Sell your car in Michigan — sign the title, pull the plate, keep a copy
Michigan keeps a car sale refreshingly short on paperwork: no notary, no inspection, and the entire assignment lives on the title itself. The catch is what Michigan doesn't have — a release-of-liability form. Your protection after the handshake is a photocopy of the signed title, kept for 18 months. Here's the whole process, checked against the Secretary of State's own pages.
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The title, plate and 18-month record rules are the same in every Michigan city. Detroit is the busiest, and our Detroit page covers selling a car there.
How to sell a car in Michigan
- 01Check that a paper title exists. If a lender was ever on the car, check first. Michigan keeps the title electronically while a lien is on it, and the TR-11L says so in its first paragraph: with a lien, you won't receive a paper title. An electronic title can't be transferred, so pay the lender, wait for the release, and sell once the paper title arrives. There's no Michigan lien release form; the Secretary of State (SOS) accepts proof such as the lender's termination statement on the title or a letter on its letterhead. Lost a title you did have? Order a Michigan duplicate title through your online SOS account or at a Secretary of State office.
- 02Fill in “Title Assignment by Seller” on the front. The seller's block is on the front of a Michigan title, not the back. In ink, fill in the buyer's printed name and address, the date of sale, the price and the mileage, then print your name and address and sign. If more than one owner is named, all of them sign. No notary: the title has no notary block. Don't erase or white anything out, because the title itself says any alteration or erasure voids it. A wrong entry gets one line through it, the right entry beside it, and a TR-34 Certification Statement.
- 03Write the mileage in six boxes, not seven. The odometer boxes are six cells, a decimal point, then a seventh cell the state has already crossed out. Write whole miles and leave that seventh cell empty: 88,417 written as 8841.7 can't be corrected later. Models from 2011 on need a reading for 20 years; 2010 and older are now exempt. No room for it on the title? Use the BDVR-108 Odometer Mileage Statement.
- 04Pull your plate unless the buyer is family. Michigan plates belong to you, not the car, and the SOS says you must remove yours before the buyer takes possession, unless you're selling to a spouse, mother, father, sister, brother or child. The buyer may drive without a plate for three days, straight to where the car will be kept, with the assigned title and proof of insurance. Move your plate to your next vehicle when you register it, or cut it up.
- 05Photograph the signed title, then hand over the original. The buyer signs the smaller “Completed by Buyer” block under yours. Photograph or photocopy the front before you let go of it, then give the buyer the original: the SOS tells buyers they need the original title, not a photocopy.
- 06Keep that copy for 18 months. Michigan has no notice of sale or release of liability to file. Instead, MCL 257.240 says either go with the buyer to a Secretary of State office or keep a record of the sale for at least 18 months, and your photo counts. Do neither and it's a $15 civil fine, and you're presumed the last titled owner, liable for towing and storage if the car is abandoned.
- 07The buyer has 15 days before a $15 late fee. There's no Michigan DMV. The buyer takes the title to a Secretary of State office within 15 days of the sale, with ID, proof of Michigan No-Fault insurance, the $15 title transfer fee and 6% use tax on the price or the retail value, whichever is higher (relatives on Michigan's list are exempt). After 15 days a $15 late fee is added. The Michigan title transfer can also be done online if you both have a Michigan license or ID and an online account and the buyer isn't financing, but only once the paper title is filled in to match.
Checked against the Michigan Department of State in August 2026.
What Michigan requires when you sell
| Notary | Not required — Michigan never asks a notary to touch a private car sale. You complete and sign the seller's portion of the title with an exact odometer reading; federal law treats estimates and round-number guesses as unacceptable, so read the dash, not your memory. |
|---|---|
| The title form | There isn't a separate one. The assignment and the odometer disclosure are printed on the Michigan title itself — fill in the seller's section and you're done. The buyer pays the $15 transfer fee and has 15 days from the sale date before a $15 late fee stacks on top. Form TR-11L only enters the picture when someone needs a new or replacement title issued. |
| Bill of sale | Not required, and Michigan has no vehicle bill of sale form. The signed Title Assignment by Seller on the front of the title is the transfer document. The only Michigan bill of sale the Secretary of State publishes, the TR-207, is for a non-titled trailer, a non-titled watercraft or a snowmobile, not a car. If you write your own, include the buyer's name, address, driver's license number and signature with the price and date, and it also counts as your 18-month record of sale. Source. |
| Lost your title? | A duplicate costs $15 and arrives by mail in about 14 days — or pay $20 at a Secretary of State office and walk out with a same-day instant title. Order it through your online Secretary of State account or at an office. Michigan has no paper duplicate application for residents; the one printable form, ISS-TITLE, is only for owners who no longer live in Michigan. |
| Protect yourself after the sale | Michigan has no release-of-liability or notice-of-sale form to file. The law, MCL 257.240, gives you two options instead: go with the buyer to a Secretary of State office and see the title transferred, or keep a record of the sale for at least 18 months. A photocopy or photo of the signed title counts. Skip both and you face a $15 civil fine and are presumed the last titled owner, liable for towing and daily storage if the car is abandoned. Keep the copy even if you went to the office. Source: MCL 257.240. |
| License plates | Yours, not the car's. Remove the plate before the buyer takes possession — the only exception is a transfer to an immediate family member — and carry it to your next vehicle for a $10–$15 plate transfer fee. |
| Sales tax | The buyer's bill entirely: Michigan charges a 6% use tax at title transfer, on the purchase price or the vehicle's retail value, whichever is greater. You collect nothing and remit nothing. |
| Inspections | None. Michigan runs no periodic safety inspections and no emissions testing, so there is nothing to pass before you sell. The rare exception is a special case like a rebuilt salvage vehicle, which needs an inspection before it can be retitled. |
Fees and rules above verified against the Michigan Secretary of State's vehicle ownership pages as of August 2026 — check there first for anything that changes later.
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 Michigan transfer in the fee calculator.
Asked by Michigan sellers
Do I need a notary to sell my car in Michigan?
No. Michigan requires no notarization at any point in a private vehicle sale. You complete and sign the seller's portion of the title — including an exact odometer reading, since federal law doesn't accept estimates — and that signature is all the formality the state wants.
What protects me if the buyer never transfers the title?
Michigan has no release-of-liability form, so your protection comes from the law itself. MCL 257.240 asks you to either go with the buyer to a Secretary of State office and see the title transferred, or keep a record of the sale for at least 18 months: a copy of the signed title, or a paper with the buyer's name, address, driver's license number and signature plus the price and date. With that proof, the Secretary of State says you aren't liable for damages or violations if the title is never transferred. Without it, you face a $15 civil fine and are presumed the last titled owner, liable for towing and storage if the car is abandoned. The buyer has 15 days to transfer before a $15 late fee applies.
Who pays the 6% tax on a private car sale in Michigan?
The buyer, at the Secretary of State office when the title is transferred. It's a 6% use tax on the purchase price or the vehicle's retail value, whichever is greater, so a suspiciously low number on the title doesn't dodge it. As the seller you collect nothing and owe nothing.
I lost my Michigan title. How fast can I replace it and sell?
Fast. A duplicate is $15 and shows up by mail in about 14 days, or $20 gets you a same-day instant title at a Secretary of State office. If you're selling this week, the $20 in-person route is the obvious play. You can also order the duplicate through your online Secretary of State account, but then you're waiting on the mail. There's no paper duplicate form for Michigan residents.
How do I sell a car by owner in Michigan?
Fill in the Title Assignment by Seller block on the front of the title: the buyer's name and address, the date, the price and the mileage, then your name, address and signature. The buyer signs underneath. No notary and no inspection. Take your plate off before the buyer drives away, and photograph the signed title before you hand over the original: Michigan has no release form, so that copy, kept for 18 months, is your proof of sale. The buyer then has 15 days to transfer the title at a Secretary of State office.