Stick-slip flow is a challenging viscoelastic benchmark problem due to the presence of a separation or transition point at the die exit where a sudden change in flow boundary conditions occurs. We present numerical simulations of transient planar stick-slip flow of the Phan-Thien–Tanner (PTT) and Giesekus fluids, investigating the polymer stress behavior around the stress singularity at the stick-slip point, confirming the asymptotic results presented by Evans et al. [“Stresses of the Oldroyd-B, PTT and Giesekus fluids in a Newtonian velocity field near the stick-slip singularity,” Phys. Fluids 29, 1–33 (2017)]. In order to improve the numerical knowledge about this viscoelastic benchmark problem, two distinct mathematical methodologies are used for comparison in the computational simulations: the Cartesian and natural stress formulations. The former is widely applied in computational rheology, while the latter is used for the first time in the context of this problem. The natural stress formulation gives improved convergence results both temporally and spatially near to the singularity while maintaining the same global flow characteristics as the Cartesian.