The bottom line: A vehicle registration certificate, often called the registration card, is the document your state gives you when you register a car and pay its fees. It shows the car may be driven on public roads, and it carries the car’s plate number and VIN.
It isn’t the title. The title proves who owns the car and is the document you sign over when you sell; the registration only covers driving it.
When you sell, take the plates off unless your state keeps them on the car, then report the sale or cancel the registration. The card itself stays with you in most states.
When you’re ready to sell, compare offers from multiple services with Sell Car Advisor to see who offers the most.
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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What Is a Vehicle Registration Certificate?
A vehicle registration certificate is the document your state’s motor vehicle agency gives you when you register a car. In Florida’s words, it’s “evidence of having paid the registration taxes and fees”, and a car needs a valid registration to be driven on the state’s roads.
States name it differently: a registration card, a registration certificate or, in New York, a registration receipt. The details are much the same: Pennsylvania’s card carries the plate number, the title number and the VIN, and Florida wants the certificate with the driver or in the car at all times.
A registration runs for a set term, then you renew it. Florida lets you renew for one or two years at a time, and most New York passenger registrations run two years.
Registration vs. Title
The two documents do different jobs, and only the title decides who owns the car.
| Compared | Registration | Title |
|---|---|---|
| What it proves | The car may be driven on public roads | Who owns the car |
| How long it lasts | A set term, then renewed | Until the car changes hands |
| At the sale | Not signed over: the buyer registers the car in their own name | Signed over to the buyer |
| Needed to sell | No, except on some older cars in Connecticut and Vermont | Yes, apart from the older cars a few states exempt |
What Happens to Your Registration When You Sell
Start with the plates. In Alaska, California, Hawaii and Minnesota they stay on the car for the buyer, and in Oregon they stay with the vehicle unless you remove them. Everywhere else they come off with you before the car leaves; our license plate guide has what to do with them in each state.
Where the plates stay, what you’ve paid can stay too: California ties registration fees to the car, not the owner.
Then take the car off your name. In Connecticut, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island, and in DC, handing in the plates or cancelling the registration does that. Most other states have a notice of sale for it, with its own deadline: our release of liability guide explains it, and the state DMV list gives each state’s form.
The registration card stays with you, even where the plates stay on the car: in most states the buyer registers the car in their own name and gets a card of their own. Keep yours with your copy of the bill of sale and the notice of sale.
States That Want the Card Itself
In Vermont, the card is the notice of sale: your Vermont registration certificate, endorsed on the back with the date of transfer and the buyer's name and address.
In Maine, the plates are either assigned to another vehicle the same registrant registers, for an $8 transfer fee, or removed and forwarded with the registration certificate to the Secretary of State.
On an older car in Connecticut or Vermont, the card goes to the buyer, because it stands in for the title. In Connecticut, for a vehicle older than 20 model years the previous owner's registration certificate is the proof of ownership, with Form Q-1 and/or the bill of sale; our bill of sale generator fills one in. In Vermont, the vehicle must be a 2009 or older model that was registered in Vermont in the seller's name before the Act 165 title change. The seller provides the registration certificate as proof of ownership.
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Selling With an Expired or Lost Registration
Outside those older Connecticut and Vermont cars, neither stops the sale, because the title is what moves ownership. If you want the card for your records, your DMV replaces it: Pennsylvania prints a duplicate free online.
An expired registration matters to the buyer, so tell them before they plan to drive the car home.
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Frequently Asked Questions for Sellers
Do I get a refund on my registration when I sell?
It depends on the state and on how much time is left. New York refunds half the fee on a two-year passenger registration handed in during its first year, and nothing in the second. Virginia gives a partial refund when six months or more are left, but only if you hand the plates in at a customer service center, not through Online Plate Surrender. California refunds nothing you paid before the sale, because the fees stay with the car.
What is a notice of sale?
It’s the form that tells your DMV you no longer own the car. Its name varies by state: in California it’s the Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability (REG 138). File it the day the car leaves, so the record changes when the car does.
Article Update History
Every claim checked against state agencies: what happens to the registration, the card and the plates in each state when you sell, the states that want the card itself, and registration refunds in New York, Virginia and California.
Registration transfer rules, notice of sale requirements and seller liability checked for every state.
Originally posted and shared with our readers.
Sources
Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles: Motor Vehicle Registrations
"In the state of Florida, a vehicle must have a valid registration to operate on Florida roads." "A registration certificate in the possession of the operator of the motor vehicle or carried in the vehicle at all times." "Customers may renew their vehicle for a period of one or two years." Accessed Oct. 14, 2026
Pennsylvania DMV: Titling and Registration FAQs
"Your seven (7) character plate number, title number, VIN number, and check digits are highlighted." "Duplicate registration cards are also available for free" online. Accessed Oct. 14, 2026
New York DMV: Sample Registration Documents
"These sample vehicle registration documents are the registration receipt and the window sticker and the renewal notice." Accessed Oct. 14, 2026
New York DMV: Refunds and Transfer Credits for Surrendered Plates
Passenger vehicles, 2-year registration: "In first year": "50% of the registration fee (1 year), minus $1 for processing"; in the second year, "No refund." Accessed Oct. 14, 2026
Virginia DMV: What to Do with Your License Plates
"If your registration expires in six months or later" you may qualify for a partial refund. "Refund does not apply if you used Online Plate Surrender." Accessed Oct. 14, 2026
California DMV: Payments and Refunds
"A refund is not due because the vehicle/vessel was currently registered at the time of sale." "The vehicle registration fees are tied to the vehicle, not the vehicle owner." Refund requests need a REG 138 (Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability). Accessed Oct. 14, 2026
"with the vehicle unless you remove them" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Release of Liability Form Name
"your Vermont registration certificate, endorsed on the back with the date of transfer and the buyer's name and address" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
What to Do With License Plates
"assigned to another vehicle the same registrant registers, for an $8 transfer fee, or removed and forwarded with the registration certificate to the Secretary of State" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
How to File Release of Liability
"The District has no release of liability or notice of sale form. Surrendering the tags and the registration card to DC DMV is what ends the seller's exposure, and DC DMV issues a receipt and cancels the registration on receipt." Accessed Sep. 23, 2026
Bill of Sale Form Availability
"for a vehicle older than 20 model years the previous owner's registration certificate is the proof of ownership, with Form Q-1 and/or the bill of sale" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Conditions to Sell Without Title
"the vehicle must be a 2009 or older model that was registered in Vermont in the seller's name before the Act 165 title change. The seller provides the registration certificate as proof of ownership." Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
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