The bottom line: To sell a car privately in Illinois, every seller named on the title signs and prints their name on it, exactly as it appears on the front. Use blue or black ink. No notary is needed.
Complete the odometer disclosure for a 2011 or newer car. A simple bill of sale is recommended but not required.
The plates stay with you: move them to your next car or destroy them. Right after the sale, mail the Secretary of State the Seller’s Report of Sale (Form VSD 703, or the Notice of Sale at the bottom of the title). Until you do, parking tickets, tolls and accidents involving the car can still land on you.
If there is a loan, the lender signs off the lien on the title or gives you a release letter. A lost title has to be replaced first with Form VSD 190 ($50), which takes 3 to 4 weeks.
- Sign the title over to the buyerOdometer reading: required for model year 2011 and newer vehicles.
- Take your plates off the carTransfer your plates to another vehicle you own, or destroy them
- File Form VSD 703 (Seller's Report of Sale)Immediately after the sale. Mail Form VSD 703 to the Secretary of State Vehicle Services Department, or mail in the Notice of Sale section detached from the bottom of the title. It helps protect you from liability for the car after the sale.
- Write a bill of sale
- Emissions test
- Safety inspection
- Notary on the title
- Notarized bill of sale
- Replacing a lost title
- $50Takes 3 to 4 weeks once the application is received; can be ordered online; Form VSD 190Faster: Expedited service available, $30 on top of the standard fee, with requests before noon shipped via FedEx the same day.
- Two owners on the title
- The title must show the signed and printed names of all sellers and buyers.
- The buyer
- Registers the car within 20 days from the date of sale$25 late title fee plus possible additional penalties for prolonged delay
Automated assistant: general info, not legal advice
Answers come from our state paperwork data and published guides. Confirm anything binding with your state DMV.
Compare Instant Offers
Step-by-Step Process for Illinois
Step 1: Prepare Your Illinois Paperwork
Documents you’ll need:
- Vehicle title – the Illinois Certificate of Title, with no open lien on it
- Valid driver’s license – so the buyer can match your signature to the name on the title
- Lien release – if a lender ever held the title
If your title is missing:
A duplicate title comes first: you can complete Form VSD 190 online through the Electronic Registration and Title system, then mail it or bring it to a Secretary of State facility with the $50 fee. Allow 3 to 4 weeks once the application is received. If you cannot wait that long, expedited service costs $30 on top of the standard fee, with requests before noon shipped via FedEx the same day.
If you still owe money on the car:
A title with a lien on it cannot be assigned until the lender lets go of it. In Illinois, the lienholder signs off on the back of the title in the lien release area, or provides a separate lien release letter on company letterhead with the VIN. Illinois primarily uses paper titles; the Electronic Lien and Title (ELT) system applies to lienholders, not private sellers.
Call the lender the week you decide to sell. When the payoff is bigger than the sale price, you cover the gap before the lender releases anything.
Step 2: Prepare Your Car
Give the car a proper wash inside and out, and put every receipt and service record you can find into one envelope for the buyer. Pull a history report on the VIN yourself first, so nothing on it surprises you halfway through a negotiation.
Step 3: Price Your Car
Step 4: Advertise Your Car
List it on Facebook Marketplace, Cars.com and Autotrader; the last two also reach buyers over the border in Wisconsin, Indiana, Missouri and Iowa.
If you don’t want to deal with listings and test drives, Peddle and Wheelzy make online offers on older and damaged cars, and Carvana is the one to try for a car under 10 years old in good condition.
-
Offer amount 35% 5/5
-
Process ease 20% 5/5
-
Offer validity 15% 4/5
-
Pickup / drop-off 15% 4/5
-
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
-
Offer amount 30% 5/5
-
Quote speed 20% 5/5
-
Pickup speed 20% 4/5
-
Vehicle acceptance 15% 5/5
-
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
-
Offer amount 30% 5/5
-
Quote speed 20% 5/5
-
Pickup speed 20% 5/5
-
Vehicle acceptance 15% 4/5
-
Process ease 15% 4/5
- Collects the car free anywhere in Illinois
- Cashier's check at pickup, cash in some areas
- Offer online or by phone in minutes
- Any condition, damaged or not running
Step 5: Meet with Buyers Safely
Pick a busy, well-lit spot with cameras, like a bank lot or the parking lot of a police station, and go in daylight with a friend. Photograph the buyer’s driver’s license before any test drive, and go along for the ride.
Step 6: Handle Payment and Negotiate
Cash is fine for a cheaper car, and counting it inside your bank beats counting it in a parking lot. For anything bigger, take a cashier’s check drawn while you watch, or move the money at the buyer’s bank before you sign the title.
Step 7: Complete the Illinois Title Transfer
Turn the Illinois title over: the seller’s part is the Assignment of Title, and the Secretary of State wants it signed to the buyer before the car leaves. Do it together, with the buyer’s ID in front of you.
As the seller, you fill in:
- Buyer’s full legal name – copied from their ID, since a misspelling means a correction form later
- Buyer’s address – street, city, state and ZIP
- Sale price – the amount actually paid, nothing rounded
- Date of sale – the day you hand over the keys
- Odometer reading – disclosure is required for model year 2011 and newer vehicles, with model year 2010 and older, trailers, and vehicles rated over 16,000 lbs exempt. It goes on the title, or on Form VSD 333.4 if the title has no space for it.
- Your signature and printed name – matching the front of the title
Title rules to follow:
- Blue or black ink
- Print so a clerk can read it
Made a mistake on the assignment? Do not reach for white-out. In Illinois, a signature in the wrong space, a misspelled name, a wrong date of sale or a buyer who backed out is put right on Form VSD 393 (Affirmation of Correction), signed by the person who made the error; the form cannot be used to correct the odometer reading.
Illinois’s rule for more than one owner is that the title must show the signed and printed names of all sellers and buyers.
The buyer has 20 days from the date of sale to take the title to a Secretary of State facility and apply for one in their name. Later than that and they pay a $25 late title fee plus possible additional penalties for prolonged delay.
Step 8: Handle Illinois License Plates and Registration
Illinois plates stay with you. Once they are off you can transfer your plates to another vehicle you own, or destroy them; moving them onto another car you own costs $25.
Step 9: Submit the Release of Liability
After the sale the Secretary of State asks for one thing: a Form VSD 703 (Seller's Report of Sale). It is a one-page form with the VIN, the date and the buyer’s name, and you sign it alone; the buyer does not.
File it immediately after the sale. Mail Form VSD 703 to the Secretary of State Vehicle Services Department, or mail in the Notice of Sale section detached from the bottom of the title.
There is no fee either way. It does not move the title; the buyer still applies for their own. Skip it and there is no fixed dollar penalty, but you stay liable for parking tickets, tolls, abandonment, or accidents until you file the sale.
Step 10: Cancel Insurance
Keep the policy until the title is signed, your plates are off and your report of sale is in the mail, then cancel it. Hold on to the cancellation confirmation with the rest of the sale papers.
Illinois Secretary of State Resources
State Resources:
Phone Support:
- 800-252-8980 (Vehicle Services, toll-free in Illinois)
You can also find every state’s DMV contact info in our list of DMV websites by state.
Illinois Fees and Costs
| What You Pay | Cost | When? |
|---|---|---|
| Duplicate title (if needed) | $50 | Before sale |
| Expedited duplicate title (optional) | $30 on top of the standard fee, with requests before noon shipped via FedEx the same day | Before sale |
| Lien payoff (if applicable) | Loan balance | Before sale |
| Form VSD 703 (Seller's Report of Sale) | $0 | immediately after the sale |
| License plate transfer to another vehicle | $25 | If desired |
| Everything else | $0 | Buyer pays |
Compare instant offers before you accept one
Compare instant offers before you accept one
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you sell a car without a title in Illinois?
Only to a scrapper. Under 625 ILCS 5/5-401.3 the sale must be to a licensed scrap processor or automotive parts recycler, the vehicle cannot return to the road, and the seller must furnish documentary proof of ownership such as registration plus photo ID. There is no form for you to sign; the statute lets other proof of ownership stand in for the title.
Every other buyer, private or dealer, needs the title in hand, so a lost one gets replaced before you list the car.
Do I need to get the title notarized when I sign it over in Illinois?
Is a bill of sale required to sell a car in Illinois?
No, Illinois does not ask for one, and there is no state-issued bill of sale form; a generic document works for titled vehicles. Write one anyway; it is your own record of the price and the date. Our free bill of sale generator fills one in with the VIN, the price and both names.
Can I report my car sale to the Illinois Secretary of State online?
Online filing: Not available
It goes by mail. Keep a copy of what you send, with the date on it.
What happens with the license plates when I sell my car in Illinois?
They are yours, and the buyer gets their own. Keeping or handing back a plate is not what releases you from the car.
The buyer is from out of state. Does Illinois require anything special?
Nothing changes on your side. You sign the Assignment of Title the same way, keep your plates, and send the Secretary of State the same report of sale you would send for a buyer from Peoria.
The buyer handles the title and registration in their own state.
My car was inherited. What additional Illinois forms do I need?
Can I sign my car over to a family member for free in Illinois?
Yes, and the new owner still files a tax return on it: RUT-50, Private Party Vehicle Use Tax Transaction Return, filed with VSD 190. The flat tax is still paid.
Family, for that flat rate, is a short list. Spouse or civil union partner, parent, brother, sister or child. This is a flat $15 tax, not a full exemption. Step-relations, in-laws and grandparents do not qualify.
Does my buyer need an emissions test in Illinois?
Illinois requires emissions testing only for registration, not for sale; testing applies to most 1996 and newer gasoline vehicles four model years and older in Cook, DuPage, Lake counties and parts of Kane, Kendall, McHenry, Will, Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair counties. Your part in it is no, the buyer tests at registration.
How do I sell a junk car in Illinois?
The paperwork is the same; the buyer is a different kind of buyer. Buyers in Illinois typically offer $500 for a junk car (cars 10 years and older, 440 offers, ranked 23 of 44 states); see our list of online junk car buyers for who quotes on a car that doesn’t run.
Article Update History
Every rule on this page checked against the Illinois Secretary of State, with title corrections, co-owner signing and junk-car offers added.
Fees, forms and filing requirements checked against the Illinois Secretary of State.
Originally posted and shared with our readers.
Sources
Release of Liability Form Name
"Form VSD 703 (Seller's Report of Sale)" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"not required" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"$50" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Replacement Title Processing Time
"3 to 4 weeks once the application is received" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Expedited Title Replacement Fee
"$30 on top of the standard fee, with requests before noon shipped via FedEx the same day" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"yes" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Title Replacement Available Online?
"yes" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Emissions Testing Required to Sell?
"not required (buyer needs a passing test to register in the Chicago-area and Metro East counties)" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Buyer Registration Deadline After Sale
"20 days from the date of sale" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Sell Without Title: Legal Authority
"625 ILCS 5/5-401.3" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Inherited Vehicle Form Requirements
"If probated: certified copy of Letters of Administration or Letters Testamentary plus the title properly assigned to the new owner. If not probated and the estate is under $100,000: a Small Estate Affidavit describing the vehicle year, make, and VIN. If neither applies: an Attorney's Affidavit on attorney letterhead. All paths require Form VSD 190, a copy of the death certificate, and Form RUT-50 for tax compliance." Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"the lienholder signs off on the back of the title in the lien release area, or provides a separate lien release letter on company letterhead with the VIN" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Separate Odometer Disclosure Form
"Form VSD 333.4" 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
"a signature in the wrong space, a misspelled name, a wrong date of sale or a buyer who backed out is put right on Form VSD 393 (Affirmation of Correction), signed by the person who made the error; the form cannot be used to correct the odometer reading" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"the title must show the signed and printed names of all sellers and buyers" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"800-252-8980" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"RUT-50, Private Party Vehicle Use Tax Transaction Return, filed with VSD 190. The flat tax is still paid" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"$25" 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
Found this useful? Show Sell Car Advisor first when you search on Google.
Add us as a preferred source on Google