You own the car outright, you have the title in your hand, and a buyer is standing in the driveway. Here is the whole thing, taken from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles' own pages and the forms themselves.
Start hereHow to fill out a Nevada titleAll ten boxes with a filled-in example, a video, and a one-page checklist you can print.Open the walkthrough →Registration expired? What a lapse actually costs in Nevada — and whether the missed years are billed at all.
You own the car outright, you have the title in your hand, and a buyer is standing in the driveway.
The loan is paid, or nearly paid, but the lienholder is still printed on the face of the certificate.
The title never arrived, it has gone missing, or somebody has already written on it - and in Nevada an alteration voids the certificate outright.
Deployed, hospitalised, out of state, or holding the car through a trust.
With or without a beneficiary named in advance, and with or without probate.
An orange salvage title, a rebuild, or a vehicle whose paperwork and metal have stopped agreeing.
In Nevada the plates belong to you, not the car, which surprises people at handover.
| Item | Amount | The detail that matters |
|---|---|---|
| Title transfer | $28.50 | $28.50 for a complete change of ownership, which is what a private sale is — the figure in the fee table on the DMV's own title page. … source |
| Replacement title, if yours is lost | $20 | How and where to get one |
| Plate transfer | varies | Plates stay with the seller, who must move them to another vehicle or surrender them for cancellation within 60 days of sale (30 days for special plates). … source |
| Tax on the sale (buyer pays) | None | The DMV states that sales taxes are not charged on private party vehicle sales, family sales, or gifts. … source |
Work out your own sale on the 50-state transfer cost calculator, or see what a lapsed registration costs if the car has been sitting.
You must disclose the mileage even if the title says "Exempt - Model year over 9 years old." Nevada titles printed under the old rule still carry that line, and checking it on a 2011-or-newer vehicle is the mistake that gets a transfer bounced.
NHTSA requires odometer disclosure until a vehicle is 20 years old, starting with the 2011 model year. The old rule was 10 years, so a 2011 vehicle is not exempt until 2031, a 2012 until 2032, and so on.
2010 model or older: you may check the exempt box on the title.
2011 model or newer: enter the current mileage in the Odometer Reading section at the time of sale or transfer into a trust.
You, the seller: Sign the title exactly as your name appears on it now.
The buyer: The buyer prints their name in the buyer section exactly as it appears on their driver's license.
AND or OR. If the title names person 1 AND person 2, both must sign. If it names person 1 OR person 2, either can sign without the other.
This one word decides whether you need the other owner in the room. Read the title, not your memory of it.
For a 2011-or-newer vehicle the seller must hand the buyer a paper title. A bill of sale plus an Application for Duplicate Title will not be accepted, and neither will a non-secure power of attorney.
Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, title requirements
The full box-by-box walkthrough is here, with a printable checklist.
Nevada plates belong to the seller. Keep them, and either move them to another vehicle or turn them in for cancellation within 60 days of the sale - 30 days for special plates.
To hand the plates to the buyer instead, for example on a classic car, file a License Plate Release (SP 67). Registration fee credits do NOT transfer to the buyer.
If you have already let the car go with the plates still on it, file a Lost, Stolen or Mutilated License Plate Affidavit (VP 202).
File the MyDMV Registration Cancellation and Vehicle Resale Notification. It tells the DMV the car is no longer yours and releases your registration fee credit.
The bill of sale, the registration cancellation and the resale notification together are your proof you sold it. Nevada passes the resale notification to wreckers and tow operators, so if the car is later abandoned the trail does not end at your name.
Cancel the registration before you drop the insurance.
The DMV's own wording is to cancel first to avoid potential fines - Nevada checks insurance electronically, and a registered car with no policy on file generates a penalty whether or not you still own it. Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, registration cancellation.
Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, private party registration
Register at a Nevada DMV office within 30 days of the purchase. Sales tax is not charged on private party vehicle sales, family sales or gifts in Nevada. A buyer may drive a just-bought vehicle for three days without a movement permit if proof of ownership or purchase and proof of liability insurance are in the car. Past three days a permit is required.
What they need to bring:
None of this stops you selling. Emissions is a registration requirement that lands on the buyer, and a car that would fail is very often exactly the car worth selling rather than fixing.
A test is good for 90 days, or 180 days from the date of test on a Nevada dealer sale. Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, emissions programme.
Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles · figures and rules as of 2026-08-22. Plain-language help with paperwork, not legal advice.
Our city pages cover the local side of these forms: the Las Vegas DMV offices for title problems, Reno's Declaration of Non-Ownership for a ticket after a sale and the DMV Title Research unit in Carson City. Henderson and North Las Vegas owners can find the Henderson counters that order duplicate titles and selling a financed car on PCS orders from North Las Vegas.
See also: selling a car in Nevada and the rest of the guides.