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Nevada car paperwork, start to finish

Signing a Nevada title takes about ninety seconds once you know which boxes matter. Getting one of them wrong sends the buyer back to the DMV and the car back to your driveway. Here is the whole thing, taken from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles's own pages and the forms themselves.

Start here How to fill out a Nevada title All ten boxes with a filled-in example, a video, and a one-page checklist you can print. Open the walkthrough →
The one most people get wrong

The exemption box printed on your title may be wrong

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.

Nevada DMV, Odometer Disclosure Law

Signing the title

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.

If the car is a 2011 or newer

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 DMV, Title Requirements

The full box-by-box walkthrough is here, with a printable checklist.

The forms

What each one is for

Your plates are not the buyer's plates

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).

Then tell the DMV you sold it

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 DMV, registration cancellation.

Nevada DMV, Private Party Vehicle Registration

What the buyer has to do, so you can tell them

Register at a 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:

Smog, and why it does not stop you selling

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 required if
  • Based in the urban areas of Clark or Washoe county
  • 1968 model year or newer
  • Gasoline powered, regardless of weight or size
  • GVWR up to 14,000 lbs
Exempt
  • A new vehicle until its fourth registration - the first three are exempt
  • Hybrids for five model years; a test is due in the sixth
  • 1967 model year and older
  • Anything based outside urban Clark or Washoe county

A test is good for 90 days, or 180 days from the date of test on a Nevada dealer sale. Nevada DMV, Emission Control Program.

Four Nevada rules worth knowing before you list it

Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles · figures and rules as of 2026-08-22. Plain-language help with paperwork, not legal advice.

See also: selling a car in Nevada and the rest of the guides.

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