Sell your car in Hawaii — four counties, one clean handoff
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 keeps the buyer's future problems off your record. Everything below is checked against the counties' own paperwork.
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Pick your metro
Four islands, four different reasons to sell. Honolulu moves cars on PCS timelines and H-1 traffic, Kahului is still rebalancing after the Lahaina fire, Hilo fights ten feet of rain a year, and Kona's sun and vog work a car over from above. Each market gets its own page below.
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. The one place it's mandatory: a duplicate-title application sent by mail must be notarized. |
| The title form | There's no separate assignment form. You sign, date, and print your name on the back 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. |
| 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 — and mailed applications need that notary. |
| Protect yourself after the sale | The Notice of Transfer — form CS-L(MVR)53, a detachable section right at the top of the title certificate — must reach the county motor-vehicle office within 10 days of the sale. Skip it and you risk a fine of up to $100, plus the car staying tied to your name; 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. Specialty plates are the exception: veteran plates must be surrendered and swapped for regular plates ($5.50) before the county will record the transfer, and personalized plates run through their own county process. |
| 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 | Annual and unavoidable: every registered vehicle in Hawaii needs a current safety inspection from an authorized station. 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.
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 does recommend it, since Honolulu's DMV says notarizing "will prevent rejection for irregular signature(s)," and it travels better if the buyer registers in another county. It becomes mandatory only when you apply for a duplicate title by mail.
What is Hawaii's Notice of Transfer, and why does the 10-day deadline matter?
It's form CS-L(MVR)53, a detachable slip at the top of your title certificate. Filed with the county within 10 days of the sale, it puts on record that the car is no longer yours — so the buyer's parking tickets, tolls, and worse don't chase your name. Failing to file carries a fine of up to $100, which is the cheap part; the expensive part is a car still registered to you doing things you can't control.
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.