Selling a car without RWC what are my obligations?

[Winnie]

You were lucky. If during that time the buyer had scored any fines they could well have come to you & then you have the hassle of convincing the authorities (not VicRoads) that you were not responsible.

A number of years ago I drove our bus up to Melbourne & camped the night outside a factory ready to get a 6 metre awning fitted the following morning. Unknown to me, whilst I slept, some scumbag stole my rego plates. I managed to drive home to Gippsland none the wiser & parked the bus in the shed. First I knew of the plates having been stolen was when I received an infringement notice for parking somewhere I had never been. It was then I realised the plates were missing. I jumped through all the hoops & eventually after 2 or 3 months of letters back & forth the case was dropped. What really peed me off was that I was never told ‘found innocent’, only that I had been let off with a warning!

If you have signed and dated transfer forms then it wouldn't be a problem at all. What I should have done though is take my copy of those forms to Vic roads straight away

[the evil twin]

Even if the car's registration is cancelled, it will still have your details at vicroads as the last registered owner.

So what?
Every car every parted out has a the 'last registered owner' on file.
There is a monumental legal difference between being the 'registered owner' who tried to sell a Car illegally and 'last registered owner'.

[AB]

If you have signed and dated transfer forms then it wouldn't be a problem at all. What I should have done though is take my copy of those forms to Vic roads straight away

Yep that's what should be done.

In Vic anyway and take your slip into Vicroads and transfer ownership.

The buyer then at least has a chance to get a RWC in X days to show them to continue the rego going rather then the hassle of going into the pits for a new registration which you want to avoid at all cost!

For interstate vehicles the previous owner is refunded $$$ for the rego left as well.

[the evil twin]

I sold a car with no RWC and it still had registration. The buyer filled out and signed the transfer forms. He said he would get it transferred asap and I didn't think about it again.
The next year I got the registration renewal in the mail. Took the transfer forms in and straight away they put it in his name and sent him the bill for the rego. They gave him something like 14 days to come up with a RWC too.

If he drove the vehicle and if the vehicle had been involved in a tragic accident and was unroadworthy?

As the Seller, you are the person who has the responsibility to prove the roadworthiness at time of sale, not the purchaser.
If something like that ends up in Civil Court it gets very ugly very quick and I am sure 'old mate' is going to say it was you who said it was OK to drive.
If you sell it with no plates and no RWC then no problem (indeed you get some Rego money back)
If you sell it with plates and no RWC then there is a risk

Anyway, I still fail to see the point of trying to circumvent Vic Roads why not just hand the plates in and then every thing is in your favour.
Have a copy of a Bill of Sale and sleep well at night.

[Winnie]

If he drove the vehicle and if the vehicle had been involved in a tragic accident and was unroadworthy?

As the Seller, you are the person who has the responsibility to prove the roadworthiness at time of sale, not the purchaser.
If something like that ends up in Civil Court it gets very ugly very quick and I am sure 'old mate' is going to say it was you who said it was OK to drive.
If you sell it with no plates and no RWC then no problem (indeed you get some Rego money back)
If you sell it with plates and no RWC then there is a risk

Anyway, I still fail to see the point of trying to circumvent Vic Roads why not just hand the plates in and then every thing is in your favour.
Have a copy of a Bill of Sale and sleep well at night.

My reasoning was it is much harder to sell a car with no registration.

[the evil twin]

My reasoning was it is much harder to sell a car with no registration.

Agree, and it wasn't a problem... this time.
Just comes down to a risk management I s'pose.

I learnt fairly early in life that if something only goes pear shaped for 1 person in 1000 then that 1 person is me.
Ergo there is no way I would take the risk of some tool I never, ever met and probably won't ever meet again not actually being a tool.

In your case he was a tool 'cause he didn't actually do the RWC or Transfer Rego until forced to do so, even tho I bet he promised he would 'do it as soon as the Rego office is open' when he got the keys.

I would bet he would happily stand up in Court and say "Your Honour, Winnie said it was fine for me to drive and use the vehicle while he sorted out that RWC and finalised the deal. That is why I didn't put in the papers 'cause I didn't want him to get into trouble as I am a really nice bloke who would never do anything wrong".

[Winnie]

You're probably right. But there is a tick box on the form that says whether the car is being sold with a RWC or not.

[the evil twin]

You're probably right. But there is a tick box on the form that says whether the car is being sold with a RWC or not.

It is a generic form so that box is on there because some transfers are exempt from the RWC requirement...
Sale to your spouse, Sale to a Lic Dealer and Repos are the common ones plus a few other rare circumstances

[the evil twin]

What safety guarantee does it give you even if you sell the car with the RWC?
RWC is valid for good thirty days.
Buyer driving off your car(now his car) with the RWC and transfer papers can still keep it driving under your name for thirty days.
Lot can happen in thirty days, or at least the day the car was sold.
Only safety I can think of is to put the date and time of the sale on the transfer papers and a receipt and make sure the buyers signature and details are in those papers. If the buyer commit some criminal activity, etc with the car still registered under your name can still get you into trouble, but you can at least produce the paper to prove your innocence.
The best safeguard I can think of is to go to the Vicroads with the buyer and complete the transfer process there, which non of us paranoid enough to go through.
That is the only way I can think of guaranteeing the seller's safety, though it's a fair bit of an overkill.

Pffft... safety, smafety, in regards to OP question;
No rego and no RWC in a private sale means Purchaser is obligated
Rego and no RWC in a private sale means Vendor is obligated
Rego and RWC in a private sale means whoever issued the RWC is at risk and Vendor/Purchaser is not

[Cuppa]

If you have signed and dated transfer forms then it wouldn't be a problem at all. What I should have done though is take my copy of those forms to Vic roads straight away

Yes that is so as far as VicRoads is concerned, but less so as far as the police & Civic Compliance goes. The point I tried to make is that whilst you may be ok in the end, & possibly even enjoy a barney with the authorities, secure in the knowledge that you are in the right, there is every possibility that you will still have to jump through the hoops that that the bureacracy insists upon.