Sell your car in Kentucky - notarized, recorded, and off your hands
Kentucky sells cars the notarized way: every signature on the title gets a stamp, the deal isn't finished until the buyer records it with a county clerk, and since 2024 your license plate stays with you when the car goes. None of it is hard once you know the order of operations - and if you'd rather skip the counter choreography entirely, a cash offer handles the paperwork for you.
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Pick your metro
Those five markets are where we run deepest, but Kentucky has 120 counties and the truck isn't precious about which one you're in - Paducah, Owensboro, Pikeville, London, all fair game.
What Kentucky requires when you sell
| Notary | Kentucky is a notary state, and a strict one: signatures on the title assignment must be notarized, and the state warns flat-out that a signed, stamped title does not by itself transfer the vehicle - the buyer still has to record the transfer at a county clerk's office, and you remain legally liable until they do. Also: no white-out, no cross-outs. Any correction to a title requires a notarized affidavit, not a pen swipe. |
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| The title form | If your Kentucky title was issued since February 2000, the transfer application is printed on the title itself - nothing extra to hunt down. Older titles need form TC 96-182. The counter math is mercifully small: a $9.00 title fee, a $9.00 transfer fee, and $2.00 per signature if the clerk handles the notarizing. Titling has to happen within 15 days of the sale, and an optional $25.00 speed title exists for the impatient. Kenton County Clerk publishes the full fee list. |
| Lost your title? | Replaced through your county clerk using form TC 96-182 for $6.00 plus the notary's cut. If the sale can't wait on normal processing, the $25.00 speed title option gets the replacement moving fast. |
| Protect yourself after the sale | Kentucky hands sellers a real weapon: form TC 96-3, the Affidavit of Incomplete Transfer. If your buyer - typically an out-of-state one - hasn't completed the transfer the law requires within 15 days, file the notarized affidavit with your county clerk. It certifies you assigned the title under KRS 186A.215(1) and asks the state to revoke the vehicle's registration under KRS 186.180(4) until the buyer finishes the paperwork. One calendar note with teeth: whoever owns a vehicle on January 1 owes that year's vehicle property tax on it. |
| License plates | Since January 2024, the plate belongs to you, not the car - remove it at the sale. Move it to another vehicle you own of the same class for a one-time $11 fee, or surrender it to the county clerk. The buyer drives off on a temporary tag or a temporarily reassigned plate until their registration is processed. |
| Sales tax | The buyer's bill, not yours: Kentucky's 6% Motor Vehicle Usage Tax is collected by the county clerk when ownership transfers, and the clerk cannot register the vehicle or issue plates without it. On a used car it's figured on the selling price shown in a notarized Affidavit of Total Consideration (Form 71A100) - skip the affidavit and the clerk taxes the reference-manual retail value instead, which is rarely the buyer's friend. Details at the Kentucky Department of Revenue. |
| Inspections | None to sell a Kentucky-titled car to a Kentucky buyer - no safety test, no emissions test, nothing. The only inspection anywhere in the titling process is a sheriff's VIN inspection, and it applies solely when a vehicle arrives in Kentucky on an out-of-state title; the Kenton County Clerk lists it at $15.00. |
Fees, form numbers, and the 15-day clock above were verified against the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's vehicle titling page as of August 2026 - county clerks set some incidentals, so confirm locally before you drive over.
Asked by Kentucky sellers
Do I need a notary to sell a car in Kentucky?
Yes - the signatures on the title assignment must be notarized, and an un-notarized transfer gets bounced at the clerk's counter. Any notary works, and the county clerk will stamp it for $2.00 per signature while the buyer is there recording the transfer anyway. Two warnings from experience: don't sign anything before the notary is watching, and never touch a Kentucky title with white-out - corrections require notarized affidavits.
How do I protect myself if the buyer never transfers the title?
File form TC 96-3, the Affidavit of Incomplete Transfer, with your county clerk. It's built for exactly this: once the buyer blows past the 15-day transfer window, the notarized affidavit puts on record that you assigned the title and asks the state to revoke the vehicle's registration until the buyer completes the paperwork. And watch the calendar - whoever owns a vehicle on January 1 owes that year's property tax, so a buyer who stalls into the new year is stalling on your dime.
What happens to my license plate when I sell my car in Kentucky?
Since January 2024, it stays with you - take it off before the car leaves. You can move it to another vehicle you own of the same class for a one-time $11 fee, or hand it in at the county clerk's office. Your buyer isn't stranded: they leave on a temporary tag or a temporarily reassigned plate until the clerk processes their registration.
Who pays the sales tax on a private car sale in Kentucky?
The buyer, at 6% - Kentucky calls it the Motor Vehicle Usage Tax, and the county clerk collects it at transfer and won't issue plates without it. As the seller, your only job is optional but kind: sign a notarized Affidavit of Total Consideration (Form 71A100) stating the real price, because without it the clerk taxes the book's retail value, which is usually higher than what your buyer actually paid.