Sell your car in Virginia — no notary, no back-of-title puzzle, no waiting
Virginia keeps private car sales refreshingly simple: you sign Section A on the front of the title, hand over the keys, and tell DMV the car is gone — an ordinary sale needs no notary, and when you are both Virginia residents with myDMV accounts and the car carries no lien or beneficiary, the entire transfer can even happen online. Skip the strangers-with-cash part altogether: get an instant offer, and we'll pick the car up anywhere in the Commonwealth.
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If you’re in Richmond, the Virginia city with the most car-selling searches, our Richmond page has the local details. Every other Virginia city we cover is in the list above, each with its own page.
How to sell a car in Virginia
- 01Secure the title first: selling without it is a misdemeanor. Virginia makes it a Class 3 misdemeanor to sell a car without first securing its certificate of title. Lost it? Order a replacement on VSA 67 for $15. Still paying off a loan? Virginia usually holds the title electronically for the lender, so the lender has to release the lien before a paper title can be printed.
- 02Fill in Section A on the front. Virginia puts the whole sale in one block on the front of the title, not the back. Every owner named on the title prints and signs as seller; two names and one signature does not transfer the car. Write in the buyer's name and address and the date, then the buyer prints and signs in the same block. No notary, no witness. The title is void if altered, so a crossed-out entry means applying for a replacement, not fixing it in the margin.
- 03Write the real mileage, however old the car. Virginia gives no age exemption to a car that has only ever had a Virginia title, so the odometer line is never left blank here. The only ways out are a vehicle rated over 16,000 pounds or one that arrived on an out-of-state title already marked exempt. Read the number off the dashboard; DMV says not to guess or estimate. A reading below the one DMV already has puts the title on hold and can get it branded NOT ACTUAL (VSA 11).
- 04Write the price, even for a friend. The price in Section A is the bill of sale in Virginia. It also sets the Virginia car sales tax the buyer pays at titling (Motor Vehicle Sales and Use Tax): 4.15% of the price or $75, whichever is more. If the price is missing on a car more than five years old, the buyer needs a SUT 1 price certification or a handwritten bill of sale. On a car five years old or less, a missing price, or one not within $1,500 of the NADA trade-in value, means a notarized SUT 1A affidavit. Gifting a car in Virginia? Writing "gift" on the title is not enough; the recipient claims the exemption on SUT 3.
- 05Hand the title over with the car; the plates stay yours. Give the buyer the signed title at the same time you hand over the car; Virginia law ties the two together. The plates are yours, not the car's, so take them off before the buyer drives away. Put them on your next car with a VSA 10 License Plate Application, or surrender them to DMV right away. Online Plate Surrender is fastest but gives up any refund. Handing them in at a DMV customer service center, or mailing them with FMS 210, keeps a refund open when six full months or more are left on the registration.
- 06Notify DMV on the registration card, online or by phone. Section 46.2-604 says the seller must notify DMV: fill in the seller's part of the registration card, or report the sale online, by phone or at a DMV customer service center. The law sets no deadline and no fine, but this is what takes the car off your record. Surrender the plates before you cancel your insurance, not after. Insurers tell DMV when coverage ends, and a car still registered to you with no insurance can cost you a license suspension and a $600 noncompliance fee.
- 07The buyer has 30 days to title it. The buyer fills in the back of the title and, within 30 days, takes it with a VSA 17A application to a DMV customer service center or DMV Select. That finishes the Virginia title transfer: $15 for the title, the tax, and plates of their own if they register at the same time. The annual Virginia safety inspection is the buyer's to pass before driving, not yours. If you are both Virginia residents with myDMV accounts, the car has no lien or beneficiary, and it was not marked sold more than 15 days before you try, you can do the whole transfer online through DMV's electronic titling instead.
Prefer not to deal with private buyers at all? An instant cash offer is available here instead.
Checked against the Virginia DMV in August 2026.
What Virginia requires when you sell
| Notary | None required. Virginia's official selling instructions never mention a notary: all owners print and sign their names in Section A of the title, add the buyer's name and address, record the actual odometer reading, and enter the date and sale price. That's the whole ceremony. |
|---|---|
| The title form | There is no separate assignment form — the seller's section is Section A on the FRONT of the Virginia title, not the back. DMV specifically warns sellers not to guess or estimate the odometer reading. Gifting the car instead of selling it? The recipient has to qualify for the tax exemption on form SUT-3. |
| Bill of sale | Conditional: usually the title is enough. Virginia has no official bill-of-sale form. The price you write in Section A of the title counts as the bill of sale, so fill it in even on a cheap or friendly sale. A separate Virginia vehicle bill of sale only matters when that price is missing: on a car more than five years old, a handwritten bill of sale or a SUT 1 price certification stands in; on a car five years old or less, the buyer needs a notarized SUT 1A affidavit instead. Source: Virginia DMV, Motor Vehicle Sales and Use Tax. Writing one anyway? See our bill of sale guide. |
| Selling fully online | If the car already has a Virginia title, you are both Virginia residents with myDMV accounts, and the car carries no lien and no beneficiary, seller and buyer can complete the entire ownership transfer electronically — no dealer involved, no counter visit. It has to be done within 15 days of the car being marked sold. The buyer pays the $15 titling fee either way. |
| Lost your title? | Order a replacement online or at a DMV customer service center with form VSA 67 (VSA 66 if a lien is being added) for $15. Two catches worth knowing: every prior title becomes invalid the moment the replacement is issued, and if an old loan was never formally released, the new title goes to the lienholder of record — not to you. |
| Protect yourself after the sale | Virginia has no numbered release-of-liability form, but the notice itself is mandatory: you must tell DMV you sold, traded or donated the vehicle — online, by phone, or at a customer service center. Skip it and you remain the registered owner on paper; if insurance later lapses on the car, DMV can suspend your driver's license and registration over someone else's uninsured vehicle. |
| License plates | Plates stay with you, not the car — remove them before the buyer takes possession. Transfer them to your next vehicle or turn them in, and if six months or more remain on the registration, mail the plates in with form FMS-210 to claim a partial refund. |
| Sales tax | The buyer pays Virginia's Motor Vehicle Sales and Use Tax at titling: 4.15% of the gross sale price or $75, whichever is greater. The price you write on the title doubles as the bill of sale. If the car is five model-years old or less and the price is not within $1,500 of its NADA trade-in value, the buyer files a notarized affidavit SUT-1A; for an older car with no price entered, a SUT-1 price certification or a handwritten bill of sale signed by both parties does the job. |
| Safety inspections | Every Virginia-registered vehicle needs a state safety inspection every 12 months (Va. Code § 46.2-1158), and stations are capped by statute at $20 for a passenger car. |
| Emissions (Northern Virginia only) | Emissions testing applies only to vehicles garaged in Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Stafford counties and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas and Manassas Park (those localities also pay a $2 emissions add-on at registration). A passing certificate is good for two years and, by statute, stays valid even if the car is sold during that time. |
Verified August 2026 against the Virginia DMV's official buying-and-selling guide. Fees and forms do change, so double-check anything load-bearing before a trip to a customer service center.
No notary needed here, unlike a handful of states; a replacement title runs $15 — compare all fifty; what protects you after handoff; whether you need a bill of sale; or price the Virginia transfer in the fee calculator.
Asked by Virginia sellers
Do I need a notary to sell my car in Virginia?
No. Virginia asks for no notary and no witness on the transfer — every owner on the title signs Section A on the front, you record the actual odometer reading, the buyer's details, the date and the price, and the assignment is done. Only two forms in the seller's set need a notary, and neither is part of an ordinary sale: the VSA 12 affidavit used when the title cannot be found, and the buyer's SUT-1A price affidavit on a car five model-years old or less.
Do I need a bill of sale for a private sale in Virginia?
Usually the sale price written on the title is your bill of sale. The exceptions come from the tax side: on a car five model-years old or less, a missing price or one not within $1,500 of the NADA trade-in value means the buyer files a notarized SUT-1A affidavit, and an older car with no price on the title needs a SUT-1 price certification or a handwritten bill of sale signed by both parties.
What happens to my license plates when I sell?
They're yours — take them off before the buyer leaves. You can move them to another vehicle, turn them in, or, with six months or more left on the registration, mail them in with form FMS-210 and claim a partial refund.
Do I have to tell the Virginia DMV that I sold my car?
Yes, and it's the single most important after-sale step. Report the sale online, by phone, or at a customer service center. Until you do, the car is still registered to you — and if it later sits uninsured while it is, DMV can suspend your driver's license and registration.