Sell your car in North Dakota — five-dollar paperwork, fifteen-day handoff, done
North Dakota keeps a car sale unusually simple: no notary on the title assignment, no inspection in an ordinary sale, and a title fee that costs less than lunch. What the state does expect is a clean break — plates off, endorsed title in the buyer's hands within fifteen days — and, because there's nothing to file afterward, a signed bill of sale that serves as your record. Everything below is checked against NDDOT's own paperwork.
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The same state paperwork applies in every North Dakota city, and titles are issued centrally in Bismarck. Our Bismarck page covers selling a car there.
How to sell a car in North Dakota
- 01Look for a lien in the band on the front of the title. North Dakota releases a lien on the front of the certificate, in the band under the owner's block. If the lender won't sign there, it can use SFN 2876 instead. NDDOT warns that a loan settled years ago is not necessarily off the record, so request a copy of your title record before you list the car. Lost the title? A duplicate is $5.00 on SFN 61982. If the record still shows a lien, though, the new title goes to the lender unless you send the release.
- 02Fill in Part 1 on the title yourself. No notary. The North Dakota title transfer happens in Part 1, Assignment and Warranty of Title, on the face of the certificate. Print the buyer's legal name and address yourself, then the price and the date the car actually changes hands, and sign. The Or and And boxes on the title decide whether one owner signs or all of them do. Sign with the name printed on the title, even if yours has changed since. Nothing in Part 1 goes before a notary.
- 03Do the odometer block by model year, and never write over anything. Model year 2011 or newer: write the reading in whole miles and mark the certification, and the buyer signs beneath it. Model year 2010 or older: leave the block empty, and don't write "exempt" in it. The foot of every certificate says ERASURES, ALTERATIONS OR MUTILATIONS VOID THIS TITLE, so a slip is fixed with a notarized SFN 2964, not a cross-out.
- 04Sign the damage disclosure if the car is under nine model years old. For any vehicle less than nine model years old, North Dakota makes the seller complete SFN 18609, the Damage/Salvage Disclosure Statement. You sign it, the buyer countersigns if any answer is yes, and it goes in with their title application. A false statement on it is a Class A misdemeanor. Damage from before you owned the car has its own answers on the form.
- 05Use SFN 62502 or any dated bill of sale. The department's own North Dakota bill of sale, SFN 62502, is optional, and any dated bill of sale signed by both of you does the job. It's still worth having: it lets the buyer drive home legally, and with nothing to file after the sale, it's your only record. Selling below guide value? Explain the car's condition in its notes box, because the department can tax the buyer on guide value instead of your price.
- 06Unscrew the plates; they must go on your next vehicle. In North Dakota this is the seller's job by law. Under NDCC 39-04-36 the registration expires the moment ownership changes, and you must remove the plates. The buyer can drive for five days with no plate if a dated bill of sale or dated title copy is in the car, and a North Dakota resident can get a 75-day temporary permit online. Keep the plate. It must go on your next vehicle, and the unused months become a credit (never cash) for a $5 transfer fee. The Statement of Fact, SFN 60689, records the plate and the date you sold. Don't cancel your insurance until the plates are off.
- 07Hand over the signed title within 15 days. File nothing. Part 1 on the certificate asks you to deliver the title within 15 days of the sale. The statute, NDCC 39-05-17, allows 30 days at the outside. After that handoff there is nothing to send: NDDOT publishes no seller's report of any kind. Keep your copy of the bill of sale, and write down the plate number and the date you took it off.
- 08The buyer signs Part 3 and applies within 30 days. The buyer signs Part 3 of the title, or the loose SFN 2475, and takes it with the application, SFN 2872, to a motor vehicle site by appointment or by mail to the central office in Bismarck. They have 30 days from receiving the title. They pay the $5 title fee, the 5% motor vehicle excise tax, a full year's license fee and, at most sites, a branch fee. Miss the 30 days and the Motor Vehicle Division can suspend or revoke the registration.
Checked against the NDDOT Motor Vehicle Division in August 2026.
What North Dakota requires when you sell
| Notary | Not for the title itself. NDDOT's seller instructions ask only that you sign and date Part 1 of the title — no stamp anywhere on the assignment, and none on the Private Party Vehicle Bill of Sale either. Notaries appear only around the edges of a sale: a separate lien release, a statement of error after a mistake on the title, and form SFN 2888, the Seller's Certificate and Vehicle Bill of Sale, which is sworn before a Notary Public and is used only when the seller can't produce a title. |
|---|---|
| The title form | You complete Part 1, Assignment & Warranty of Title: buyer's name, purchase price, purchase date, your signature and the date. An odometer reading is required for model year 2011 and newer vehicles, and anything less than nine model years old also needs a Damage/Salvage Disclosure Statement, form SFN 18609. The buyer then applies with SFN 2872, and the state's title fee is a flat $5.00. |
| Bill of sale | Optional, but worth doing. North Dakota publishes its own Private Party Vehicle Bill of Sale, SFN 62502, but you don't have to use it: the Registration Manual accepts any dated bill of sale, or a dated copy of the title, as the buyer's proof of ownership for the five days they may drive without plates. No notary needed. With nothing to file after the sale, your signed copy is your record. Source: NDDOT Registration Manual. |
| Lost your title? | Check the Duplicate Title box on form SFN 2872, or use the Application for Duplicate Credentials, SFN 61982, which asks whether the original was lost, stolen, or mutilated. A duplicate title is $5.00, or $10.00 if a lien is removed or added at the same time. Check the record first: if it still shows a lien, the new title goes to the lienholder unless you provide the release. |
| Protect yourself after the sale | North Dakota has no release-of-liability filing — no notice of sale and no seller's report. The state's rule is physical instead: the registration expires the moment ownership changes, you pull your plates (the vehicle is then legally unlicensed), and you deliver the endorsed title to the buyer within fifteen (15) days, the deadline printed on the title (the statute allows 30 at the outside). Your record is your own copy of the bill of sale, signed and dated by both of you, plus a note of the plate number and the date you removed it. |
| License plates | They're yours, not the car's. When a vehicle is sold or transferred, the seller must remove the plates — and the registration credit left on them can move to your next vehicle for a $5.00 transfer fee, a line item right on SFN 2872. |
| Sales tax | Entirely the buyer's bill: North Dakota charges a 5% motor vehicle excise tax on the purchase price, collected by the Motor Vehicle Division when the buyer titles it, with no local add-ons anywhere in the state. One wrinkle: cash paid to a private party isn't a trade-in — only an actual trade-in reduces a buyer's taxable price. |
| Inspections | None for an ordinary sale. North Dakota runs no periodic safety inspection and no emissions testing, so a private sale involves zero inspection paperwork. An inspection comes up in only five cases: a newly built or kit vehicle, a modified vehicle, an antique restoration, a salvage rebuild, and a vehicle with no title. Even then the state doesn't do it — a private repair shop does, and it can't be the shop that rebuilt the car. |
Form numbers, fees, and deadlines verified against the NDDOT Motor Vehicle Division as of August 2026 — if the state changes anything after that date, their page wins.
No notary needed here, unlike a handful of states; a replacement title runs $5 — compare all fifty; what protects you after handoff; selling with a loan still on it; or price the North Dakota transfer in the fee calculator.
Asked by North Dakota sellers
Do I need a notary to sell my car in North Dakota?
Not for the title. You sign and date Part 1 of the assignment with the buyer's name and address, the price, and the sale date, and that's the whole ceremony. The Private Party Vehicle Bill of Sale, SFN 62502, needs no notary either. A notary only comes in for unusual cases: a separate lien release, a statement of error after a mistake on the title, or SFN 2888, the sworn Seller's Certificate used when the seller can't produce a title at all.
What does the paperwork actually cost?
Almost nothing, and almost all of it is the buyer's. The title fee on SFN 2872 is $5.00, a duplicate title is $5.00, and moving your plate credit to your next vehicle is $5.00. The real money is the buyer's 5% motor vehicle excise tax, paid when they title the car — you collect nothing and owe nothing on the sale.
Is there a release-of-liability form I file after selling?
No — North Dakota doesn't have one. Your protection is built into the handoff itself: the registration expires the moment ownership changes, you remove your plates, and you get the endorsed title to the buyer within fifteen days. Keep your copy of the bill of sale, signed and dated by both of you, and write down the plate number and the date you took it off. You'll need both when you move the plate credit to your next vehicle.
Does my car need an inspection before a private sale?
No. North Dakota has no safety inspection program and no emissions testing, so an ordinary private sale has no inspection step, sticker, or certificate. An inspection comes up only for a kit or newly built vehicle, a modified vehicle, an antique restoration, a salvage rebuild, or a vehicle with no title — and even then a private repair shop does it, not the state.