Why the rules change at the state line

The five questions that differ most

• Is a bill of sale required, and does it need notarizing?
• Is there a notice of transfer or release of liability, and what is the deadline?
• Do the plates stay with you or go with the vehicle?
• What does the title itself require — witnesses, a notary, an odometer section?
• Who processes it, and is a private tag agency an option?

Why a generic answer is worse than none

A template that says a bill of sale is required is right in some states and wrong in others.

Follow it in the wrong state and you either do work you did not need to do —

— or you believe a step is handled when your state wanted something else entirely.

The agency’s own current page is the only thing that governs.

And the date it was last checked matters as much as what it says.

Rules change. Old copies do not.

Forms get revised. Deadlines change. Agencies reorganize.

A PDF downloaded three years ago can look completely authoritative and be out of date.

Nothing on it will tell you that.

Check the revision date on any form before you use it.

Your state on one page

Ours answers those five questions for the state you are selling in, and prints the source and the date each answer was checked, so you can verify it rather than trust it. Free, no account.