Sell your car in Maine with the lightest paperwork in New England
Maine runs on cars that work for a living: long commutes, longer winters, and road salt from November through April. None of that scares off a serious buyer. Better still, the paperwork here is refreshingly thin — no notary, no notice-of-sale filing, and your plates come home with you.
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Portland is the busiest of these Maine markets, and the Portland page covers selling a car there.
How to sell a car in Maine
- 01Check the model year before you look for the title. Maine titles only a rolling 25 model years. As of January 1, 2026 that means model year 2001 or newer, and on January 1, 2027 the line moves to 2002. If your car is older, there is no title to sign and none can be issued: you sell it on your registration certificate plus a bill of sale. Settle this before you list the car, or before you take an instant cash offer here instead. Keep a copy of the registration before you hand it over; a lost one is replaced on the MV-11 for $5.
- 02Make sure the certificate is yours to sign. The title has to be in your name. If you bought the car and never titled it, section 662 makes you do that before you sell. A memorandum title from another state won't do, because Maine doesn't accept one as proof of ownership. A lost, stolen, destroyed or illegible Maine title is replaced on the MVT-8 for $33. A paid-off loan is normally signed off on the face of the certificate; where that didn't happen, the lender can release it on an MVT-12.
- 03Fill in the ASSIGNMENT OF OWNERSHIP block once, in ink. It's the top block on the back of the certificate. It takes the buyer's name and address, the sale date, the mileage in whole miles (required on model year 2011 or later), your signature and printed name, and NONE on the lienholder line if there's no loan. Everyone named on the front signs, and the buyer signs the last line. No notary. Any change or erasure voids the whole title, and the two blocks below are for dealers and lienholders only. If the back can't be used, the assignment goes on an MVT-16 attached to the title. Our Maine forms page walks through the block.
- 04Sign the Bureau's own bill of sale. Maine lists a signed bill of sale among what the buyer needs to register a privately bought car, and the Bureau prints a one-page form for it. It carries an odometer statement that you, the seller, sign, and a line certifying no lienholder is still attached. Our Motor Vehicle Bill of Sale page covers it.
- 05Photograph both sides, then hand the title over. There is no notice of sale or release of liability to file with the Maine BMV (DMV). Under section 662, once you've delivered the car and properly executed the assignment, you're no longer liable as its owner. So never leave the buyer's name blank, and photograph both faces of the certificate before it leaves your hand. It's your only record of the mileage, date and name you wrote.
- 06Move the plates or send them back to the State. Your registration ends when the title transfers, and the plates are State property, lent to you. Take them off before the car moves. Buying another vehicle in the same registration year? Move them to it for $8, as long as its registration fee is no higher. No plan to renew or transfer within six months? Mail the plates and your registration certificate to the Secretary of State. Sort out the plates before you cancel your insurance. The registration fee you paid can be credited to your next vehicle: in full in the first eight months of the registration year, up to half after that.
- 07Send the buyer to their town office first. The Maine title transfer is finished by the buyer. They pay the municipal excise tax at their own town office before anything else, then register there, or at a BMV branch if the town doesn't issue registrations. They bring your signed title (or the registration certificate on a car too old to title), the bill of sale, an MVT-2 title application, $33 for the title ($10 more to expedite), proof of insurance and 5.5% use tax on the price. The MVT-2 can't be downloaded; it comes from a BMV branch, town hall or municipal office. A non-resident who takes the car straight out of Maine pays no Maine tax. If the paperwork isn't delivered to the Secretary of State within 30 days, the buyer owes a $50 penalty.
Checked against the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles in August 2026.
What Maine requires when you sell
| Notary | Not required. Maine's transfer statute (29-A M.R.S. §662) asks only that you sign the assignment in the space provided on the certificate at the time you hand over the vehicle. No notary, no witness. |
|---|---|
| The title form | There isn't a separate one — the sale happens on the back of the certificate itself. Your buyer takes the signed title, a bill of sale and an MVT-2 application to their own town office first (then a BMV branch if the town doesn't issue registrations) and pays a $33 title fee. Only vehicles 25 model years old and newer need a title at all; under the rolling rule, as of January 1, 2026 that means model year 2001 and newer. |
| Bill of sale | Required. The Bureau lists a signed bill of sale among what the buyer must bring to register a car bought privately, alongside the assigned title, and it publishes its own Maine bill of sale form. On a car too old to be titled, it becomes the main proof of the sale. Our Motor Vehicle Bill of Sale page walks through it. |
| Lost your title? | File form MVT-8 (Request to Re-issue a Certificate of Title) with a $33 fee — by mail to the Division of Title Services in Augusta, or entirely online through the BMV's duplicate-title service. |
| Protect yourself after the sale | Maine has no release-of-liability filing — the title chapter simply doesn't contain one. Your protection happens at the moment of delivery: sign the title assignment right then, pull your plates off the car, and keep a copy of the signed bill of sale. |
| License plates | They come off the car and go with you, but they aren't yours: under 29-A M.R.S. §463 plates stay the property of the State, and the registration expires when you transfer the title. Move them to a vehicle you register in the same registration year for an $8 transfer fee (if its registration fee is no higher), or, if you won't renew or transfer within six months, mail them with the registration certificate to the Secretary of State. |
| Sales tax | The buyer's bill, not yours. Maine collects 5.5% sales/use tax on the purchase price when the buyer registers, and the buyer also pays annual municipal excise tax at their town office first. A private seller collects nothing. |
| Inspections | Every Maine vehicle needs a State Police–administered safety inspection once a year. Vehicles registered in Cumberland County — and only Cumberland County — must also pass an emissions test. |
Fees and rules above were verified against Maine statute and the Maine BMV's title pages as of August 2026 — confirm current figures with the BMV before you file anything.
No notary needed here, unlike a handful of states; a replacement title runs $33 — compare all fifty; what protects you after handoff; selling when the title is gone; or price the Maine transfer in the fee calculator.
Asked by Maine sellers
Do I need a notary to sell a car in Maine?
No. Maine law (29-A M.R.S. §662) only requires you to sign the assignment on the title certificate itself when you deliver the vehicle to the buyer. The assignment block has no notary panel, and nothing in the sale is sworn. In an ordinary sale, the one place you can meet a notary is the plates: if you cancel your plate on the MVR-60 Plate Cancellation Request, that form is sworn.
Does my old car need a title to sell in Maine?
Only if it's 25 model years old or newer. As of January 1, 2026 the cutoff is model year 2001, and on January 1, 2027 it moves to 2002. Anything older has no title and can't get one: you sell it on your registration certificate plus a signed bill of sale, and the buyer registers it without a title.
What happens to my license plates when I sell?
They come off the car and go with you, not the buyer, but they stay the property of the State. If you register a replacement vehicle in the same registration year, you can move the plates to it for an $8 transfer fee. If you won't renew or transfer within six months, mail the plates and your registration certificate to the Secretary of State.
Do I have to notify the BMV after I sell my car?
No — Maine has no notice-of-sale or release-of-liability filing. Protect yourself the way the statute assumes you will: sign the title at the moment of delivery, take your plates, and keep a copy of the signed bill of sale.