how, and within what time, the amount is then divided
- who keeps the keys, the registration document and the service book until handover
- who pays the insurance and the tax until the sale
One page is enough, dated and signed by both of you. If the division of the price depends on the proceedings, ask your adviser where the money should be held in the meantime. This document does not settle the division of assets. It simply stops the sale itself from becoming a new source of conflict.
A lease or a loan in one name, or in both
Leasing
With a lease, the car belongs to the leasing company. Neither of you can sell it freely: a sale has to go through settling the contract or through the company's agreement. The lessee or lessees remain liable for the monthly payments until they exit the contract, even the one who no longer drives the car.
If you both signed, the separation does not release you. An agreement between you on "who pays what" does not bind the leasing company. Removing one of the lessees from the contract is up to the company: ask whether it will accept and on what terms, but do not build your plan on that assumption.
The options are those of any lease exit: terminating, transferring the contract to someone who takes it over (including one of you, if the company agrees), having the vehicle bought out and settling the balance, buying it yourself where the contract allows, or seeing the lease through to the end. Each one has a cost, set out in what an early exit from a lease costs.
A loan
With a loan, the car may belong to you, but the sale price first goes towards repaying what is still owed, depending on the type of loan. If it is a car loan tied to the vehicle, you need to request a settlement statement, then follow a precise order between payment, settling the loan and handing over the keys. Everything is explained in selling a car with an outstanding loan.
The same principle applies as for leasing: a loan signed by both of you generally binds both of you until it is fully repaid; check in the contract whether you are jointly and severally liable. If the price does not cover the balance, the difference still has to be paid. How you split it is, again, a question for your adviser.
Valuing the car without arguing over the figure
Each of you has your own figure. The one who would like to keep the car sees it as low, the one waiting for their share sees it as high. Online adverts prove both of you right: you can always find a similar car listed for more, or for less.
An asking price is not a price paid. What defuses the disagreement is an outside opinion based on sales that actually went through, with comparable cars: same year, similar mileage, condition, equipment, date of the last inspection. Before asking for it, agree that you will follow it, or that you will set your minimum price within a range around it.
To understand what pushes this figure up or down, read what determines a used car's value. If one of you keeps the car, the same valuation can serve as a basis for discussion. Working out what that person owes the other remains your adviser's job.
Handing the sale to a neutral intermediary
Selling together when you are no longer on speaking terms is exhausting. You have to coordinate every viewing, pass on buyers' messages to each other and agree on every offer.
A consignment sale gives both former partners a single point of contact. The garage shows the car, answers buyers, arranges test drives, negotiates within the floor price you set together and collects the payment. You no longer need to meet for a viewing. In return, a commission is deducted from the price: it covers the work you no longer do yourselves.
There are two options. Online, the car stays with one of you, which can reopen the question of who keeps it. In the showroom, it waits in a neutral place, and nobody has the keys at home any more. How it all works is described in how a consignment sale works.
The consignment agreement is signed by the owner or owners, under the same rules as above. In the showroom option, the garage sometimes signs the sales contract as seller: have the consignment agreement state who signs. That leaves the question of how the money is paid out. Can the garage pay the price into a single account, or split it between two according to your agreement? Do not assume. Ask before signing and have the answer written into the agreement.
If you have reached this stage, you can hand the sale to a neutral intermediary. Describe the car, who owns it, whether a lease or loan is still running, and what you have already agreed between you. We will tell you what is possible in your situation, including how the money is paid out.
