Sell your car in Kansas — no notary, no inspection, and one $10 form worth filing
Kansas keeps a car sale refreshingly plain: no notary, no safety or emissions inspection, and the whole transfer happens on the back of the title. The two wrinkles worth knowing are electronic titles — standard here whenever a loan is on the car, with their own forms — and TR-216, the ten-dollar online notice that shields you from liability if the buyer never registers the car. Everything below is checked against the state's own paperwork.
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Selling a car in Kansas works the same way in every county, because the title rules are statewide. Wichita is the state's busiest city; start with the Wichita page or pick your own city above.
How to sell a car in Kansas
- 01Paper title or electronic? Check before you agree a sale. Kansas prints a paper title only when no lien is recorded, so a car with a loan on it has an electronic title (step 2). With a paper title, have it in your hands first: under K.S.A. 8-135(c)(7), a sale without the assigned title is fraudulent and void unless you agree in writing to deliver it within 60 days. Lost or damaged? Order a replacement on form TR-720B for $10 before you advertise. Whether you list the car or get an instant cash offer here instead, that certificate still has to change hands.
- 02Loan still on it? Sell on the TR-39a and TR-40. The Electronic Title Sales Agreement (TR-39a) gets the buyer a 60-day temporary registration and commits you to deliver the assigned paper title within 60 days of the sale, in person or by registered or certified mail. Pair it with the TR-40 power of attorney, where you certify the price and mileage so the buyer can finish the assignment when the clear title prints. Ask your lender for a payoff timeline before you date the agreement, because that date starts your 60 days. A Kansas lender's TR-150 lien release is notarized; that notary is theirs, not yours.
- 03Read the word between the owners' names. If the title joins two owners with "and," both sign. With "or," either can sign alone. No word at all counts as "and." An owner who can't be there signs a power of attorney ahead of time: TR-41 for a paper title, TR-40 for an electronic one. It must be in original ink; the state won't accept a fax or photocopy.
- 04Fill in the back of the title, except the buyer's two lines. The Kansas title transfer happens in the assignment on the back of the certificate. You write the purchase price, the date of sale, the odometer reading in whole miles, and your printed name and signature. The buyer adds only their printed name and signature. Mileage is required on model year 2011 and newer until the car is 20 years old; 2010 and older are exempt. No notary is needed. Don't use white-out or write over a mistake: a spoiled title has to be replaced on the TR-720B.
- 05Sign a TR-312 if you're replacing the car within 120 days. The TR-312 bill of sale doesn't transfer ownership of anything newer than a 35-year-old antique. But since January 1, 2025, if you buy another vehicle within 120 days before or after this sale, you pay sales tax only on the difference, and the county treasurer wants a signed TR-312 from both deals. Keep your copy.
- 06Hand over the title and take your plate off. Under K.S.A. 8-135(a), your registration ends when the car changes hands, you remove the plate, and it's unlawful for anyone else to have it. Move it to your next vehicle for a $1.50 transfer fee, or take it and your registration receipt to the county treasurer for a refund of the remaining registration and property tax. The refund counts from the day the plate reaches the county office, so don't sit on it. The buyer drives home on a $3, 60-day temporary permit or a plate from a car they've just disposed of.
- 07File the $10 TR-216 on iKan once the title is delivered. The Seller's Notification of Sale (TR-216) is optional and online only. It's evidence that you assigned the title, and if the buyer never registers the car, you can't be held liable for damages from its operation. There's no deadline, but the protection starts the day you file, so do it that evening. You certify that the title was delivered on the date you enter, so file only after it has changed hands, and keep the receipt with a photo of the completed assignment.
- 08The buyer has 60 days at the county treasurer. What most people call the Kansas DMV is, for titles, the county treasurer's motor vehicle office (the tag office) in the county where the car will be garaged. The buyer brings the assigned title, proof of insurance and the sales tax on the price you wrote, and applies on the TR-212a. A penalty applies from day 61, counted from your date of sale. A Kansas-titled car needs no inspection.
Checked against the Kansas Department of Revenue, Division of Vehicles in August 2026.
What Kansas requires when you sell
| Notary | Not for the sale. The state doesn't require notarization on most title assignments, title applications or bills of sale completed in Kansas. The notary belongs to the lender: a Kansas lienholder's release of lien, a Kansas lienholder's consent, and the lienholder's portion of form TR-42 must be notarized. Out-of-state lienholders don't need to notarize the release. |
|---|---|
| The title form | Everything happens on the back of the Kansas title: purchase price, date of sale, odometer reading, plus the printed names and signatures of seller and buyer. You fill in all of it except the buyer's printed name and signature. If two owners are joined by "and" (or by no word at all), both sign; with "or," either can. The buyer then has 60 days to register before penalties start — their clock, not yours. |
| Bill of sale | Only in some sales. A Kansas bill of sale, form TR-312, transfers nothing in an ordinary sale; the assigned title does that. You need one when the price isn't written on the title, when you claim the 120-day sales tax offset on a replacement car, or for a no-title antique 35 years or older. The rule is printed on the TR-312 form itself. |
| Electronic titles | A Kansas title is electronic while a loan is on it: since January 2003 the state won't issue a paper title of any type while a lien is recorded. To sell before the lien clears, use the Electronic Title Sales Agreement (TR-39a) together with the TR-40 power of attorney and odometer disclosure. The TR-39a gives the buyer a 60-day temporary registration and commits you to deliver the assigned paper title within 60 days. Ownership still passes only by assignment of the Kansas title. |
| Lost your title? | Form TR-720B (Manual Title Application), taken or mailed to your county treasurer's motor vehicle office. The replacement fee printed on the form is $10.00. If a lien is still on the record, there's no paper title to replace until the lien release is in, and a Kansas lienholder's release must be notarized, so start that piece early. |
| Protect yourself after the sale | Kansas's Seller's Notification of Sale, form TR-216, is optional, costs $10 under K.S.A. 8-135(c)(12), and is filed online only through the iKan portal. The filing is prima facie evidence that you assigned the title, and if the buyer never registers the car, you can't be held liable for damages from its operation. There's no deadline, so file it once the assigned title is in the buyer's hands. Ten dollars against someone else's driving is the best trade in this table. |
| License plates | They stay with you. The state's instruction is blunt: remove your plate once the title is assigned and the vehicle is delivered. Move it to your next vehicle for a $1.50 transfer fee, display it on a car you've just bought for up to 60 days while that transfer is pending, or turn it in at the county treasurer for a refund of the remaining registration and property tax. |
| Sales tax | The buyer's bill, all of it. A private-party sale is an "isolated or occasional sale" under Kansas law, so you collect nothing; the buyer pays the tax to their own county treasurer at registration, calculated on the actual selling price written on the title. One more reason to write the real number. |
| Inspections | None. Kansas runs no safety or emissions inspection program at all. The only inspection anywhere in the system is a $20 Kansas Highway Patrol VIN check (form MVE-1), mostly for vehicles arriving on out-of-state titles — a buyer-side errand, not yours. |
Every form number and fee above was checked against the Kansas Division of Vehicles' titling pages as of August 2026 — fees change by statute, so verify there before you rely on a dollar figure.
No notary needed here, unlike a handful of states; a replacement title runs $10 — compare all fifty; what protects you after handoff; whether you need a bill of sale; or price the Kansas transfer in the fee calculator.
Asked by Kansas sellers
Do I need a notary to sell a car in Kansas?
No. The state doesn't require notarization on most title assignments, title applications and bills of sale completed in Kansas. For a sale, notaries only enter the picture around liens: a Kansas lienholder's release of lien, a Kansas lienholder's consent, or the lienholder's part of form TR-42. Out-of-state lienholders don't need to notarize the release. For a straightforward sale, a pen is the only equipment required.
What is form TR-216, and should I bother filing it?
It's the Seller's Notification of Sale: optional, $10, and filed online only, through the state's iKan portal. The filing is prima facie evidence that you assigned the title, and if the buyer never registers the car, you can't be held liable for damages from its operation. There's no deadline, but the protection starts when you file. File it the day the assigned title is in the buyer's hands, not before, because you certify that delivery when you file.
My Kansas title is electronic — can I still sell the car?
Yes. Kansas won't print a paper title while a lien is recorded, so anyone still paying off a car has an electronic one. Sell on the Electronic Title Sales Agreement (TR-39a) paired with the TR-40 power of attorney and odometer disclosure, where you certify the price and mileage. The buyer gets a 60-day temporary registration, and you commit to deliver the assigned paper title within 60 days of the sale, in person or by registered or certified mail. Ownership passes only when that Kansas title is assigned; the TR-40 lets the buyer complete the assignment when the clear title prints.
Who pays the sales tax on a private car sale in Kansas?
The buyer, entirely. Kansas treats a private-party sale as an isolated or occasional sale, so the seller collects nothing. The buyer pays the tax to the county treasurer in their county of residence when they register, figured on the selling price entered on the title.