Sell your car in Minnesota — and let winter be someone else's problem
Minnesota is honest about what it does to cars: a ten-year-old vehicle here has survived a decade of salt, cold starts, and freeway miles. Whatever your odometer or your rocker panels say, there's a real cash number waiting — and the paperwork is simpler than most sellers expect, with no notary and no inspection anywhere in the process.
Offers powered by our buying partner — ★ 4.7 Trustpilot (205,000+ reviews) · ★ 4.5 Google (8,900+)
Pick your metro
We buy across the whole state — pick your city below, or call if yours isn't listed. Outstate pickup is routine here, not an exception.
What Minnesota requires when you sell
| Notary | No notary needed. Minnesota titles transfer by handprinting your name and signing in the assignment area — no stamp, no witness. The single exception: if a lien still shows on the title, the transfer must travel with a lien release card or a notarized lien release form. |
|---|---|
| The title form | There isn't a separate one — the transfer happens on the certificate of title itself, within 10 days of the sale. You write the sales price in the tax declaration area on the back, enter the date, and complete a damage disclosure (all vehicles) plus an odometer disclosure (model year 2011 and newer). Typical transfer fees per DVS: $8.25 title fee, $10 transfer tax, $12 filing fee, plus a $3.50 public safety fee, $2.25 tech surcharge, and $2 per lien recorded. |
| Lost your title? | File form PS2067A — $21.50 total by mail. Deputy registrar offices can print a duplicate the same day, and if a newly issued title never reached you, DVS waives the fee when you apply within six months of issuance. |
| Protect yourself after the sale | Minnesota's seller shield is the Notice of Sale under Minn. Stat. 168A.10: within 10 days, return the notice from your certificate of title — buyer's name, address, driver's license number, date of sale — or file the same information through DVS online services. Comply, and you're generally not liable for damages from the vehicle's operation afterward. Note that reporting the sale does not itself transfer ownership; the buyer still has to complete the title work. |
| License plates | Plates stay on the car. When you sell, the plates and any remaining registration taxes are assigned to the new owner under Minn. Stat. 168.15, with limited exceptions handled by deputy registrars — so don't unbolt them on the way out. |
| Sales tax | The buyer's problem, not yours: Minnesota's 6.875% motor vehicle sales tax is paid by the purchaser when the title transfers at a deputy registrar office. Old cheap cars get a break — a flat $10 in-lieu tax covers passenger vehicles at least 10 model years old with both price and market value under $3,000, and collector-plated vehicles (Collector, Classic, Street Rod, Pioneer) pay a flat $150. |
| Inspections | None. Minnesota requires no safety inspection and no emissions test to sell or register a passenger vehicle — the Twin Cities' carbon monoxide testing program was repealed in 1999 and never came back. |
Rules current as of August 2026 — confirm the details on the official Minnesota DVS title transfer page before you sign anything.
Asked by Minnesota sellers
Do I need a notary to sell my car in Minnesota?
No. Minnesota asks you to handprint your name and sign the assignment area of the certificate of title, and that's the whole ceremony. The only notarized document that ever enters the picture is a lien release, and only if the title still shows a lien on it.
What is the Minnesota Notice of Sale, and what happens if I skip it?
It's the tear-off notice on your title — or the same report filed through DVS online services — recording who bought the car and when. File it within 10 days and Minn. Stat. 168A.10 generally shields you from liability for whatever happens with the vehicle afterward. Skip it, and the state still has your name attached to a car you no longer control.
Can I sell my car in Minnesota if I lost the title?
Not without replacing it first, but replacement is fast. File form PS2067A — $21.50 total by mail — or walk into a deputy registrar office, where duplicates can print the same day. If a title you were owed never arrived at all, apply within six months of issuance and DVS waives the fee.
Do I take my license plates off when I sell?
Leave them on. In Minnesota the plates and any remaining registration taxes go with the vehicle to the new owner under Minn. Stat. 168.15. Sellers who learned the rule in a plates-follow-the-owner state often assume otherwise, so it is worth checking before you reach for a screwdriver.