Sell your car in Colorado: emissions test near Denver, plates off
Colorado sellers deal with a few wrinkles other states skip: if the buyer lives in the Denver metro or the North Front Range, the passing emissions certificate is the seller's job, and hail history follows a car around here like nowhere else. The good news is the paperwork itself is simple — no notary, one title form, and an optional online release of liability that's worth filing. Get a real offer, hand over the keys, take your plates, done.
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Selling in the metro? Our Denver page covers Colorado's busiest city. The title and plate rules on this page are the same in every county.
How to sell a car in Colorado
- 01Check the lien release block and your printed name. If the car ever had a loan, the lienholder's release block on the face of the title has to be filled in; a blank block means the buyer's county will reject the transfer. Then compare the owner names printed there with your ID. You must print your name exactly as the title prints it, and a first initial with a last name is not accepted. If the spellings differ, a DR 2421 Statement of One and the Same goes in with the title. Before you list the car, you can also get an instant cash offer here.
- 02Hand over a DR 2710 if the title carries a brand. Colorado makes every owner disclose a title brand, such as rebuilt from salvage or flood damaged, before the sale, on the DR 2710 Branded Title Disclosure Statement. Skipping it on a car rebuilt from salvage is a misdemeanor. No brand on your title? Skip this step.
- 03Buy an unused emissions test if the buyer lives in the program area. If the car is past its first seven model years and the buyer lives in the Denver metro or the North Front Range, you owe them a passing Colorado emissions test at the sale (C.R.S. 42-4-310). It must be one that hasn't been used to register or renew a vehicle, so the certificate from your own last renewal doesn't count. Where the buyer lives decides it, not where the car has been kept.
- 04Sign the Assignment by Owner on the back. That block is where the Colorado title transfer happens. Every owner named on the front prints and signs. There is no notary: the perjury declaration printed above the block takes its place. For a 2011 or newer model, write the mileage in whole miles and tick one of the three boxes; for 2010 or older, leave the odometer block empty rather than writing “exempt”. Write the date of sale and the price there too, or the buyer will need a separate bill of sale. Any alteration or erasure may void the assignment, and a changed odometer reading voids the document outright; the fix is a duplicate title on DR 2539A, so fill it in once. The Colorado DMV explains how to properly endorse a title.
- 05Take your plates off; ordinary ones expire at the sale. Colorado plates belong to the registered owner, not the car. An ordinary plate also expires the moment you sign over the title and can't go on your next car (that rule is set to change on January 1, 2028), so return it to a county motor vehicle office or recycle it as scrap metal. Personalized and special plates can move to your next car through the county office. Leave the insurance in place until the plates are physically off the car.
- 06Report the sale on myDMV, even though it's optional. Colorado doesn't require it, but a Report Release of Liability filed within five business days takes you out of later civil or criminal actions against the driver or the car. File it online at myDMV, or at the county office, with your plate number and either the VIN or the verification code from your registration card. It has no paper form. It won't cover something you skipped at the sale, like a brand disclosure or an emissions certificate.
- 07The buyer titles it in their own county within 60 days. Only the buyer's own county motor vehicle office can process the transfer. Another county can't, and neither can the Colorado DMV's state Vehicle Services office. The buyer brings your signed title, their ID and insurance, a DR 2395 application, and the emissions certificate where one applies. They pay the $7.20 title fee and the Colorado car sales tax: 2.9% state tax plus local taxes for their address. After 60 days a late fee of $25 a month starts, capped at $100.
Checked against the Colorado Department of Revenue, Division of Motor Vehicles, in August 2026. Every Colorado form we cover is on our Colorado forms page.
What Colorado requires when you sell
| Notary | Not required. Colorado skips the notary entirely — every owner named on the front of the title signs and prints their name in the seller section, matching the printed name exactly, and that's the whole ceremony. |
|---|---|
| The title form | There is no separate assignment form — ownership transfers on the back of the Colorado Certificate of Title itself, with purchase price, date of sale, and a federal odometer disclosure (model year 2011 and newer, for the vehicle's first 20 years). Write the price and date there, or the buyer needs a separate bill of sale. The buyer's title transfer fee is $7.20. |
| Bill of sale | Only needed if the price isn't on the title. When the date of sale and purchase price are written on the back of the title, Colorado asks for no separate bill of sale. Leave them off and the buyer's county needs one; a plain signed sheet works. The secure DR 2173 Colorado bill of sale is for edge cases, such as a title with no room left in the assignment, and can't be downloaded. Source: Colorado DMV, buying and selling. |
| Lost your title? | Only the listed owner (or lienholder) can order a duplicate — online through myDMV, in person, or by mail using form DR 2539A with the $7.20 fee. Mailing to an out-of-state address? Mail is the only option, and any recorded lien has to be released first. |
| Protect yourself after the sale | Optional, but worth filing. Colorado doesn't require a seller to report the sale (C.R.S. 42-6-109(3)). If you do, file a Report Release of Liability within 5 business days — an online service at myDMV (or your county motor vehicle office), using your plate number plus the VIN or the verification code from your registration card. It shields you from later civil or criminal actions against the driver or the vehicle, but not from anything you skipped at the sale, such as a required disclosure. |
| License plates | They're yours — always take them off. The DMV warns that plates left on a sold car can come back as toll bills, fines, or a knock on the door if the vehicle turns up in a crime. Return old plates to the county motor vehicle office or a metal recycler; personalized plates can transfer to your next vehicle through the county office. |
| Sales tax | The buyer's problem, not yours. Tax is collected at the buyer's county motor vehicle office when they title and register — they get 60 days from purchase before late fees start at $25 per month, capped at $100. |
| Emissions | No safety inspection in Colorado — but in the nine-county program area (Denver metro and the North Front Range), emissions is a seller obligation: a car more than 7 model years old sold to a buyer in an emissions county needs a fresh passing certificate handed over at the sale (C.R.S. 42-4-310). The test costs $35 for 1982-and-newer vehicles, $20 for 1981-and-older. |
Verified against the Colorado DMV's official buying-and-selling guidance as of August 2026 — fees and forms do change, so confirm the details before you sign anything.
No notary needed here, unlike a handful of states; a replacement title runs $7.20 — compare all fifty; what protects you after handoff; whether you need a bill of sale; or price the Colorado transfer in the fee calculator.
Asked by Colorado sellers
Do I need a notary to sell my car in Colorado?
No. The state's title-endorsement instructions never mention a notary. Every owner named on the front of the title signs and prints their name in the seller's section — the printed name has to match the title exactly — and the transfer is valid.
Do I have to get an emissions test before I sell?
Only if the buyer lives in the program area — the Denver metro and the North Front Range — and the car is past its first seven model years. Then you owe the buyer a passing emissions certificate at the time of sale, and it has to be one that hasn't already been used to register or renew a vehicle. What counts is where the buyer lives, not where you sell or where the car has been kept.
What do I do with my plates after the sale?
Take them off before the buyer drives away — Colorado plates stay with the owner, not the car. Drop them at your county motor vehicle office or a metal recycler, or move a personalized plate to your next vehicle through the county office.
Am I on the hook if the buyer never registers the car?
Colorado doesn't require you to report the sale, but it's worth doing. A Report Release of Liability filed on myDMV within five business days takes you out of later civil or criminal actions brought against the driver or the vehicle. It doesn't cover your own conduct at the sale, such as skipping a required disclosure. The buyer's 60-day registration window, and the late fees behind it, run entirely on their clock.