The bottom line: To sell a car privately in Texas, sign the title over to the buyer and fill in the odometer reading on it. No notary is needed.
The plates stay with you, so move them to another car you own or destroy them. Within 30 days of the sale, file Form VTR-346 online, by mail or at a TxDMV Regional Service Center, because until you do, you stay liable for the car.
A bill of sale is recommended but not required. You need no inspection to sell, though buyers in 17 counties must pass an emissions test to register it.
If your title is electronic, print it before you sell. If a lender holds it, pay off the loan so the lender releases it to you. If the title is lost, request a copy with Form VTR-34 ($2 by mail or $5.45 in person), and allow at least 15 days by mail.
- Sign the title over to the buyerOdometer reading: required for model year 2011 and newer vehicles.
- Take your plates off the carTransfer them to another vehicle you own, or destroy them
- File Form VTR-346 within 30 daysOnline, by mail, or at a TxDMV Regional Service Center. It helps protect you from liability for the car after the sale.
- Cancel your insuranceOnly when the sale is final, the title has been transferred, and you have filed the Vehicle Transfer Notification with TxDMV.
- Write a bill of sale
- Emissions test
- Safety inspection
- Notary on the title
- Notarized bill of sale
- Replacing a lost title
- $2 by mail / $5.45 in personTakes at least 15 days; can’t be ordered online; Form VTR-34
- Loan on the car
- Lenders typically mail you the title once the loan is paid off, or release it electronically through the ELT system.
- Two owners on the title
- Each owner named on the title signs it themselves, since a Texas title never joins two names with "or"; an owner who can't be there can give the other owner a power of attorney to sign for them.
- The buyer
- Registers the car within 30 days from sale date (60 days for active-duty military)A $25 per month late 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 Texas
Step 1: Prepare Your Texas Paperwork
Documents you’ll need:
- Vehicle title – in your name, lien released
- Properly assigned title – Sign the seller section, including the buyer’s name, sale date, sale price, and odometer reading. This is the document the buyer takes to the tax office.
- Valid driver’s license – so the buyer can see you are the owner the title names
- Lien release – if a lender is still on the title
If your title is missing:
A certified copy of the title comes first. Download Form VTR-34 and submit it by mail, or in person at a TxDMV Regional Service Center with your ID.
- Fee: $2 by mail / $5.45 in person
- Processing time: at least 15 days
- Online available: no
- Expedited option: no
If you don’t have a title at all:
A private buyer cannot title the car without it, so the title comes first and the sale second: a lost title is replaced, and a title in someone else’s name is moved into yours, before the car is listed.
If you still owe money on the car:
In Texas, lenders typically mail you the title once the loan is paid off, or release it electronically through the ELT system. Ask for the release the week you decide to sell, since nothing moves at the tax office until the lien is off the record.
If the sale price does not clear the loan, the gap is yours to pay at the payoff.
Texas issues some titles electronically. E-titles must be printed before selling.
Step 2: Prepare Your Car
Wash the car and empty it out. Put every repair receipt you can find in one folder, since a buyer who sees the oil changes will trust the rest. Buyers pull a history report on the VIN in a minute, so pull one first and know what it says.
Step 3: Price Your Car
Step 4: Advertise Your Car
Post on Facebook Marketplace first for buyers nearby. Add Cars.com or Autotrader if you would take a buyer driving in from Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas or New Mexico.
If you’d rather skip strangers and test drives, Peddle and Wheelzy give an online offer on an older or damaged car and pick it up, and Carvana is the one to try for a car under 10 years old in good condition, picking it up in some areas (a fee may apply) or taking a free drop-off.
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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
- Tows the car away free anywhere in Texas
- Cashier's check at pickup, cash in some areas
- Guaranteed offer online in minutes
- Takes damaged cars and ones with mechanical faults
Step 5: Meet with Buyers Safely
Meet in daylight at a place with people and cameras, like a bank lot. Photograph the buyer’s license before any test drive, and ride along.
Step 6: Handle Payment and Negotiate
Cash works when the price is low enough to count out at a bank counter. Above that, meet the buyer inside their bank: a cashier’s check drawn there, or a transfer you watch arrive, is money you can trust.
Step 7: Complete the Texas Title Transfer
The seller’s section is on the back of the Texas title, and it is the one document the tax office cannot do without. Fill it in with blue or black ink while the buyer is standing there.
What you’ll need to enter:
- The sale date
- The purchase price
- The odometer reading
- The buyer’s full name and address
- Your signature as the seller
Odometer 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.
In Texas, if you make a mistake on the title, draw one line through the wrong entry and write the correct one beside it; white-out is not allowed, and a buyer name or sale date that was erased or blacked out needs a statement of fact from the seller.
In Texas, if there are two names on the title, each owner named on the title signs it themselves, since a Texas title never joins two names with "or"; an owner who can't be there can give the other owner a power of attorney to sign for them.
The transfer itself is done at your county tax office, not at a TxDMV office. Go with the buyer if you can; a title application filed while you are both there is the surest end to the sale.
The buyer has 30 days from sale date (60 days for active-duty military) to register it, and applying late costs a $25 per month late penalty.
Step 8: Handle Texas License Plates and Registration
Take the plates off before the buyer drives away, and then you either transfer them to another vehicle you own, or destroy them.
Step 9: Submit the Release of Liability
Submit Form VTR-346 to TxDMV online once the car has gone. It does not move the title to the buyer; it puts the sale date on your record.
You have 30 days from the sale to file it.
It is the notice that keeps the buyer’s parking tickets and toll bills off your name.
Step 10: Cancel Insurance
The policy comes off last: after the title is signed, the plates are in your hand and the transfer notice is filed. Ask the insurer to confirm the end date in writing, and keep it with the rest of the sale papers.
Texas Sale Checklist
Before the Sale
At the Sale
After the Sale
Texas DMV Resources
State Resources:
- Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV)
- TxDMV Regional Service Center locator
- Vehicle Registration Information
Phone Support: (888) 368-4689 (TxDMV, title transfer questions)
Texas Fees and Costs
| What You Pay | Cost | When? |
|---|---|---|
| Duplicate title (if needed) | $2 by mail / $5.45 in person | Before sale |
| Lien payoff (if applicable) | Loan balance | Before sale |
| Vehicle Transfer Notification (Form VTR-346) | Free | Within 30 days of sale |
| Plate transfer | $0 | After sale (optional) |
| Everything else | $0 | Buyer pays |
Compare instant offers before you accept one
Compare instant offers before you accept one
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sell my car in Texas without a title?
Not to a private buyer. The one route Texas allows is a sale to a used automotive parts recycler under Tex. Transp. Code § 501.098, and only if the car is 13+ years old, has been unregistered for 7+ years, and goes to a licensed used automotive parts recycler for parts, dismantling, or scrap only. You file nothing yourself; the recycler reports the sale to TxDMV.
Anyone else needs the title in hand, so a lost title is replaced before the sale.
Do I need to get the title notarized when I sign it over in Texas?
No. The title assignment itself never needs a notary; you sign it and hand it across.
Is a bill of sale required to sell a car in Texas?
No, Texas does not ask for one, and there is no state-issued form, so a generic document works fine. Notarizing it is not required.
Write one anyway. The buyer walks off with the signed title, and the bill of sale is the only record of the price and the date that stays in your hands. Our free bill of sale generator makes one in about a minute.
My car was inherited. What additional Texas forms do I need?
Texas moves the title to the heirs with Form VTR-262. All heirs must sign it, and it must be notarized. There is no specific threshold (used when there is no will and no probate).
Get the title into your own name first, and sell on that one rather than on the old title.
Can I give my car to a relative in Texas instead of selling it?
Yes. The paperwork is Form 14-317, Affidavit of Motor Vehicle Gift Transfer, notarized. Both the donor and the recipient sign before a notary, and one of them must appear in person at the county tax assessor-collector's office. Assuming a loan balance makes it taxable.
Family here is a wide circle. Spouse, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, great-grandparent and their in-law equivalents, plus a guardian. This is a $10 gift tax, not a full exemption. Aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins do not qualify.
Do Texas license plates transfer to the buyer?
No, they come off the car and stay with you, and moving them to your next vehicle costs $0. Handing plates in is not what releases you; the transfer notice you file with TxDMV does that.
How do I sell a junk car in Texas?
The paperwork does not change: you sign the same title and file the same transfer notice. What changes is the buyer and the money. Buyers in Texas typically offer $690 for a junk car (cars 10 years and older, 901 offers, ranked 2 of 44 states), and the buyers who quote on cars that don’t run are in our list of online junk car buyers.
Article Update History
Every rule on this page checked against TxDMV and its Title Manual, with title corrections, co-owner signing and junk-car offers added.
The page now reflects Texas's current title transfer process, plate rules and Vehicle Transfer Notification.
Originally posted and shared with our readers.
Sources
Release of Liability Filing Deadline
"30 days" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"$2 by mail / $5.45 in person" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Safety Inspection Required to Sell?
"not required" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"yes" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Buyer Penalty for Missing Registration Deadline
"a $25 per month late penalty" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Sell Without Title: Legal Authority
"Tex. Transp. Code § 501.098" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Inherited Vehicle Title Transfer Form
"Form VTR-262" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"Form 14-317, Affidavit of Motor Vehicle Gift Transfer, notarized" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Emissions Testing Required to Sell?
"not required (buyer needs a passing test to register in 17 counties, and in Bexar County from November 1, 2026)" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Electronic Title Handling Note
"E-titles must be printed before selling." Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
How to File Release of Liability
"File Form VTR-346 online, by mail, or at a TxDMV Regional Service Center, within 30 days of the sale." 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
Replacement Title Processing Time
"at least 15 days" 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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