Selling Vehicles out of state

[Michael & Carole Keogh]

We will be selling our truck and fifthwheel to an out of state dealer.   My question is apart from completing a Vehicle Transfer Notification what else do we need to do?

Thanks

[chirakawa]

Get your money.

[Michael & Carole Keogh]

Okay, I will rephrase my question.

We will be selling our truck and fifthwheel to an out of state dealer.   My question is apart from completing a Vehicle Transfer Notification what other paperwork, if any do we need to complete, do we need to return the plates?

Thanks

 

[Lance A Lott]

It says to return your plates on the back of my registration never have, provably never will. Bill of sale and there is a place on our registration for the seller to sign. Make sure the title is filled out on the back. 

[Randyretired]

We purchased a RV from out of state and the only thing we had was the signed title and a bill of sale.  That is all we needed from the seller but we had to have a vin inspection once we arrived home to get the registration.

[sandsys]

The one other paper you might need to get is a temporary permit so the buyers can drive it home to get plates in their own domicile. Since you are selling to a dealer they can probably get that permit themselves.

Most people keep their plates. In some retirement communities it is the practice to put your plate on your mailbox post so people can see where you came from. My last plate from Minnesota is a personalized plate; you buy that one for life so, if I ever buy another RV, I can put my personalized plate on it. I can't put it on our car, though, because it is an RV plate.

Linda Sand

[chirakawa]

This is very much dependent on the two States involved.  For example, in Texas the buyer would need for you to sign a title application.  However, if you're selling to a dealer, they will know what is needed.  I would ask them.  That's why my first answer was "get your money" because that's really all you need to know when selling to a dealer.  It'll be up to them to make sure everything else is taken care of.

 

[MidMOTraveler]

In Missouri titles have a bottom portion that the “Seller” fills out with selling price and signs. It is the “Seller’s “ responsibly to mail it in with in 30 days to the Department of Revenue. 

This is to prevent the new buyer from not paying the correct account of sales tax . 

It’s also is good for the seller if buying a replacement vehicle/ rv/ boat any titled item. They deduct the amount of tax paid from the sale . There is a time limit for this but they don’t have to be like items. I sold a boat and used that to lower sales tax on our 5’er. 

[Kirk W]

9 hours ago, Michael & Carole Keogh said:

My question is apart from completing a Vehicle Transfer Notification what other paperwork, if any do we need to complete, do we need to return the plates?

In TX, the VTN form has a place to indicate if you kept the plates, so be sure to mark it appropriately. Other than that and signing the title off, I suggest that you remove any toll tag or other type of transponders or ID stickers that may be on your vehicles like parking passes or military base stickers. 

[FL-JOE]

9 hours ago, chirakawa said:

This is very much dependent on the two States involved.  For example, in Texas the buyer would need for you to sign a title application.  However, if you're selling to a dealer, they will know what is needed.  I would ask them.  That's why my first answer was "get your money" because that's really all you need to know when selling to a dealer.  It'll be up to them to make sure everything else is taken care of.

 

I agree, it totally depends of what State your units are titled/registered in.  It probably will not matter to you what State the dealer is from because any paperwork his home state would require would be on him.  No matter who you sell it to I would not let my plates go with it.

Why not let everyone in on what State you have your units registered in?

[sandsys]

When we sold our tent trailer locally I insisted we go together to the DMV to change the title. I have heard of buyers not doing that then as the seller you get any tickets issued to the vehicle. As we approached the window to make the transaction the buyer asked me to say he paid less than he actually did so he would be liable for less tax money. That made me doubly glad I went with him to be sure this was all done correctly.

Linda Sand

[Kirk W]

4 hours ago, sandsys said:

. I have heard of buyers not doing that then as the seller you get any tickets issued to the vehicle

Some states, TX included have a form called a vehicle transfer notification that informs the state that you no longer own the vehicle. As I mentioned before, it has a place to indicate if the plates stayed with the vehicle or if you kept them. It not only prevents that problem but it also cancels the plates after 30 days. 

[JRP]

On 1/25/2019 at 7:52 PM, Michael & Carole Keogh said:

We will be selling our truck and fifthwheel to an out of state dealer.   My question is apart from completing a Vehicle Transfer Notification what else do we need to do?

Thanks

Go to your home states DMV website and they will have detailed instructions.

Or use the generic DMV.org site and select your state from the map ....

https://www.dmv.org/buy-sell/selling-your-car/paper-work-when-selling-a-car.php

[ARGO]

OK, I guess I'm anal- or have seen stuff in my career in insurance. But when I sell a vehicle, I insist on seeing the title in the buyer's name BEFORE it leaves. They get a temp in your state for the trip home, and get a copy.

Scenario: Truck kills 5 people on the way home and last registered owner is YOU, because the poor guy was just "transporting" it for you.  Signing the back of the title is not enough, I don't care how much info is on it.  You'd probably win in court in the end, after several trips to Whereverstan and mucho $ .

Your call, roll the dice.

[chirakawa]

39 minutes ago, ARGO said:

OK, I guess I'm anal- or have seen stuff in my career in insurance. But when I sell a vehicle, I insist on seeing the title in the buyer's name BEFORE it leaves. They get a temp in your state for the trip home, and get a copy.

Scenario: Truck kills 5 people on the way home and last registered owner is YOU, because the poor guy was just "transporting" it for you.  Signing the back of the title is not enough, I don't care how much info is on it.  You'd probably win in court in the end, after several trips to Whereverstan and mucho $ .

Your call, roll the dice.

In your case, you would not be able to complete the OP's sale.  There's no way a dealer is going to come to your State and register a vehicle in his name, then take it back home to his State and sell it.  Dealers don't register a vehicle in their name.  Also, even if both buyer and seller went to the tax office and did the transfer, you would not see a title in the buyer's name for a couple of weeks (at least in Texas).

For you paranoids, simply fill out a bill of sale and get both buyer and seller to sign it.

[kb0zke]

Several cars back, we traded in the old car on the newer one at a dealership. Three months or so later we got a letter from a police department telling us that our (old) car had been towed and we owed a bundle. I called the dealership and asked them what was going on. They said that someone had taken the car out on a test drive, ran out of gas, and just left the car. The police came along, ignored the dealer plate on the car, and ran the VIN. That came back to us, so we got the letter. The dealer said they would take care of it, and we never heard anything more. All this was in Missouri.

The next time we traded cars the new title had that extra part that we, as sellers, had to send in. When we traded that car in the dealer offered to send that part in for us. I told them what had happened before and that I would send it in, which I did.

Now, many years later, we're registered in SD, which doesn't issue paper titles anymore. All is electronic. We won't be trading cars again for a few years, so they will have time to get all the kinks out.

[Lance A Lott]

I have bought cars in Texas, Florida, Maine,  and New Hampshire. All while living in Vermont  I even sold a trailer in Canada and there has never been a notary for any of them. All the seller has ever done is fill out the title and a bill of sale I have also seen a place on the old registration that may need filling out. Never leave your plate on or in the car. As soon as the title is transferred it is no longer registered any way and if something happens  all the new owner has to do is destroy the title and claim they are borrowing it, that's what you won't a copy of the bill of sale. 

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, Lance A Lott said:

All the seller has ever done is fill out the title and a bill of sale

While I don't know how many states do this, but CA has a form called Vehicle Release of Liability and TX has a Vehicle Transfer Notification, both of which you file to notify the state that you do not own the vehicle. 

[Chad Heiser]

5 hours ago, Lance A Lott said:

Never leave your plate on or in the car. As soon as the title is transferred it is no longer registered any way and if something happens  all the new owner has to do is destroy the title and claim they are borrowing it, that's what you won't a copy of the bill of sale. 

This is dependant on the state the vehicle is registered in.  In CA the plates are issued to the vehicle, not to you.  The plates stay on the vehicle when it is sold and only the registered owner information changes upon transfer to a new owner.  The department of motor vehicles (or whatever agency issues plates/vehicle registrations in your state) will have the information required to transfer/sell a vehicle.  Just call them or go to their website to get the correct information for your state.

[TXiceman]

Chad,  if you have a personalized plate, it will stay with you and not the vehicle.  I have a Amateur Radio Operator plate and it stays with me.

 

Ken

[Michael & Carole Keogh]

We are registered in Livingston, Texas and are selling both vehicles in Tucson Arizona.   We will be sure to remove the plates, sign the back of the title documents and make sure the Vehicle Transfer Notification is completed immediately for both vehicles, and most importantly make sure we've got the money.

Thanks everyone for your help, it's much appreciated.

Mike & Carole Keogh

[Chad Heiser]

3 hours ago, TXiceman said:

Chad,  if you have a personalized plate, it will stay with you and not the vehicle.  I have a Amateur Radio Operator plate and it stays with me.

 

Ken

Yes you are correct about that.  I thought about including personal plates in my original post, but I didn’t want to cloud the issue up to much.  There are some plates that stay with the person in CA, but the vast majority of plates are assigned to the vehicle, not the person.  My main point was to check with the proper authorities in the responsible state to get the correct answer.  

[kb0zke]

"In CA the plates are issued to the vehicle, not to you.  The plates stay on the vehicle when it is sold and only the registered owner information changes upon transfer to a new owner." Is that also true for vehicles coming into California? For example, suppose that I am visiting California and need to trade vehicles. In every other State I've been in, the plates stay with the owner, so last year when we had to trade our Jeep while in Tennessee we were able to simply move the plates from the Jeep to the Lincoln. Would that not also happen should we have been in California? Or would California have insisted that we leave the South Dakota plates on the Jeep and then have to register the Lincoln in South Dakota as a new purchase? If so, that would be another reason to spend as little time as possible in CA.

[Chad Heiser]

5 hours ago, kb0zke said:

"In CA the plates are issued to the vehicle, not to you.  The plates stay on the vehicle when it is sold and only the registered owner information changes upon transfer to a new owner." Is that also true for vehicles coming into California? For example, suppose that I am visiting California and need to trade vehicles. In every other State I've been in, the plates stay with the owner, so last year when we had to trade our Jeep while in Tennessee we were able to simply move the plates from the Jeep to the Lincoln. Would that not also happen should we have been in California? Or would California have insisted that we leave the South Dakota plates on the Jeep and then have to register the Lincoln in South Dakota as a new purchase? If so, that would be another reason to spend as little time as possible in CA.

If you are not domiciled in CA then you would not be following CA registration laws.  If your domicile state says you just swap the plates from your old vehicle to the new vehicle then that would not change just because you bought the vehicle in CA (assuming the vehicle would leave CA and be registered in your domicile state after purchase).

[Michael & Carole Keogh]

A further question please.

Do I use Vehicle Transfer Notification VTR-346 for both our truck & fifthwheel?   I checked the DMV website and this is the only VTN form I can find, there doesn't seem to be a form that relates specifically to travel trailers?

Thanks