The RDW (Rijksdienst voor het Wegverkeer, in English the Netherlands Vehicle Authority) is the Dutch government agency for vehicles. It admits vehicles to the road, issues registration numbers (kentekens) and keeps the vehicle register: who is the registered keeper of which car. The RDW also approves the garages that carry out the APK (Dutch MOT test), has registered odometer readings since 1 January 2014, and inspects imported cars before they get a Dutch registration. It has public desks in Veendam and Zoetermeer, among other places, and inspection stations across the country.
Why it matters when buying or selling
Every sale involves the RDW: the €13.10 transfer (overschrijven) runs through the RDW, online or at a registration counter. For buyers, the RDW is the most neutral source of information about a car. Its register includes the catalogue price, the APK expiry date, the odometer verdict, whether there is a recall and the number of owners. As an owner, you can download a free RDW vehicle report with this data using DigiD. For a quick look at the basic data behind any plate, use our licence plate check.