The bottom line: To sell your car privately in Arkansas, sign the title over to the buyer and fill in a bill of sale on Form 10-313, which also holds the odometer disclosure for 2011 and newer models. Neither document needs a notary. The car needs no emissions test or safety inspection.
Take your plates off, since they stay with you. Then file the Notice of Transfer of Ownership of a Motor Vehicle online through MyDMV or by mail. Arkansas makes the notice optional, but the sale is not on the state’s record until you file it.
If the title is lost, apply for a replacement on Form 10-381 for $10. It takes a minimum of three weeks, or three business days for an extra $10 in person at the Central Revenue Office in Little Rock.
Find out what the online buyers offer before you decide a private sale is worth the trouble.
- Sign the title over to the buyerOdometer reading: required for model year 2011 and newer vehicles.
- Write a bill of saleForm 10-313
- Take your plates off the carKeep the plate or assign it to a replacement vehicle
- File Notice of Transfer of Ownership of a Motor VehicleFile online through MyDMV, or send the Notice of Transfer of Ownership to the Office of Motor Vehicle Records Unit in Little Rock, by mail or in person. It helps protect you from liability for the car after the sale.
- Emissions test
- Safety inspection
- Notary on the title
- Notarized bill of sale
- Replacing a lost title
- $10Takes a minimum of three weeks; can’t be ordered online; Form 10-381Faster: In person at the Central Revenue Office in Little Rock, ready for pickup in 3 business days, an additional $10.
- Two owners on the title
- If the owners' names are joined by "and" both must sign; if joined by "or" either may sign.
- The buyer
- Registers the car within 60 days from the date of purchase$3 for each 10 days late, capped at the annual license fee, plus a 10% sales tax penalty
Automated assistant: general info, not legal advice
Answers come from our state paperwork data and published guides. Confirm anything binding with your state DMV.
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Step-by-Step Process for Arkansas
Step 1: Prepare Your Arkansas Paperwork
Two documents do the whole job in Arkansas: the certificate of title, in your name, and the state’s bill of sale. Bring your driver’s license as well, because the buyer will want to see who they are paying.
Documents you’ll need:
- Vehicle title: the Arkansas certificate, in your name, with any lien released
- Driver’s license: yours, and a look at the buyer’s before money changes hands
- Lien release: only if a lender is still on the record
If your title is missing:
Arkansas calls the replacement form the Application for Title or Replacement Title, and files it as Form 10-381. It costs $10.
The DFA asks you to allow a minimum of three weeks, so start it before you list the car.
It goes in person at any Arkansas state revenue office, or by mail to the DFA Special License Unit.
You can get it faster in Little Rock: yes, in person at the Central Revenue Office in Little Rock, ready for pickup in 3 business days.
That costs an additional $10 on top of the replacement fee.
If the title was never in your name:
A replacement only works when the record already shows you as the owner. Where it does not, Arkansas can issue a bonded title instead, and the bond runs to one and a half times what the Office of Motor Vehicle says the car is worth.
If you still owe money on the car:
The paperwork comes from the lender, not from you: the lienholder completes Form 10-315, the Official Release of Lien.
Ask the lender how long its release takes before you advertise. If you owe more than the car brings, you pay the lender the rest before the release comes.
Step 2: Prepare Your Car
Wash it inside and out before you take photographs, and clear out the glove box while you are there.
Then put the paperwork in one folder: service receipts, any inspection you paid for, and a history report if you have one. Arkansas asks for none of it, but a buyer who sees it asks fewer questions.
Step 3: Price Your Car
Step 4: Advertise Your Car
Facebook Marketplace covers Little Rock, Fayetteville and Fort Smith, and Cars.com and Autotrader reach the neighboring metros as well.
Arkansas has no statewide vehicle emissions testing program, so an older car here is not held back by a test the way it would be in Tennessee or Missouri.
If you would rather not deal with strangers at all, Peddle and Wheelzy buy older and damaged cars outright, and Carvana is the one to try for a car under 10 years old in good condition.
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Offer amount 35% 5/5
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Process ease 20% 5/5
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Offer validity 15% 4/5
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Pickup / drop-off 15% 4/5
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Payment speed 15% 4/5
- Get a real offer online in 2 minutes
- Suits a car under 10 years old in good condition
- No haggling: its best offer comes upfront
- Pays off your loan when it buys the car
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Offer amount 30% 5/5
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Quote speed 20% 5/5
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Pickup speed 20% 4/5
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Vehicle acceptance 15% 5/5
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Process ease 15% 5/5
- Buys any car in any condition, running or not
- Free towing, with no fees taken off the offer
- You can cancel before pickup at no cost
- Pays by check on the spot at pickup
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Offer amount 30% 5/5
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Quote speed 20% 5/5
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Pickup speed 20% 5/5
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Vehicle acceptance 15% 4/5
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Process ease 15% 4/5
- Free pickup anywhere in Arkansas
- Paid at pickup, usually by cashier's check
- No dealer, title transfer or removal fees
- Buys cars whether or not they start
Step 5: Meet with Buyers Safely
Meet in daylight, in a place with cameras and people. Outside a bank or a supermarket, and not on your own street.
Take somebody with you, ride along on the test drive, and photograph the buyer’s license before you hand over the keys.
Step 6: Handle Payment and Negotiate
Get the money in a form you can check while the buyer is still standing there. A cashier’s check is only as good as the bank that confirms it, so call the branch, or better, meet the buyer inside their own bank and watch it issued.
Cash is fine for smaller amounts if you count it at a teller window. Never sign the title against a promise to pay later, and never accept more than the asking price with a request to refund the difference.
Step 7: Complete the Arkansas Title Transfer
Arkansas asks the seller to sign in two places, and the sale is not finished until both are done.
Front of the title: Sign on the line marked “Owner’s Signature.” This is your authorization to sell.
Back of the title:
Sign again at “Signature and Address of Seller”, then fill in the buyer’s full name and address, the date, the price and the mileage. The odometer line is required for model year 2011 and newer vehicles, with model year 2010 and older, trailers, and vehicles rated over 16,000 lbs exempt.
Buyer’s next step:
Registration is the buyer’s job, and Arkansas gives them 60 days from the date of purchase to finish it. Miss it and the cost is $3 for each 10 days late, capped at the annual license fee, plus a 10% sales tax penalty.
The buyer pays the title fee, the registration fee and the sales tax at the revenue office, and brings proof that the car has been assessed and that the property tax is paid. None of that is yours to sort out.
Step 8: Fill In the Arkansas Bill of Sale and Odometer Disclosure
A bill of sale is what proves, six months later, who owned the car on the day it changed hands. In Arkansas one is required.
The state prints its own and it does two jobs at once: Form 10-313 is the Vehicle Bill of Sale and the Odometer Disclosure Statement on a single sheet.
Both of you sign it, you keep a copy, and the buyer takes theirs to the revenue office. No notary is involved on either document.
Our free bill of sale generator will fill one in if you would rather not print the state form.
Step 9: Handle Arkansas License Plates and Registration
Arkansas wants the plate off the car before it leaves your hands. Plates stay with you, and the owner may then keep the plate or assign it to a replacement vehicle.
Moving a plate to a replacement car costs $1 at a revenue office. Either way the registration on the car you have just sold ends when the title transfers, so the buyer cannot drive on your tag.
Step 10: Tell the Arkansas DFA You Sold the Car
This one is your call. Arkansas lets the seller notify the Office of Motor Vehicle of a sale, but it does not make you: the form says the owner may send it “at his option”, and the statute behind it uses the same word.
There is no clock either, which is why the deadline row reads no deadline; the notice is optional.
It costs nothing to send, and the sale is not on the state's record until the notice is filed.
The form is Notice of Transfer of Ownership of a Motor Vehicle, and it asks for four things: the date, both names and addresses, the VIN and a description of the car.
That is the whole of it. Once you have sold the car and handed it over, Arkansas Code 27-14-911 says you are not liable for how the buyer drives it, notice or no notice.
Step 11: Cancel Insurance
Leave the insurance until last, after the title is signed and the plate is off. Call the insurer the same day rather than letting the policy run out on its own.
Do not wait for the buyer to register the car. Nothing on your side depends on them, and the refund on the unused months is yours either way.
Arkansas Sale Checklist
Before the Sale
At the Sale
After the Sale
Arkansas DMV Resources
State Resources:
- Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, Office of Motor Vehicle (DFA)
- List of All 50 State DMV Websites
Phone Support:
Mail documents to: Department of Finance and Administration, Office of Motor Vehicle, P.O. Box 1272, Little Rock, AR 72203
Arkansas Fees and Costs
| What You Pay | Cost | When? |
|---|---|---|
| Duplicate title (if needed) | $10 | Before sale |
| Expedited title, picked up in Little Rock | an additional $10 | Before sale |
| Moving your plate to another car | $1 | After sale |
| Lien payoff (if applicable) | Loan balance | Before sale |
| Everything else | $0 | Buyer pays |
Compare instant offers before you accept one
Compare instant offers before you accept one
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a bill of sale or title have to be notarized in Arkansas?
Neither one. Notarization of the bill of sale is not required, and on the title Arkansas does not require the title assignment to be notarized.
Two signatures and a date are all Arkansas asks for on each document.
Both our names are on the Arkansas title. Do we both have to sign?
Look at the word printed between the two names. In Arkansas, if the owners' names are joined by "and" both must sign; if joined by "or" either may sign.
Look at the title before the buyer arrives, because a missing signature sends the whole thing back.
I made a mistake filling in the Arkansas title. What now?
Arkansas has a form for exactly this: an Affidavit of Alteration, sworn before a notary public, states who altered the title assignment and why.
Take it to a notary with the title, and take both to a revenue office.
Can you sell a car without a title in Arkansas?
Only in one narrow case. Arkansas refuses a bill of sale in place of a title on an ordinary private sale, and the exceptions sit in Arkansas Code § 27-14-913 (scrap or dismantle exception) and § 27-14-409 (bonded title).
The paperwork differs by route: A bill of sale verified and signed by a law enforcement officer for 25+ year scrap vehicles, or Form 10-345 Statement of Facts for a bonded title.
On the scrap route a police officer, sheriff or deputy checks the make, model and serial number against the car, signs the bill of sale and sends it on to the Office of Motor Vehicle.
Can the Arkansas title on its own count as the bill of sale?
No. The DFA asks for the title and the bill of sale as two separate documents, and the buyer will be turned away at the revenue office with only one of them.
The list the DFA publishes for registering a car starts with the title, then the bill of sale, then the odometer statement, and in Arkansas the last two are the same sheet of paper.
My car was inherited. What does Arkansas want to see?
What the DFA wants depends on probate: Form 10-306 (Affidavit of Inheritance of a Motor Vehicle), or Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration if probated.
Without probate the heirs sign the affidavit and bring a copy of the death certificate. That route is only open to a small estate, which Arkansas puts at $100,000, the small estate threshold under Arkansas Code 28-41-101, counted without the homestead.
Talk to an Arkansas probate lawyer if the estate sits near the line.
Does Arkansas make you test emissions before you sell?
No. There is no testing required and a safety inspection is not required, so there is no certificate to fetch and no appointment to make before you list the car. That is worth knowing if the car is old or has a warning light on.
Buyers in Arkansas typically offer $473 for a junk car (cars 10 years and older, 60 offers, ranked 35 of 44 states).
Article Update History
The Notice of Transfer of Ownership and the combined bill of sale and odometer form now follow the Arkansas DFA.
The Notice of Transfer deadline and the Form 10-313 bill of sale rule checked against the Arkansas DFA.
Originally posted and shared with our readers.
Sources
"Form 10-313" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Release of Liability Form Name
"Notice of Transfer of Ownership of a Motor Vehicle" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Duplicate Title Application Form
"Form 10-381" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, Office of Motor Vehicle (DFA)" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"A bill of sale verified and signed by a law enforcement officer for 25+ year scrap vehicles, or Form 10-345 Statement of Facts for a bonded title" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"required" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"yes" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Release of Liability Filing Deadline
"no deadline; the notice is optional" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"the lienholder completes Form 10-315, the Official Release of Lien" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"required for model year 2011 and newer vehicles, with model year 2010 and older, trailers, and vehicles rated over 16,000 lbs exempt" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Penalty for Not Filing Release of Liability
"the sale is not on the state's record until the notice is filed" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"an Affidavit of Alteration, sworn before a notary public, states who altered the title assignment and why" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Conditions to Sell Without Title
"the vehicle must have been in existence for at least 25 years with no certificate of title available and be sold for scrap, dismantling or destruction; otherwise apply for a replacement title, or a bonded title if the title was never in your name" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Inherited Vehicle Estate Value Threshold
"$100,000, the small estate threshold under Arkansas Code 28-41-101" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Emissions Testing Required to Sell?
"no testing required" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Safety Inspection Required to Sell?
"not required" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"Arkansas has no statewide vehicle emissions testing program" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Junk Car Value Statistics, Sell Car Advisor
"On this page: 1 figure from 17,628 instant cash offers" Accessed Oct. 19, 2026
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