How to Sell a Car in Pennsylvania: Title, Notary and Plates

To sell a car in Pennsylvania, you assign the title to the buyer, sign it in front of an authorized agent, record the mileage, hand over the certificate and take your plates off the car. Section 1111 of the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code sets the title duty, and PennDOT's fact sheet on buying or selling a vehicle walks through the steps. A seller who ships the car to a buyer in another state faces the same steps plus one open question, which is how and where the title gets signed when the buyer is not in Pennsylvania.

This guide takes a private seller through each step, then shows how they fit together for a Pittsburgh seller whose buyer lives in Tampa, Florida. For the wider picture on getting paid and releasing a car to a carrier, see our guide to selling a car when the buyer lives in another state.

What Do You Need Before You Sell a Car in Pennsylvania?

Start with the certificate of title. You can only assign a title that is in your name and in your hands, and every owner named on it has to sign. If a lender is still recorded as lienholder, the loan has to be paid off and the lien released before the buyer can receive a clear title.

Decide how you will be paid and when the car will be released. Agree with the buyer in writing on the price, the payment method and who arranges pickup. Wait until your bank confirms the payment is final before you sign the title or let the car go.

How Do You Sign Over a Pennsylvania Title?

The duty is in 75 Pa.C.S. 1111. When an owner sells or transfers a vehicle, the owner executes an assignment and warranty of title to the buyer, in the space on the certificate or on the form PennDOT prescribes, and delivers the certificate to the buyer. The seller's signature has to be sworn before a notary public or another officer who can administer oaths. A licensed wholesale auction, a dealer that acts as an issuing agent, or an employee of either, can verify it instead.

PennDOT's fact sheet on buying or selling a vehicle puts this on the back of the title. In Section A, the seller lists the purchaser's name and address, records the mileage, and signs and prints their name in the presence of an authorized agent. The fact sheet also says every owner on the title must sign. PennDOT's buying or selling a vehicle page suggests that the buyer and seller meet at a notary public, a tag service or a motor vehicle dealer so the title is completed correctly.

Section 1111 also sets a deadline, and it falls on the buyer. A buyer who titles the car in Pennsylvania applies for the new title within 20 days of the assignment. A buyer who titles the car in another state follows that state's rules.

Does a Pennsylvania Title Need to Be Notarized When You Sell the Car?

For a sale inside Pennsylvania, yes. The seller's signature has to be sworn before a notary or verified by one of the licensed auctions or dealers that section 1111 lists. Whether the same arrangement applies when the buyer lives in another state is less clear. The statute speaks of a sale or transfer within Pennsylvania, PennDOT's fact sheet says nothing about a seller whose buyer lives out of state, and the sources we reviewed do not say whether an out-of-state buyer has to be present when the seller signs.

Settle it before the car ships. Ask an authorized PennDOT agent, such as a notary public, a tag service or a motor vehicle dealer, how the signing should be handled when the buyer is in another state, and ask the buyer to check with their own state's motor vehicle agency. Do this before you release the car, because a title signed the wrong way is hard to fix once the car is already on a truck.

What Do You Record About the Mileage?

Section A has the seller indicate the vehicle's mileage on the back of the Pennsylvania title. The federal odometer rule, 49 CFR Part 580, has the seller disclose the odometer reading on the title, signed and dated. Its exemptions depend on the model year. A car from model year 2010 or earlier is exempt, and one from model year 2011 or later stays covered until it is 20 years old.

Do You Need a Bill of Sale in Pennsylvania?

PennDOT's fact sheet does not mention a bill of sale. It does tell the seller to get a receipt from the buyer acknowledging that the buyer received the transferred title and the vehicle. Keep that receipt, and write a bill of sale as well. It records who sold the car to whom, on what date and for what price, and the buyer's state may ask for it at titling. Include the year and make, the vehicle identification number, the date of sale, the price, and both names and signatures. Send it to the buyer to sign before pickup and keep a copy.

What If a Lender Still Holds the Title?

You cannot hand a buyer a clear title while a lien is still recorded. Pay the loan off first, or agree with the buyer and the lender on a payoff at the time of sale. PennDOT's fact sheet says that when the seller's title is held electronically, a paper title must be obtained before the seller can transfer ownership of the vehicle.

Ask the lender for a payoff figure, and ask how and when it will release the paper title. Build that time into the date you give the buyer.

What Happens to Your Plates After the Sale?

The plates do not go with the car. PennDOT's fact sheet says that after the title is transferred, the seller removes the registration plate from the vehicle, and that the plate should never be given to the purchaser. The seller returns it to PennDOT unless the seller plans to transfer it to another vehicle.

Take the plates off before the buyer drives away or before a carrier loads the car, and tell your insurer the date the car left. If you cancel the insurance on the car, PennDOT's guidance on insurance cancellations gives you 30 days from the cancellation to get the plate and registration card to PennDOT, and a late return can bring a three month registration suspension. Returning the plate promptly avoids that.

What Changes When the Buyer Lives in Another State?

Your Pennsylvania steps stay the same. You still assign the title, remove the plates and keep your records. PennDOT's fact sheet says a buyer who moves the vehicle to another state is responsible for filing the forms that state requires, so the buyer titles and registers the car at home and settles that state's own requirements there.

The handover changes because the buyer is often not there. The keys go to a carrier's driver, the title travels separately or with the car by agreement, and nobody can check a document at the curb. Settle who books the transport, who pays the carrier and when the title is sent before a pickup date is set. Our guide to the auto transport bill of lading explains the form you sign when the driver takes the car.

Rivalane coordinates door to door transport with licensed, insured carriers. We typically assign a carrier within one to three working days after you book, and pickup and delivery dates are estimates, not guarantees. The car shipping calculator prices the trip for whoever is booking, and our page on car shipping in Pennsylvania covers pickups across the state.

Example: A Pittsburgh Seller Shipping a Car to a Buyer in Tampa

Here is how the steps fit together for a private seller in Pittsburgh whose buyer lives in Tampa, Florida, and has booked the transport.

• Payment. The buyer pays the agreed price, and you wait until your bank confirms the funds are final.
• Signing arrangements. Before the car ships, you ask an authorized PennDOT agent how to handle the seller's signature when the buyer is in Florida, and the buyer checks with Florida's motor vehicle agency. Neither section 1111 nor PennDOT's fact sheet settles it, so do not guess.
• Title and mileage. Once the arrangement is confirmed, you complete Section A on the Pennsylvania title with the buyer's name and address and the odometer reading, and every owner signs.
• Bill of sale and receipt. You and the buyer each sign a bill of sale, and you get the buyer's receipt for the title and the car.
• Sending the title. You agree how the title travels. Florida usually asks for the original out-of-state title when a used car is titled there, so the buyer needs the assigned title itself.
• Plates. You take the Pennsylvania plates off before the carrier loads the car, and return them to PennDOT or move them to another vehicle you own.
• Pickup. You walk the car with the driver, check the condition report on the bill of lading, sign it as the person releasing the car and send the buyer a copy.
• The buyer's side. The buyer finishes the Florida steps at home. Our guide to how a Florida buyer titles a Pennsylvania car covers the insurance, the VIN verification and the paperwork.

The lane itself, from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia pickups to Tampa and Miami deliveries, is covered on our page for moving a Pennsylvania car to Florida.

Frequently Asked Questions