Sell your car in Missouri — no notary, one notice, paid at pickup
Missouri keeps the signing simple and saves its opinions for the follow-through. No notary ever touches the title assignment — you sign the back, the buyer signs, done — but the state does expect three things from a seller: an inspection slip for most cars, your plates off before the buyer takes possession, and a Notice of Sale filed within 30 days. Lock in the cash offer first; the paperwork takes less time than reading about it did.
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Around St. Louis there's one extra step: sellers in St. Louis City and St. Louis, St. Charles and Jefferson counties also hand the buyer an emissions certificate under 60 days old. The St. Louis page covers selling a car there.
How to sell a car in Missouri
- 01Clear any lien with a notarized Form 4809. If a lender is shown on the front of your title, the Missouri lien release is Form 4809. Someone at the lender completes it in front of a notary and posts you the original to attach to the title. Paying off the loan doesn't release the lien by itself, so start weeks before you advertise. Title lost? Apply for a duplicate on Form 108 first. That application needs a notary too.
- 02Get the inspection certificate yourself. In Missouri the seller, not the buyer, hands over the inspection certificate. You need one if the car is more than ten years past its model year or has passed 150,000 miles. A Missouri safety inspection certificate is only good for 60 days, so get it close to the sale. If you live in St. Louis City or St. Louis, St. Charles or Jefferson County, add an emissions certificate, also under 60 days old. A buyer who lives outside Missouri follows their own state's rules instead.
- 03Check DATE ISSUED, then fill in the back. The Missouri title transfer happens in the assignment on the back of the certificate. Write the buyer's name and address, the sale price, the net price, the date of sale and the mileage in whole miles (the line says NO TENTHS). Check the DATE ISSUED on the front first: a sale date earlier than that has to be fixed on Form 4205 before the buyer can title the car. A 2010 or older car that's at least ten years old needs no mileage, so leave that line blank. Gifting a car in Missouri? Write GIFT where the price goes, never $1, and add a gift statement on Form 768. No white-out and no erasing: either one voids the title. Fix a slip with one thin line, the right entry above it and a signed statement of correction.
- 04Every owner signs and prints their name. No notary. Each owner named on the front signs exactly as the name appears there and hand prints it beside the signature. A signature alone is only half of what Missouri asks. The buyer signs and prints in the purchaser column. The Department of Revenue says these signatures don't need to be notarized. Never hand over the title with the buyer's name blank: an open title is unlawful in Missouri.
- 05Remove the plates, valid or expired. Hand over the signed title, the inspection certificate and any lien release, but keep the plates. Missouri law (RSMo 301.140) says they come off, valid or expired, when possession changes, and the buyer can't use them. The buyer's legal way home is a 30-day temporary permit from a license office, $5 plus a $9 processing fee. Your plates can go on your next car for a $2 transfer fee, be turned in for credit on the unused registration, or stay with you.
- 06File Form 5049 or the title's tear-off within 30 days. Send the Department of Revenue a Missouri notice of sale: Form 5049, the tear-off notice at the bottom of the title, or a Form 1957 bill of sale. Filing it on the day of the sale is best. Skipping it is an infraction with a fine of up to $200. The notice doesn't release your ownership, so keep a copy and a photo of the completed assignment. A sale to a dealer or to a buyer from out of state is outside this rule.
- 07Your date of sale starts the buyer's 30 days. The buyer takes the title, your inspection certificate and a signed Form 108 to a Missouri license office. Missouri has no DMV by that name: what people call the Missouri DMV is a license office run under contract for the Department of Revenue's Motor Vehicle Bureau. The buyer pays 4.225% state sales tax plus their local rate, the $8.50 title fee and a $9 processing fee. Each 30 days late adds a $25 penalty, up to $200.
Checked against the Missouri Department of Revenue in August 2026.
What Missouri requires when you sell
| Notary | Not for the sale. Missouri drops the notary entirely for the title assignment: you and the buyer sign the back of the title, no stamp required. Two catches worth knowing: a lien release (Form 4809) does need notarizing, and the title itself is unforgiving — correction fluid or an erasure voids it, so write carefully the first time. |
|---|---|
| The title form | There isn't a separate one. Ownership transfers through the assignment on the back of the Missouri title, where you record the odometer reading and the date of sale as you sign. The buyer then applies for their own title on Form 108 (Application for Missouri Title and License) and has 30 days from purchase to do it. |
| Bill of sale | Optional, but it counts. Missouri publishes its own Missouri bill of sale, Form 1957. You don't have to use it: it's one of three ways to meet your 30-day notice duty, and Form 5049 or the tear-off notice on the title does the same job. It needs a notary only when it proves ownership of major parts on a rebuilt vehicle, or when the Department asks. Source: Form 1957. |
| Lost your title? | Form 108 again, with the DUPLICATE box marked — and unlike the sale itself, this application must be notarized. It costs $17.50 all-in ($8.50 duplicate title fee plus a $9 processing fee), payable at any Missouri license office or by mail to the Motor Vehicle Bureau in Jefferson City. |
| Protect yourself after the sale | Within 30 days of the sale, report it to the Department of Revenue on a Notice of Sale (Form 5049), the tear-off notice at the bottom of the title, or a Bill of Sale (Form 1957). It's been required since January 1, 2006, and skipping it is an infraction with a fine of up to $200. The Department notes the buyer against the vehicle record, but the notice is not a release of ownership: you stay the last titled owner until the buyer applies, so keep a copy and a photo of the completed assignment. A sale to a dealer is outside the requirement. |
| License plates | They're yours, and the DOR is specific about the timing: the seller removes the plates — valid or expired — before the buyer takes possession of the vehicle. Whatever happens to that car next happens on somebody else's plates. |
| Sales tax | Entirely the buyer's bill: Missouri collects 4.225% state sales tax plus the buyer's local rate on the purchase price (less any trade-in) when they title the vehicle — due within 30 days. Dawdling costs them, not you: a $25 penalty lands on day 31 and grows $25 every additional 30 days to a $200 cap. You collect nothing and remit nothing. |
| Inspections | The one real seller chore. A private seller hands the buyer a safety inspection certificate less than 60 days old — and for residents of St. Louis City or St. Louis, St. Charles, or Jefferson counties, an emissions inspection also not more than 60 days old. The big exemption: statute 307.350 skips the safety inspection for vehicles with fewer than 150,000 miles during the ten years following their model year. Stations may charge at most $12 for a passenger-vehicle safety check. |
Rules, forms, and fees above verified against the Missouri DOR's official selling a vehicle page as of August 2026 — Missouri runs titles through the Department of Revenue rather than a DMV, so that's the bookmark that matters.
No notary needed here, unlike a handful of states; a replacement title runs $8.50 — compare all fifty; what protects you after handoff; selling when the title is gone; or price the Missouri transfer in the fee calculator.
Asked by Missouri sellers
Do I need a notary to sell my car in Missouri?
Not for the sale itself. The Department of Revenue says the seller and buyer signatures on the title assignment don't need to be notarized. A notary does come in for a few side documents: a lien release on Form 4809, a duplicate-title application if your title has gone missing, and a power of attorney on Form 4054 if someone signs for you. A license office will notarize at the counter for $2. One warning the state means literally: correction fluid or an erasure voids the title, so sign carefully the first time.
What is Missouri's Notice of Sale, and what happens if I skip it?
It's how you tell the Department of Revenue you no longer own the car: Form 5049, the tear-off notice at the bottom of the title, or a Bill of Sale on Form 1957, due within 30 days of the sale and required since January 1, 2006. Skip it and RSMo 301.198 makes it an infraction with a fine of up to $200, or up to $300 as a class C misdemeanor if the point was to help the buyer avoid titling the car. Filing puts the buyer's name on the vehicle record beside yours, but it isn't a release of ownership, so keep a copy and a photo of the signed title. A sale to a dealer is outside the requirement.
What inspections do I need before selling my car in Missouri?
In a private sale you hand the buyer a safety inspection certificate less than 60 days old — unless the car has fewer than 150,000 miles and is within ten years of its model year, in which case statute 307.350 exempts it entirely. Sellers in St. Louis City and St. Louis, St. Charles, and Jefferson counties add an emissions inspection, also under 60 days old. The safety check itself is capped at $12 for passenger vehicles.
Who pays the sales tax on a private car sale in Missouri?
The buyer, at titling time: 4.225% state tax plus their local rate, figured on the purchase price less any trade-in and paid at the license office, not to you. They have 30 days from the date of sale you write on the title. If they drag their feet, day 31 brings a $25 penalty that grows by $25 each additional 30 days until it caps at $200, and if they haven't applied within 60 days the Department writes to them about what's due. Your part is the Notice of Sale within 30 days.