Sell your car in Indiana — fill in the title, pull the plate, get paid
Indiana asks almost nothing of a car seller: the whole transaction happens on the back of the title, nobody needs a notary, and there's no follow-up form to remember three weeks later. Fill in both the seller and purchaser sections, take your plate off the car, and you're finished — the BMV even makes the bill of sale optional. Below, the rulebook in plain terms, then a real cash number for whatever you're selling.
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Pick your metro
Indianapolis tops Indiana's cities for car sellers, so start with the Indianapolis page if you're selling there. Buyers anywhere in the state title the car at a BMV license branch; there's no county clerk or tax office in the middle.
How to sell a car in Indiana
- 01Release every lien, even a private lender's. The Indiana BMV requires every lienholder to release its interest before the car is sold. A lender signs a release block on the face of the certificate. A private person who lent you the money can sign there, write a release letter, or use the general affidavit, State Form 37964. If your name has changed since the title was issued, fix that now with State Form 13637.
- 02Titled since July 2025? Your title may be electronic. Since 1 July 2025 Indiana issues electronic titles, and it issues one automatically if nobody chooses paper. An electronic title can't be duplicated, only printed or amended. Selling one to a licensed Indiana dealer runs on State Form 57738, where the dealer uses a BMV authorized Partial Service Provider. Lost a paper title? A duplicate is $15, and a speed title adds $25.
- 03Sign the seller section under oath, no notary. The Indiana title transfer happens on the certificate itself, in blue or black ink. Every owner named on the title prints and signs in the seller section; one owner can't sign for another unless they hold a notarized Limited Power of Attorney, State Form 1940. Then write the mileage in whole miles, the date of sale, the price, and the buyer's name and address in the purchaser section. No notary is needed: your signature is an oath, and a false statement may be perjury. Mileage isn't required on a model year 2010 or older car, and State Form 43230 is only for when the title's own odometer statement can't be used.
- 04Write the price; never write over a slip. The branch taxes your buyer on the price you write. A blank sends them to State Form 56620, which the BMV may forward to the Department of Revenue. If you get something wrong, you correct it on State Form 55582, which you sign as the seller. The title itself tells your buyer not to accept one showing erasures or alterations.
- 05Add State Form 44237 as your receipt. The Indiana bill of sale, State Form 44237, can't transfer a titled car; only the certificate does that. Write one anyway. It costs nothing, you both keep a copy, and it is what the BMV looks at if the certificate turns out to be missing a date or a price.
- 06Photograph the title: there's nothing to file. With no notice of sale to send in afterwards, this photo is your evidence. Get every owner's signature, the odometer statement, the date of sale, the price and the buyer's name and address in one shot, before the keys change hands.
- 07Keep the plate; the BMV doesn't want it back. The plate is yours: take it off at the handover. Move it to another vehicle you own for $9.50, or make it permanently unreadable, then cancel your insurance on the day of the sale. Your buyer can drive home without a plate for 72 hours, by the most direct route to a place of storage, an emissions inspection station or a branch, with the title in the car.
- 08Leave the title application to your buyer. Indiana has no notice of sale or release of liability, so you file nothing. Your buyer takes the certificate and photo ID to a BMV license branch, fills in State Form 205, and pays the $15 title fee plus 7% sales tax on the price you wrote. They have 45 days; after that the BMV charges a $30 administrative penalty. If you're handing over another state's title, they also need a VIN inspection on State Form 39530. An Indiana emissions test applies only in Lake and Porter counties, and it belongs to their registration, not your sale.
If you'd rather not sell privately, this page can give you an instant cash offer instead. Checked against the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles' Buying & Selling a Vehicle page in August 2026.
What Indiana requires when you sell
| Notary | Not required — anywhere in the state. The BMV's selling instructions ask that the seller and purchaser sections on the certificate of title be completed in their entirety, and that's it: no notarization step exists. Even Indiana's optional bill of sale (State Form 44237) states it is not required to be notarized. |
|---|---|
| The title form | The sale is documented on the certificate of title itself — you complete both the seller and purchaser sections of the assignment, in full. Your buyer then applies for a new title on State Form 205 within 45 days; the title fee is $15, a speed (expedited) title adds $25 to that, and a late application draws a $30 administrative penalty. When a separate odometer disclosure is needed, that's State Form 43230. |
| Bill of sale | Useful, but it can't transfer a car. The BMV says a bill of sale cannot be used to transfer ownership of a vehicle that requires a certificate of title by law; it proves ownership only in eight title-exempt cases, and a car isn't one of them. For a car sale, Indiana's form, State Form 44237, is a receipt you both keep, and it can supply a price or date missing from the certificate. Source: the BMV's Proof of Vehicle Ownership: Bill of Sale page. |
| Lost your title? | A duplicate for a lost, stolen, mutilated, or destroyed title costs $15 (a speed title adds $25) using the same State Form 205 — order it online at myBMV.com, at a branch or BMV Connect kiosk, or by mail. An electronic title can't be duplicated — it can only be printed or amended. Two more catches: a duplicate can't change owners or liens, and every lienholder must release its interest before the vehicle can be sold. |
| Protect yourself after the sale | Indiana has no notice-of-sale or release-of-liability filing for private sellers — there's nothing to mail in afterward. The protection is procedural: complete both assignment sections in full and remove your plate at the transaction. From there the clock runs on your buyer, who owes the BMV a title application within 45 days or pays that $30 penalty. |
| License plates | They're yours, not the car's. The BMV instructs the seller to take the plate off at the time of the transaction; you may transfer it to another vehicle you own, and returning it to the BMV is not required. |
| Sales tax | The buyer pays Indiana's 7% vehicle sales tax, not you. In a private sale the buyer pays it at the BMV branch when applying for the title; a dealer collects it at purchase and issues Form ST-108 (State Form 48842). Sellers collect and remit nothing. |
| Inspections | No safety or emissions inspection stands between you and a sale. Emissions testing applies only to vehicles registered in Lake and Porter counties, and only where the vehicle is due, under the Clean Air Car Check program, which publishes the model years due each cycle — 1976–2022 are due in 2026. It attaches to the buyer's registration, not to your sale. The one check tied to the title is a VIN inspection on State Form 39530, and only when the title being handed over is another state's. |
Forms, fees, and deadlines above were checked against the Indiana BMV's official buying-and-selling instructions as of August 2026 — rules do change, so the link is there for you to verify before you sign anything.
No notary needed here, unlike a handful of states; a replacement title runs $15 — compare all fifty; what protects you after handoff; selling with a loan still on it; or price the Indiana transfer in the fee calculator.
Asked by Indiana sellers
Do I need a notary to sell my car in Indiana?
No. The BMV's selling instructions never mention one — the requirement is simply that the seller and purchaser sections of the title assignment be completed in their entirety. Indiana's bill of sale, State Form 44237, even says on its face that it doesn't have to be notarized. Fill in every field carefully and you're done; no stamp, no appointment.
Do I have to tell the BMV after I sell my car?
There's no form for that — Indiana has no notice-of-sale or release-of-liability filing for private sellers. Your protection comes from doing the handoff right: complete both assignment sections on the title in full, take your plate off before the car leaves, and keep copies of everything. The buyer is then legally required to apply for a new title within 45 days, with a $30 administrative penalty waiting if they're late.
Who pays the 7% sales tax on a private car sale?
Your buyer. Indiana collects vehicle sales tax from the purchaser — in a private sale they pay it at the BMV branch when they apply for their title, and at a dealership it's collected at purchase and documented on Form ST-108. Nothing about the tax touches the seller's side of the deal, so don't let anyone talk you into netting it out of your price.
I can't find my title. Can I still sell the car?
Yes, once you replace it. A duplicate runs $15 through State Form 205 — ordered at myBMV.com, any branch, a BMV Connect kiosk, or by mail — and a speed title adds $25 if you're in a hurry. Two things to know: a duplicate can't add or remove owners, and any lienholder must have released its interest before the car can change hands. Order early and line up the rest of the sale while you wait.