Sell your car in Wisconsin: plates off, report the sale in 30 days
Wisconsin makes private sales unusually easy on paper — no notary, no safety inspection, and a seller notification you file online in minutes. What's hard is winter: a decade of road salt, a truck-heavy market, and buyers who know exactly what rust looks like. Get a real cash number first, then decide.
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How to sell a car in Wisconsin
- 01Check whether your lender still holds the title. Since July 30, 2012, Wisconsin mails any title with a loan on it to the lender, and the owner gets a Confirmation of Ownership instead. Pay off the loan first. There's nothing to sign until the lender sends the title, and if a lender is still printed on the front, the buyer will need its lien release. Lost a title with no loan on it? Replace it on the MV2119 for $20 before you sell.
- 02Get paid, then fill in the assignment block on the back. WisDOT's advice is plain: never sign your title or hand it over until you've been paid. Everything you sign sits in the ASSIGNMENT OF CERTIFICATE OF TITLE block on the back. Check the front first: “AND” between the owners' names means every owner listed signs, while “OR” means any one of them can sign alone. Sign as the seller, write the price you were actually paid (understating it is a crime), and write the buyer's name and address in yourself, so the title never leaves your hand open. Nobody notarizes or witnesses any of it. Use blue or black ink only: the title's border says any alteration, correction fluid or erasure voids it. Made a mistake? Don't fix it with a pen. The title has to be replaced, or the error explained on a Statement of Intent (MV2489).
- 03Answer the four brand questions, and add the mileage on a 2011 or newer. Selling a model year 2011 or newer car in 2026? Write whole miles on the back of the title with one of the three notations, and the buyer signs the same statement. On a 2010 or older car, leave the odometer line empty. Then tick the brand disclosure if, while you owned it, the car was used as a taxi or public transport, was a salvage vehicle, had flood damage over 70% of its fair market value, or was used by police. Getting that wrong can cost up to $5,000. Photograph the finished back before you hand it over; the title itself suggests keeping a copy as proof of sale.
- 04Take the plates off and cut them up. Wisconsin says never leave the plates on a car or light truck (8,000 pounds or under) when you sell. The buyer can't use them, and the Wisconsin DMV doesn't want them back. Cut them up, or move them free to another vehicle of the same type that belongs to you, your spouse or your domestic partner. Registration is refunded only if you ask before the registration period begins, so on a mid-year sale the MV2030 won't pay out. If the plates did leave on the car, tick “Left on vehicle when sold” on the MV2514, and DMV records will show the plate cancelled and the car sold. The buyer can get a $3 temporary plate, good for 90 days, from an authorized agent.
- 05Report the buyer online within 30 days. Wis. Stat. 342.41 makes this your job, and only yours. At sellernotify.wi.gov you give the VIN, who bought the car, the price and the date. There's no paper version. Save, print or email the confirmation. Know its limit, though: WisDOT says the seller notification is not noted on the vehicle record. It tells the state who bought the car. The car leaves your name when the buyer titles it.
- 06Your buyer titles it, within two business days if they'll drive it. The buyer applies on the MV1 or through eMV Public, with your original title; WisDOT rejects photocopies. They can go to a DMV customer service center or a third-party title and registration service provider, or mail it to P.O. Box 7949, Madison WI 53707-7949 and skip the $5 counter fee. The Wisconsin title transfer fee is $214.50, plus $85 for passenger plates and $12 to issue them if they have no plate to transfer. They also pay 5% state sales tax, plus any county and city tax, on the price you wrote. If they'll keep the car in Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Washington or Waukesha county, they need an emissions test within 45 days.
Don't want to list it? Wisconsin sellers can get an instant cash offer here instead.
Checked against the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Division of Motor Vehicles in August 2026.
What Wisconsin requires when you sell
| Notary | Not required. Nothing a Wisconsin seller signs is notarized. You sign the back of the title and write in the sale price and the buyer's name and address, plus the mileage if the car is a 2011 or newer. One piece of WisDOT advice worth taking: never sign until you've been paid — and write the real price, because the Department of Revenue investigates sales reported suspiciously low. |
|---|---|
| The title form | There's no separate assignment form — you sign over the Wisconsin title itself. WisDOT's MV2928 instruction sheet includes an optional bill of sale template, and your buyer applies for their own title with the MV1, within two business days if they plan to drive the car. |
| Bill of sale | Optional. A Wisconsin bill of sale isn't required, because the signed-over title is what transfers the car. WisDOT's MV2928 includes one it calls “for your convenience, not a required form,” and the sheet is printed DO NOT SUBMIT THIS TO DMV — it's a receipt for you and the buyer, not a filing (WisDOT, Selling a vehicle). Want one anyway? See what a car bill of sale should include. Handing a junked car with a lost title to a licensed salvage dealer uses a different form, the MV2459. |
| Lost your title? | File form MV2119 for a replacement: $20, plus a $5 counter fee if you go to a DMV service center in person. Checks go to Registration Fee Trust, and the current owner of record signs. |
| Protect yourself after the sale | Wisconsin law (Wis. Stat. 342.41) gives you 30 days to report the sale online at sellernotify.wi.gov — VIN, buyer, price, and date. Do it the day of the sale and save the confirmation, but know its limit: WisDOT says the notification is not noted on the vehicle record, and the car leaves your name when the buyer titles it. Until then, what protects you is the completed title assignment handed over with the car (Wis. Stat. 342.15(3)) and your plates coming off. |
| License plates | Plates stay with you. Take them off before the buyer drives away — the buyer registers with their own. |
| Sales tax | The buyer's bill, not yours. Wisconsin collects its 5% state sales/use tax — plus any county or city tax — from the buyer when they title and register. Private sellers collect nothing. |
| Inspections | No periodic safety inspection exists in Wisconsin, and no test is required to sell. The Wisconsin emissions test applies only to vehicles kept in seven southeastern counties (Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Washington, Waukesha), and it's the buyer's job: they test within 45 days of buying and registering the car. Nothing about it falls on you as the seller. |
Fees and rules above were verified against WisDOT’s official vehicle-selling instructions as of August 2026 — double-check there before you file anything.
No notary needed here, unlike a handful of states; a replacement title runs $20 — compare all fifty; what protects you after handoff; whether you need a bill of sale; or price the Wisconsin transfer in the fee calculator.
Asked by Wisconsin sellers
Do I need a notary or a bill of sale to sell a car in Wisconsin?
Neither is required. You assign the title itself — signature, date, sale price, buyer's name and address. WisDOT's MV2928 instruction sheet includes an optional bill of sale template if you want a receipt for your records, and a notary never enters the picture.
What happens to my license plates when I sell?
They come off the car and stay with you — Wisconsin plates belong to the seller, and the buyer registers with plates of their own. Remove yours before the vehicle leaves your driveway.
Who pays the sales tax on a private-party sale in Wisconsin?
The buyer does, when they title and register: Wisconsin's 5% state rate plus any applicable county or city tax. You collect nothing as the seller — but write the true price on the title, because the Department of Revenue looks into sales reported suspiciously low.
How do I make sure I'm not liable for the car after it's sold?
Do three things, because no single Wisconsin filing does it alone. Complete the assignment on the back of the title, buyer's name and address included, and hand it over with the car: under Wis. Stat. 342.15(3), an owner who has delivered the car and complied with the assignment rules isn't liable as owner for damages afterward. Take your plates off, or if they went with the car, tick “Left on vehicle when sold” on an MV2514 so DMV records show the plate cancelled and the vehicle sold. And file the seller notification at sellernotify.wi.gov within 30 days (Wis. Stat. 342.41). It's required, but WisDOT says it isn't noted on the vehicle record; the record changes when the buyer titles the car.