Can a VEP be transferred to a new owner or a new car?

Can a VEP be transferred? Not to another car. JPJ's FAQ on vep.jpj.gov.my says the VEP RFID tag "is unique to each vehicle and cannot be transferred to another vehicle", so a new car needs its own application and its own tag. The permit does not go to a new owner with the keys either. For a car that has changed hands, the same FAQ tells you to deregister the old VEP, and the new owner then registers the car in their own name.

Where people get confused is a button. On the portal's vehicle list, right beside Register a new vehicle, there is one marked Request vehicle transfer. It is real, and it moves a car from one VEP account to another once the person at the other end confirms by email. The portal's page code shows nothing beyond that. There is no word on whether the approval, the tag or the expiry date goes with the car, and JPJ's FAQ does not mention the button at all. Below is what the button does, what the seller and the buyer each do instead, and which of our step-by-step guides covers your part of it.

Key takeaways

• The tag cannot move to another car. JPJ's FAQ says it is unique to each vehicle, so a replacement car is a new registration with a new tag fitted to its headlight.
• For a change of owner, JPJ's FAQ gives one route: a Request for Deregistration at vepams.jpj.gov.my, with the NRIC registered on the VEP portal, LTA's registration document and LTA's Notification on Transfer of Ownership (plus ACRA documents if the owner is a private organisation).
• The portal's Request vehicle transfer form asks for the vehicle registration number, the chassis number and the vehicle owner's email. Nothing moves until the link in the confirmation email is opened.
• The buyer cannot drive in on the seller's VEP or on a pending application. A car without an activated tag gets a RM300 compound under Section 66H(7) of the Road Transport Act 1987 and cannot leave Malaysia until it is paid and the VEP is activated (JPJ, reported by Malay Mail on 1 July 2025).
• On the Singapore side, LTA wants ownership transferred within 7 days. The seller starts it on OneMotoring and the buyer confirms.

The short answer for your situation

The answer depends on whether you sold the car, bought one or replaced your own, so find your row.

The rest of this page takes each side in turn. If you only came for the button on the portal, the next section is yours.

What the Request vehicle transfer button does

JPJ has not written this feature up anywhere we can find, and the FAQ skips it, so on 1 November 2026 we read the portal's public page code for it instead. Here is everything that code shows.

Where it is and what it asks for

On the Manage Vehicles page of vep.jpj.gov.my, next to the Vehicle List heading, there are two buttons: Register a new vehicle and Request vehicle transfer. The second opens a page titled Transfer of vehicle with three required fields.

1. Vehicle Registration No., which is the plate number.
2. Chassis No.
3. Vehicle Owner's Email.

The first two fields refuse spaces and special characters, so a plate goes in as SBA1234A and never as SBA 1234 A. Press Request and the portal replies "Request vehicle transfer successful. A confirmation email has been sent to" followed by the address you typed. The car does not move at that point. It moves when someone opens the link in that email, and the confirmation page then says "Vehicle is transferred successfully" or shows an error message sent back by JPJ's server.

Look at what the form leaves out. You never pick the car from your own list; you type its number. That suggests the form is meant to be filled in from the account the car is moving into, with the confirmation going to whoever holds it now. The code does not say so in words, so treat that as our reading of the form and not JPJ's.

What the code does not tell you

There is no document upload on the form and no mention of the RFID tag. Nothing says whether the car keeps its approval or its expiry date once it lands in another account, or whether JPJ looks at it again. JPJ's FAQ, which does answer the change-of-owner question, sends people to deregistration (next section). Until JPJ explains the button, we treat it as a way to move a record between two portal accounts, and we follow the route JPJ actually documents when a car is sold.

One more thing the button cannot change. What lets a car through is an approved VEP with an activated tag, whatever the account page shows. A confirmation slip or a pending application is not a permit. Since 1 July 2025 JPJ has issued a RM300 compound to Singapore cars without an activated tag, cars that are registered but not activated included, and the car is not allowed to leave Malaysia until the compound is paid and the VEP is activated.

If you sold the car: the seller's side

Selling involves two systems, and each one needs its own step. LTA moves the car to the buyer in Singapore. JPJ's FAQ treats the VEP as a separate job. Once the car has gone to a new owner, the old VEP comes off through its own deregistration request, and that request needs LTA's paperwork.

Step 1: transfer ownership with LTA

LTA's rule is that ownership must be transferred to the new owner within 7 days. As the current owner you start it on OneMotoring with Singpass 2FA. You need the vehicle registration number, the buyer's NRIC, FIN or company registration number, their name and their mobile number. The buyer gets an SMS asking them to log in and confirm, and for a car that is not under financing the transfer takes effect the moment they confirm. LTA then sends a letter and an SMS to both of you. Keep whatever LTA sends, because JPJ's document list asks for a Notification on Transfer of Ownership issued by LTA.

Keeping the plate number for your next car? Do it before this step, because LTA only lets you retain a vehicle number before the transfer.

Step 2: deregister the VEP

For a car that has been transferred to a new owner, JPJ's FAQ points to one place: Request for Deregistration on vepams.jpj.gov.my, where you upload the supporting documents and follow the steps on screen. These are the four documents the FAQ lists for it:

1. the NRIC card as registered in the VEP portal
2. the registration document issued by LTA
3. the Notification on Transfer of Ownership issued by LTA
4. ACRA documents, for a private organisation only

Until that request goes through, the VEP on the car is still yours. The tag on the car is linked to your Touch 'n Go eWallet, and Malaysia's RM20 road charge per entry is paid from the eWallet the tag is linked to. If you have forgotten the email address on your VEP account, or no longer use it, JPJ's FAQ says to write to aduanvep@jpj.gov.my.

The full walk-through, including what to do when you cannot get into the portal, is in our guide to deregistering a sold car's VEP. Selling one car and buying the next? Our guide to updating your VEP details after a sale covers both ends of the swap. Or leave the filing to us: VEP deregistration is from S$168.

If you bought the car: the buyer's side

You cannot drive the car into Malaysia on the seller's VEP. JPJ's FAQ says the owner of a foreign vehicle, or a representative the owner appoints, registers it on the portal, and after the sale the owner is you.

Before you take the keys

Confirm the LTA transfer yourself. You will get an SMS once the seller starts it. To confirm you need the plate number, a card, internet banking or PayNow to pay the fees, and valid motor insurance in your name covering the full period of the car's road tax. LTA tells sellers that the buyer must accept the transfer before the car is handed over, so do it while you are standing next to the car.

Ask about the VEP while the seller is still there. Who files the deregistration is something JPJ's FAQ leaves open, but the first document on its list is the NRIC as registered in the VEP portal, and that points to the person whose account holds the car. A seller with the login can file it the same afternoon. Chasing one weeks later for a password they have forgotten takes far longer.

Then apply in your own name

Once the old record is cleared, your VEP application goes in from your own portal account, with the car added as a new vehicle. In our experience most are approved in 5 to 10 working days; JPJ publishes no processing time, and the decision is JPJ's alone. After that the tag is fitted to the headlight and activated. Until both are done the car should stay on the Singapore side, because a pending application does not count as a permit and a car stopped without an activated tag pays the RM300 compound before it can leave.

The whole application for a used car, with the documents and what to do when the seller has gone quiet, is in how to get a VEP for a second-hand car. Activation has its own step-by-step guide.

If you changed cars: the new car needs its own VEP

JPJ's FAQ asks this question in almost the words drivers use: "Can I transfer the VEP RFID tag of my previous vehicle to my new vehicle?" The answer is that the tag is unique to each vehicle and cannot be transferred to another vehicle. The Malay version puts it more bluntly, "tidak boleh dipindahkan kepada kenderaan lain", which means it cannot be moved to another vehicle.

So the new car needs a fresh VEP registration on the same portal account: Register a new vehicle, enter its details and wait for JPJ to approve it, after which it gets a tag of its own on the headlight. JPJ lists a RM10 tag processing fee and a RM30 collection agent fee, plus courier charges if the tag is posted to you.

Why the old tag stays on the old car

Some drivers ask whether they can peel the tag off the old car and stick it on the new one. Apart from the FAQ answer above, JPJ's policy on faulty tags says the replacement policy does not apply to a tag that has been removed or tampered with, and a new tag is then charged a reissuance fee. A tag you have peeled off falls into that group. Leave it where it is and deal with the old car's record instead.

The old car

If you sold or traded in the old car, follow the seller's steps above. If it was scrapped or exported, its VEP should still come off the system, and our deregistration service handles those cases as well.

Keeping your plate number

Moving your number to the new car does not take the VEP with it, because JPJ ties the tag to the vehicle and the vehicle has changed. The new car still needs its own application. With LTA the order matters: retain the number before the old car is transferred.

What we can and cannot do for you

We cannot make a VEP move to another car. That is JPJ's rule, and no agent can get around it. What we do is the paperwork on either side of it: deregistering the old record from S$168, a new application for the new owner or the new car at S$125 per vehicle, and the headlight tag fitted and activated for S$50 at Danga Bay or Sunway Big Box in JB, or at our Bishan office. Approval is JPJ's decision and we never promise it.

If you have the time and the logins, you can do every step on this page yourself: the VEP application on vep.jpj.gov.my, and the deregistration request on JPJ's own VEPAMS portal.

Frequently asked questions

Can I transfer my VEP to my new car?

No. JPJ says the VEP RFID tag is unique to each vehicle and cannot be transferred to another vehicle. Register the new car as a new vehicle on your portal account and have a new tag fitted once it is approved.

Can the new owner drive into Malaysia on my VEP until theirs is approved?

No. JPJ's FAQ answers a change of owner with deregistration of the previous owner's VEP, and the new owner registers the car themselves. A pending application is not a permit, and a car without an activated tag gets a RM300 compound.

What does Request vehicle transfer on the VEP portal do?

You enter the plate number, the chassis number and the vehicle owner's email, the portal sends a confirmation email to that address, and the car moves between portal accounts once the link in it is opened. The page code shows nothing about the tag or the approval, and JPJ's FAQ does not mention the feature.

Which documents does JPJ want to deregister a sold car's VEP?

The NRIC as registered in the VEP portal, the registration document issued by LTA, the Notification on Transfer of Ownership issued by LTA, and ACRA documents if the owner is a private organisation. The request is made at vepams.jpj.gov.my under Request for Deregistration.

How long do I have to transfer my car's ownership in Singapore?

LTA says ownership must be transferred to the new owner within 7 days. The current owner starts it on OneMotoring and the buyer confirms, and it takes effect on confirmation if the car is not under financing.

Does keeping my plate number keep my VEP?

No. The tag is unique to the vehicle, so the new car needs its own VEP whatever number it carries. LTA only lets you retain the number before the old car is transferred.

Sources

• JPJ Vehicle Entry Permit portal: FAQ, and the Manage Vehicles and Transfer of vehicle pages (read 1 November 2026)
• JPJ VEPAMS portal: Request for Deregistration
• LTA OneMotoring: Transfer ownership (read 1 November 2026)
• Malay Mail: JPJ: Over 42,000 VEP tags of Singapore-registered vehicles not activated as of June 29 (1 July 2025)

Radiant VEP Solutions is not affiliated with JPJ. You can apply yourself for free at vep.jpj.gov.my. If you would rather we handled it, send us the log card through the application page, tell us whether you sold, bought or replaced the car, and we will tell you which of the steps above it still needs.