Sell your car in Hawaii: safety check current, notice in 10 days
Hawaii runs its car paperwork like nowhere else: there is no state DMV, so your county's motor-vehicle office handles the title, the plates stay bolted on through the sale, and a private deal owes no sales tax at all. What you can't skip is the safety inspection certificate — and a 10-day notice that makes the buyer answer for their own parking and traffic tickets. Everything below is checked against the counties' own paperwork.
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On Oahu, start with the Honolulu page: Honolulu is where most Hawaii sellers search from. On the other islands the steps are the same, but the notice of transfer goes to the county where the car was last registered, and each county sets its own transfer fee.
How to sell a car in Hawaii
- 01Get the safety check and registration current. Your county, not a state office, records a Hawaii title transfer, and it won't complete one unless the car's registration and safety inspection are both current. If the sticker has run out, book the Hawaii safety inspection before you list: $25.75 for a car since July 1, 2025, at a permitted service station or repair shop, with your registration and a valid Hawaii insurance ID card in hand. Back registration on a lapsed car is charged to the buyer at the counter, so agree up front who pays it. You could also skip the listing entirely and take an instant cash offer here.
- 02Clear the lien and any plates with words on them. Hawaii has no lien-release form: your lender signs Section B on the back of the title or gives you a lien satisfaction letter. A lost or defaced title must be replaced before you can sign it, on Oahu with CS-L(MVR)10 ($10), which the lender files if one is on record. Ordinary plates stay on the car. A personalized plate must be transferred, stored or retired before the sale, and veteran plates must be swapped for regular ones or the county won't record the new owner.
- 03Take the notice-of-transfer strip off the top first. Hawaii prints its notice of sale across the head of the certificate of title itself. Detach it before you write anything in Section A, fill in the buyer's name and address, sign it and photograph it. Once it goes to the county, that photo is your only record of what you told them.
- 04Date, print and sign Section A. Section A, on the front of the certificate, is your whole job on the title. For a 2011 or later model, write the odometer reading in whole miles; for 2010 or older, leave it blank. Then date, print your name and sign, in ink, and every owner on the title does all three. Put the same date on the strip, because it starts your 10 days and the buyer's 30. No notary is required, though Honolulu says a notarized signature avoids rejection for an irregular signature.
- 05Write the price on a Hawaii bill of sale. The title has no line for the price, so Honolulu's one-page CS-L(MVR)40 is where it goes. It's optional in an ordinary sale. If you never titled the car to yourself, the buyer needs it notarized (or a seller power of attorney) to record a double transfer.
- 06Hand over three documents and leave the plates on. The buyer gets the endorsed title, the last-issued registration and the current State of Hawaii Safety Inspection Certificate, plus a letter of authorization if a company owns the car. The buyer drives away legally on the car's plates, with that registration inside.
- 07Send the strip in within 10 days. It goes to the county where the car was last registered, within 10 days of the sale; missing it can bring a fine of up to $100. Strip already gone? Honolulu's replacement is CS-L(MVR)53 and the County of Hawaii's is VRL-MVR504, on the same 10-day clock. The notice moves parking and traffic violations onto the buyer, but it doesn't take your name off the car, so keep your insurance until the buyer records the transfer.
- 08The buyer records it at a satellite city hall within 30 days. From the date in Section A, the buyer has 30 days to take the title, registration and safety certificate to the county DMV (on Oahu, a satellite city hall, by appointment) and sign Section D on the back. The fee is $10 on Oahu or $20 in Maui County, plus a $50 penalty if they're late. A joint seller-and-buyer appointment finishes the whole transfer in one visit.
Checked against the City and County of Honolulu Division of Motor Vehicle, Licensing and Permits in August 2026.
What Hawaii requires when you sell
| Who you'll deal with | Hawaii has no state DMV. Titles and registration run through each county — the City & County of Honolulu's Division of Motor Vehicles for Oahu, and the Maui, Hawaii, and Kauai county offices for their islands. Fees genuinely differ by county, so it's worth confirming your island's number before you head in. |
|---|---|
| Notary | Optional on the title itself — though Honolulu's DMV notes that notarizing the seller's signature "will prevent rejection for irregular signature(s)," and it smooths things over when the buyer records the transfer in a different county. It becomes mandatory in two cases Honolulu names: a second buyer recording a double transfer needs a notarized bill of sale or seller power of attorney, and a title from another county or state that the recorded owner never released needs a notarized bill of sale. |
| The title form | There's no separate assignment form. You sign, date, and print your name in Section A on the front of the Certificate of Title — all joint owners must sign — and record the odometer reading unless the vehicle is model year 2010 or older. The buyer then pays the transfer fee: $10 on Oahu if done within 30 days of your date of transfer, $20 in Maui County, with a $50 penalty stacked on after 30 days either way. |
| Bill of sale | Optional in an ordinary sale. Honolulu publishes its own one-page form, CS-L(MVR)40, and since a Hawaii title has no line for the price, it's the place to record what the car sold for. A notarized bill of sale is required in two cases: a second buyer recording a double transfer (a seller power of attorney also works), or a title from another county or state that the recorded owner never released. Source: Honolulu's ownership transfer page. |
| Lost your title? | Replaced by the county, not the state. On Oahu it's form CS-L(MVR)10, Application for Duplicate Motor Vehicle Certificate of Title, and the fee is $10 as of 2026. If a lienholder is on record, only the lienholder can apply. |
| Protect yourself after the sale | The Notice of Transfer is a detachable strip across the top of the title certificate (if it's already gone, Honolulu's standalone replacement is form CS-L(MVR)53), and it must reach the county where the car was last registered within 10 days of the sale. Skip it and you risk a fine of up to $100, and the buyer's parking and traffic violations stay your problem. Filing it does not take your name off the record, though: that happens only when the buyer applies for the transfer. Maui County spells out the same 10-day mailing rule. |
| License plates | Standard Hawaii plates stay with the car — the county's transfer keeps the vehicle's existing plates and registration in place. Two kinds are the exception: veteran plates must be replaced with regular plates before the county will record the transfer, and a personalized plate must be transferred, stored or retired before the car changes hands. |
| Sales tax | None on a private deal. Hawaii's General Excise Tax falls on businesses, and the Department of Taxation classifies a sale by someone not in the car business as a casual sale — no GET, no use tax. The 4% use tax only appears when a vehicle is bought out of state and shipped in, and even then a casual-sale purchase is exempt if the buyer files Form G-27 with the county at registration. |
| Inspections | Unavoidable: every registered vehicle in Hawaii needs a current safety inspection from a permitted station, renewed yearly on most cars (a new car's first certificate runs two years). At the handoff you give the buyer three things — the endorsed title, the last-issued registration, and the current State of Hawaii Safety Inspection Certificate. |
Forms, fees, and deadlines verified against the City & County of Honolulu's vehicle ownership transfer guide as of August 2026 — Maui, Hawaii, and Kauai counties run their own offices, so confirm the local fee before you head in.
No notary needed here, unlike a handful of states; a replacement title runs $10 — compare all fifty; what protects you after handoff; selling when the title is gone; or price the Hawaii transfer in the fee calculator.
Asked by Hawaii sellers
Is there sales tax when I sell my car privately in Hawaii?
No. Hawaii's General Excise Tax applies to businesses, and the Department of Taxation treats a one-off sale by a private owner as a casual sale — not subject to GET or use tax. The state's 4% use tax only comes up for vehicles bought out of state and imported, and a buyer in a casual sale can claim exemption from even that by filing Form G-27 with the county when registering.
Do I need a notary to sell a car in Hawaii?
Not for a standard sale — notarizing the seller's signature on the title is optional. Honolulu's DMV gives a reason to do it anyway: notarizing "will prevent rejection for irregular signature(s)," and it travels better if the buyer registers in another county. It becomes mandatory in two cases: a second buyer recording a double transfer needs a notarized bill of sale or seller power of attorney, and a title from another county or state that the recorded owner never released needs a notarized bill of sale.
What is Hawaii's Notice of Transfer, and why does the 10-day deadline matter?
It's a detachable strip across the top of your certificate of title; if it's already gone, Honolulu's standalone replacement is form CS-L(MVR)53. Filed within 10 days of the sale with the county where the car was last registered, it makes the buyer responsible for parking and traffic violations, and for lawsuits over how the car is driven, after the date of sale. Failing to file carries a fine of up to $100. It does not take your name off the record: that happens only when the buyer applies for the transfer with the title and registration you handed over, so keep your insurance until they do.
Hawaii doesn't have a DMV — where do I actually go?
To your county. Oahu sales run through the City & County of Honolulu's Division of Motor Vehicles and its satellite city halls; Maui, Hawaii, and Kauai counties each run their own motor-vehicle offices with their own fee schedules. Same state law everywhere, slightly different counters and prices.
Does my car need a current safety inspection before I can sell it in Hawaii?
Yes. The county completes a title transfer only once the car is current on both registration and safety inspection, so an expired sticker stops the sale until it is renewed. There is no Hawaii emissions test in any county; the safety check is the only inspection. Since July 1, 2025 it costs $25.75 for a car or truck at one of about 500 permitted stations, and you bring the registration and a valid Hawaii insurance ID card.