Sell your car in Utah: no notary, and a bill of sale every time
Utah keeps car selling light on formalities: no notary, no safety inspection for regular passenger vehicles, and a $6 duplicate title if yours has gone missing. The market itself splits in two — salted, emissions-tested Wasatch Front metros up north, and sun-baked, test-free desert towns down south. Either half, the process is the same and it starts with a number.
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Salt Lake City is Utah’s busiest city for selling a car, and it has its own Salt Lake City page. The steps above apply in every Utah county; only the emissions test and the sales tax rate depend on where the buyer registers.
How to sell a car in Utah
- 01Read the front: two names with nothing between them means both sign. On the front of your Utah title, "and" between two owners means both of you sign, "or" means one signature is enough, and two names with nothing printed between them count as "and". Check the lien block too: a lender printed there has to release it, on the title, on the duplicate title application or in a separate letter. An electronic lienholder clears itself automatically and leaves nothing for you to sign. Only the owner printed on the title may sell the car, with narrow exceptions such as selling an immediate family member’s vehicle.
- 02No title? Sign both parts of TC-123 instead of waiting. A lost title doesn’t stop a Utah sale. On Form TC-123, the Utah duplicate title application, Part 1 asks for a new title and Part 2 assigns the car to your buyer. Sign both parts and give the form to the buyer in place of the title; they register on it. A replacement title of your own costs $6.00 and takes 10 to 14 business days. Don’t use TC-123 if you’ve already signed the old title over to someone.
- 03Find the emissions certificate in the glovebox. Buyers who register in Cache, Davis, Salt Lake, Utah or Weber County need a passing certificate from a Utah emissions test. One issued in the last 11 months transfers with the car, so find yours before you list it and hand it over with the title. A safety inspection is a different story: most vehicles don’t need one to be registered in Utah.
- 04Write the bill of sale the DMV requires, in ink. The Utah DMV lists a bill of sale under Required for All Transactions. Form TC-843 is the official Utah bill of sale, though a handwritten one also counts if it’s in ink, not pencil. Write the real price: without an acceptable bill of sale, the buyer’s sales tax is worked out on fair market value instead. Tick whether the plate goes with the car, and make the mileage match what you write on the title.
- 05Sign the title, with the mileage if the car is under 20 years old. Sign and print your name in the assignment on the back, spelled the way the front spells it, and add the date of sale and the price. If the car is under 20 years old, write the odometer reading in whole miles and tick exactly one of the three statements. Utah’s cutoff is stricter than the federal one, so a 2009 still needs its mileage here. A Utah title has no notary block and no witness line, and the Utah DMV’s buyer and seller instructions say no notary is needed to sign off on a title. If your ownership document has no space for the mileage, use Form TC-891.
- 06Hand over the title and registration within 48 hours. Utah Code 41-1a-702 says the signed title and the registration card go to the buyer when you deliver the car, or within 48 hours after. A promise to mail it next week breaks that rule. The handover is also what protects you: once you’ve made a real sale and handed over the car, the registration and the signed title, Utah Code 41-1a-708 releases you from liability for damage caused by someone else’s negligent driving.
- 07Decide on purpose whether the plates go with the car. Utah plates stay with you by default. Since 2024 you may include them in the sale, and the bill of sale has a box for it, but they still trace to you until the buyer applies to have them assigned. If they come off, you have 20 days to send them to the DMV to be destroyed or have them assigned to another vehicle, with no fee either way. A personalized plate must go straight onto another vehicle you own or be surrendered; Form TC-840 covers both.
- 08Report the sale (no deadline), then send the buyer to a DMV office. Tell the Utah DMV the car is sold through the Motor Vehicle Portal, by phone at 1-800-DMV-UTAH, or by mail or email with a signed letter or Form TC-502. No law sets a deadline, so do it the evening you sell. Your buyer finishes the Utah title transfer at a DMV office or through the online transfer service before driving the car on a highway; a temporary permit covers the gap. They pay sales tax at the rate where they’ll register it, with no family exemption, plus the $6.00 title fee. An out-of-state title can’t be transferred online.
Rather not list the car at all? You can get an instant cash offer here instead.
Checked against the Utah DMV (the Tax Commission’s Motor Vehicle Division) in August 2026.
What Utah requires when you sell
| Notary | Not required. The DMV’s current selling instructions contain no notary step at all — the owner’s signature on the title assignment is what moves ownership. |
|---|---|
| The title form | There is no separate seller form: you sign the assignment on the title itself, completing the odometer disclosure if the vehicle is under 20 years old. The buyer takes the signed title to a DMV office or the online transfer service and pays a $6.00 title fee. Form TC-656, the title application, is needed when an owner can’t be at the counter in person. |
| Bill of sale | Required. The Utah DMV’s document checklist lists a bill of sale under Required for All Transactions. Form TC-843 is the state’s own version, though a handwritten one also counts. Put the real price on it: without an acceptable bill of sale, the buyer’s sales tax is figured on fair market value instead. |
| Lost your title? | File Form TC-123, Application for Utah Duplicate Title, for $6.00 — online through the Motor Vehicle Portal (MVP), by mail to the Motor Vehicle Division Contact Center in Salt Lake City (checks payable to the Utah State Tax Commission), or in person at a DMV office. |
| Protect yourself after the sale | Report the vehicle sold through the Motor Vehicle Portal (MVP), by phone at 1-800-DMV-UTAH (800-368-8824), or by mail or email with a signed letter or Form TC-502. No law sets a deadline for the report. What Utah law does require is that you give the buyer the signed title and the registration certificate when you deliver the car or within 48 hours after. If you have an emissions certificate from the last 11 months, hand it over too: it transfers with the car. |
| License plates | They stay with you unless expressly sold with the vehicle. Take them off before the handoff — leave them on and the buyer’s traffic violations can land on you. |
| Sales tax | The buyer pays it when titling and registering; a private seller who isn’t a dealer doesn’t collect. There is no family-sale exemption, and fraudulently underreporting the price will likely draw a fraud penalty of 100% of the tax or $500, whichever is greater. |
| Inspections | No safety inspection for most vehicles. Utah Code 53-8-205 reaches commercial vehicles, buses, taxicabs and other vehicles for hire, multi-axle combinations, a street-legal ATV or novel vehicle’s first registration, and a salvage vehicle’s first registration. Emissions testing applies in Cache, Davis, Salt Lake, Utah and Weber counties: a vehicle six model years old or older is tested every year in Davis, Salt Lake, Utah and Weber, and in Cache in the year that matches its model year’s odd or even number. A certificate issued in the last 11 months transfers to the buyer. |
Fees and form numbers verified against the Utah DMV’s official buying & selling pages as of August 2026 — rules change, so confirm at the source before you file anything.
No notary needed here, unlike a handful of states; a replacement title runs $6 — compare all fifty; what protects you after handoff; whether you need a bill of sale; or price the Utah transfer in the fee calculator.
Asked by Utah sellers
Do I need a notary to sell my car in Utah?
No. Utah's current DMV selling instructions include no notary step anywhere in the sequence — the owner's signature on the title assignment is enough on its own.
What paperwork does a Utah private-party sale actually require?
Sign the assignment on the title itself and write in the mileage if the car is under 20 years old — there's no separate seller form. Add a bill of sale too: the DMV lists one under Required for All Transactions. Form TC-843 is the state's version, though a handwritten one counts. It records the price the buyer's sales tax is calculated from; without an acceptable one, the tax is worked out on fair market value. State law then says the signed title and the current registration go to the buyer when you deliver the car or within 48 hours after. If you have an emissions certificate from the last 11 months, hand that over as well — it transfers with the car.
What if I can't find my title?
You can still sell. Fill in Form TC-123, the Application for Utah Duplicate Title, and sign both Part 1 and Part 2 — Part 2 assigns the car to your buyer, who registers on that form in place of the title. If you want a replacement title first, it costs $6.00 and takes 10 to 14 business days: online through the Motor Vehicle Portal (MVP), by mail to the Motor Vehicle Division Contact Center in Salt Lake City with a check payable to the Utah State Tax Commission, or in person at a DMV office.
How do I make sure the car stops being my problem after the sale?
Two moves. First, take your plates off — Utah plates stay with the seller unless expressly sold with the vehicle, and leaving them on can pin the buyer's traffic violations on you. Second, report the vehicle sold to the DMV: online via the Motor Vehicle Portal, by phone at 1-800-DMV-UTAH (800-368-8824), or by mail.