How to Sell a Car in New York
To sell a car in New York, you sign over the title, give the buyer a bill of sale and take your plates off the car. Here’s each step, in the order you’ll need it.
Sign the title over, with the odometer and damage disclosures. Sign a bill of sale (MV-912) and fill in your part of form DTF-802. Then take your plates and registration sticker off the car, and turn the plates in to the DMV before you cancel your insurance. Each step is below, with the form it needs.
The checklist
| Step | Form |
|---|---|
| Sign the title over, with the odometer and damage disclosures | The back of your title |
| Give the buyer a bill of sale | MV-912 |
| Fill in the seller’s part of the sales tax form | DTF-802 |
| Take off your plates and registration sticker | None |
| Turn in the plates, unless you move them to another car | PD-7 |
| Replace a lost title, before you sell | MV-902 |
| Give the buyer proof that a paid-off loan is cleared | MV-901, or a letter from your lender |
Before you sell
Make sure the title is yours to sign. “Only the person whose name appears on the title has the authority to sell a vehicle,” the New York DMV says. If a title was signed over to you and you never got one in your own name, you can’t sign it over again: apply for a title in your name first, with form MV-82TON.
If you’ve lost the title, apply for a duplicate with form MV-902. It costs $20. You can order it online if you’re the owner, your address with the DMV is current, and the car is registered and titled in New York. The new title is mailed to you, even if you apply at a DMV office. Once the duplicate is processed, the old title and any earlier duplicates can’t be used to sell the car, even if the old one turns up.
If you’ve paid off a loan, your lender must send you a lien release. It’s usually a Notice of Recorded Lien (MV-901) signed by the lender. It can also be a letter on the lender’s letterhead, signed by an officer, that names you and the car (year, make and VIN) and says the loan is paid. If the lender is a person rather than a company, the letter must be notarized. The DMV accepts only the signed original, not a copy.
You don’t need a new title to sell. Attach the original lien release to your title and give both to the buyer. To get a title without the lien instead, mail the release, your original title and a $20 fee to DMV Title Services. The new title arrives in 60 to 90 days, so start early. If your lender releases the lien electronically, a new title isn’t sent automatically: you still send in your title, the proof and the fee, or apply for a duplicate.
If the car is from model year 1972 or older, New York doesn’t title it. The transferable registration is the ownership document: you sign the back and give the buyer a bill of sale. It has to be the original or a certified copy, not a photocopy, and say “transferable” on the front.
Signing the title
Fill in the “Transfer by Owner” section on the back of the title, and only when you’re actually selling the car. Print your name and address, the buyer’s name and address, and the date. Then sign your first and last name in full on the “Seller’s Signature” line. As soon as you sign, the car belongs to the buyer.
On the back, you’ll also complete:
- The odometer disclosure, for cars from model year 2011 on that are up to 20 model years old.
- The damage disclosure, whatever the car’s age. Titles issued before 1994 don’t have one, so with an older title, fill in form MV-103, the Odometer and Damage Disclosure Statement, and give it to the buyer.
Write carefully. The DMV won’t accept a title with “cross-outs, alterations, or erasures of any kind,” and if you change or correct anything, signatures and addresses included, the title isn’t valid. Don’t write on the front. If a title is voided, even by mistake, you need a duplicate before you can sell.
If the owner has died
Who signs depends on how many cars the owner had, what they’re worth and who survives the owner.
- If the owner had one car, worth $25,000 or less, it goes to a surviving spouse. To sell it, print the owner’s name as the seller on the back of the title, sign your own name, and write “as surviving spouse” after it. Then fill in form MV-349.1, which must be notarized, and give it to the buyer with a copy of the death certificate.
- With no surviving spouse, that car goes to any children under 21, and their guardian signs the title and form MV-349.1. With no spouse, children under 21, will or estate, it’s transferred with form MV-349 instead.
- If the owner had more than one car, or a car worth more than $25,000, the cars are part of the estate. The executor or administrator signs the title and writes “Executor of the Estate of” and the owner’s name under the signature. The buyer also needs a copy of the Surrogate’s Court papers that give them that authority.
The DMV’s checklist for this, form MV-843, covers each case.
The bill of sale (MV-912)
The seller signs a bill of sale, form MV-912, “even if it is a gift.” It needs the car’s year and make, the VIN, the date of the sale, the price, and the buyer’s and seller’s names and signatures.
The sales tax form (DTF-802)
In a private sale, the buyer pays sales tax when they register the car, and form DTF-802 sets the price it’s based on. Fill in the seller’s section. If it’s left blank, the buyer is taxed on the car’s fair market value instead of the price they paid. If you’re giving the car away or selling it below its value to anyone but a spouse, parent, child, stepparent or stepchild, you also complete Section 6 on page 2.
Your plates
Your plates don’t go with the car. “To prevent a problem when you sell a vehicle, remove the vehicle plates and the windshield registration sticker,” the DMV says. Then either:
- move them to another car you own, by transferring the registration; or
- turn them in with form PD-7, one form per set of plates. Bring the plates and the form to a DMV office (county offices charge a $1 processing fee), or mail them to the DMV in Albany in an envelope, not a box. Take off the plate frames and fasteners first: the DMV won’t accept plates with them attached.
You’ll get a receipt, form FS-6T. Allow 21 days for it by mail, and keep it. You may get a refund for the rest of your registration; the DMV’s answer is “it depends.”
Insurance: plates first
Turn in your plates before you cancel your insurance. “Before you cancel the vehicle’s liability insurance coverage you must surrender your plates and registration,” the DMV says. If you don’t, it will suspend your registration and can suspend your driver’s license.
Selling to us in New York
We buy cars across Buffalo and its suburbs, with pickup usually the same day or the next. We need a valid title in your name with no loans or liens on it, a photo ID, the VIN and photos of the car. See what you need to sell a car for the full list.
Leave the title blank until pickup. We walk you through signing it then, so there’s nothing to cross out. Your plates and insurance are still yours to handle, as above. Our Western New York office is at 611 Deer Street, Lower 2, Dunkirk, NY 14048.
Get a free offer. There’s no obligation, and it’s good for 7 days or 300 miles.
Questions people ask
Do I keep my license plates when I sell my car in New York?
Yes. Take them off before the buyer drives away, along with the registration sticker. Then move them to another car you own or turn them in to the DMV with form PD-7.
Do I need a bill of sale in New York?
Yes. The seller signs form MV-912, even when the car is a gift.
When can I cancel my car insurance after selling?
After you turn in your plates. If you cancel first, New York will suspend your registration and can suspend your driver’s license.
Do I need a new title after paying off my car loan?
No. You can sell with the title you have, as long as you give the buyer the original lien release with it. A new title without the lien takes 60 to 90 days by mail.
What if I make a mistake on the title?
Don’t cross it out or correct it. New York won’t accept a title that’s been changed, so you’ll need a duplicate (form MV-902, $20) before you can sell.
Sources
Checked October 24, 2026.
- New York DMV: buy, sell or transfer vehicle ownership, certificate of title, proof of ownership is not available, acceptable proofs of ownership, if a family member has passed away, surrender your plates and registration, insurance lapses, transfer a registration to another vehicle, replace a title certificate, add or remove a lienholder and Let the Buyer Be Aware