50-State Review Finds 11 States Require a Bill of Sale for an Ordinary Private Car Sale

A review of official state sources also found that a notary is part of an ordinary sale in 7 states, and Maryland ended a notarized bill-of-sale route Oct. 1.

DALLAS, TX, UNITED STATES, October 5, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- BillOfSale.app has published a review of the rules for selling a used car privately in all 50 U.S. states, checked in September 2026 against official state motor vehicle, revenue and legislative sources. The review found that 11 states require a bill of sale for an ordinary private sale, 25 require one only in certain situations, for example when the sale price is not written on the title or the vehicle has no title, and 12 do not require one. For Delaware and Illinois, the rule could not be confirmed from official sources; in Delaware, the state code and the motor vehicle agency's guidance point in different directions.

A notary is part of an ordinary private sale in seven states. In Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wyoming, the requirement applies to the title assignment; in Louisiana and Oklahoma, the notarized document can be the title or a bill of sale. Eight more states require a notary only in certain situations, and official sources show no notary step for an ordinary sale in 26 states. For the remaining nine, the notary rule could not be confirmed from an official source.

Deadlines also vary. Where a state sets a deadline in calendar days, it runs from 10 days in California and Massachusetts to 60 days in Arkansas, Colorado and Kansas. Four states count business days instead, including Georgia, where a private-sale buyer must register the vehicle within seven business days, and Wisconsin, where a buyer who will drive the car should title and register it within two business days. Eight states set no fixed day count; in several of them, the vehicle must be titled or registered before it is driven.

Some rules have changed recently. Maryland ended its notarized bill-of-sale route for some below-book-value private sales on October 1, 2026, and Montana removed the requirement to notarize title signatures effective October 1, 2025.

Tax treatment also differs. A private-party vehicle sale is not taxed at the state level in Arizona, Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire and Oregon, or in Alaska, which has no state sales tax, although local taxes may apply there. In several states the tax on a private sale is not a flat percentage of the sale price: Georgia charges a one-time title ad valorem tax and North Carolina a highway use tax, and some states tax the higher of the price or a book value.

"Most of the confusion comes from rules that apply only in certain situations," said the BillOfSale.app team. "A document one state requires for every sale is optional next door, which is easy to miss when the rules also change."

The review also led BillOfSale.app to correct its own state guides, which had said 42 states require a bill of sale and had misstated notary, deadline or tax rules for many states.

The state requirements summarized in this release are general information, not legal advice, and can change. The full state-by-state findings are published at https://billofsale.app/states.

About BillOfSale.app
BillOfSale.app is an online bill of sale generator covering all 50 U.S. states and multiple vehicle types, with state-by-state guides to title transfer, notarization and tax requirements for private vehicle sales. A bill of sale can be generated and previewed for free with a light watermark; a paid plan removes the watermark.

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Media Relations, BillOfSale.app
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Media Relations
BillOfSale.app
support@billofsale.app