Which state makes it hardest to sell a car privately?

Louisiana, on this scoring. It is the only state where a notarised title signature and a deadlined notice of sale are both mandatory: the DPSMV 1697 notice of transfer is mandatory within fifteen days under R.S. 47:510(B), the plates are not transferable and come off, and a notarised bill of sale is required whenever the price is not entered in the title assignment. Missouri is second, and is one of only five states - with California, Colorado, Hawaii and Maryland - that puts an inspection on the seller rather than the buyer.

Which states make it easiest to sell a car?

Michigan, Montana and North Dakota. In all three the seller takes the plate off and signs the title, and that is the whole transaction: no notary, no notice of sale, no inspection and no required bill of sale. Michigan does ask you to keep your own record of the sale for eighteen months under MCL 257.240.

Do I have to tell the DMV I sold my car?

In 22 states yes, with a deadline. In 11 more it is offered and protects you. In 17 states no form exists at all - but in eight of those the licence plate does the same job, because surrendering it is what ends your registration and your liability. Check your own state: the mechanism differs, the protection does not.

Do the licence plates stay with the car when I sell it?

In 46 states the seller deals with the plates - usually removing them before the buyer drives away. Only Alaska, California, Hawaii and Minnesota leave ordinary plates on the car. Getting this backwards is the single most common mistake in private car sales, because advice written for one state is repeated in another.

Which states need a notary to sell a car?

Seven require the seller's signature on the title to be notarised: Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Wyoming. Washington's depends on the transaction. The rule follows the title's state, not yours, and a notarised signature is recognised across state lines, so it is a logistics problem rather than a legal wall.

50-state study · verified at source

The Red Tape Index: how hard each state makes it to sell your own car

Five things a state can put on a private seller — a notary, a notice of sale, an inspection, the plates, a bill of sale. Nobody had counted how they stack up, because no agency can see the other forty-nine. So we scored all fifty from studies we had already verified at source. Louisiana asks for the most; Michigan, Montana and North Dakota ask for almost nothing — and the reason that is not the good news it looks like is the finding underneath.

Last updated August 30, 2026.

The numbers at a glance

Most paperwork: Louisiana, 5.5 of 8 — the only state where a notarised signature and a deadlined notice of sale are both mandatory.
Least: Michigan, Montana and North Dakota, 1 of 8 — take the plate off and sign the title.
The finding: 17 states publish no notice-of-sale form at all. In 8 of them the plate is the filing — surrendering it is what ends the seller’s liability. The protection exists in all fifty states; only 22 call it a form.
7 states need the seller’s title signature notarised (Washington’s depends on the transaction).
5 states put an inspection on the seller; in 24 more the test exists but belongs to the buyer at registration.
46 states make the seller deal with the plates. Only Alaska, California, Hawaii and Minnesota leave ordinary plates on the car.
Free to reuse with credit and a link. Data: seller-red-tape-index.csv.

The one thing almost every write-up gets backwards

It is tempting to read the bottom of this table as the good news. It is not that simple, and the reason is the most useful thing on this page.

17 states publish no notice-of-sale or release-of-liability form at all. Ohio has none among the BMV’s 121 forms. North Dakota’s answer is blunt — nothing exists to file. Montana’s MVD says in writing not to notify the county treasurer. Read quickly, that sounds like fifty-fifty odds that your state will never know you sold the car, and it is where most advice stops.

It is wrong, because no form does not mean no step. In eight of those 17 states the licence plate is the filing. Alabama’s registration stays live in your name until the plate is surrendered. New Jersey’s plate-surrender receipt is the release of liability. Pennsylvania’s protection is removing the plate and turning it in on an MV-141. Mississippi files the tag with the county Tax Collector. The step is real, it has the same effect, and nobody calls it paperwork.

In most of the rest, the law closes the loop without you. Maine’s section 662 makes the properly executed assignment itself the thing that ends your liability. Tennessee and Wyoming end the registration by operation of law at transfer. Michigan takes the opposite route and puts the duty on your filing cabinet: MCL 257.240 asks you to keep a record of the sale — a photocopy of the reassigned title will do — for eighteen months.

Which leaves the honest summary: the protection exists in all fifty states. Only 22 of them call it a form. If you take one thing from this page, take that — and find your own state below, because the thing that protects you is different in each of the three groups.

How every state scores

Louisiana5.5

#1 · Notary, Notice of sale, Plates, Bill of sale

Missouri5

#2 · Notice of sale, Inspection, Plates

Colorado4.5

#3 · Notice of sale, Inspection, Plates, Bill of sale

Oklahoma4.5

#3 · Notary, Notice of sale, Plates, Bill of sale

Washington4.5

#3 · Notary, Notice of sale, Plates, Bill of sale

California4

#6 · Notice of sale, Inspection

Hawaii4

#6 · Notice of sale, Inspection

Kentucky4

#6 · Notary, Notice of sale, Plates

North Carolina4

#6 · Notary, Notice of sale, Plates

Rhode Island4

#6 · Notice of sale, Plates, Bill of sale

South Carolina4

#6 · Notice of sale, Plates, Bill of sale

South Dakota4

#6 · Notice of sale, Plates, Bill of sale

Vermont4

#6 · Notice of sale, Plates, Bill of sale

Arizona3.5