How to sell a car in New Jersey
Selling a car in New Jersey comes down to four documents and three steps: sign the title over to the buyer, give them an odometer statement and a bill of sale, and take your plates off the car before it leaves. The buyer then has 10 business days to transfer the title with the NJ Motor Vehicle Commission. That's the private-sale route. The shortcut: one phone call to a buyer that comes to you, and the paperwork becomes our problem instead of yours.
What paperwork do you need to sell a car in New Jersey?
For a private sale in New Jersey, you need four things:
- The certificate of title, in your name, with the seller's assignment section filled out and signed. No notary is required in New Jersey.
- An odometer disclosure. The title's assignment section includes it. Under the federal odometer rule in effect in 2026, vehicles from model year 2011 and newer require a recorded mileage statement at transfer.
- A bill of sale. Not strictly required by the MVC for the transfer itself, but it documents the price, date, and parties — keep a signed copy for your records and for the sale-date paper trail.
- A government-issued photo ID, to verify you are the titled owner.
If there's a loan or lease on the car, the lender holds the title and one more step is involved — that situation has its own guide.
Per the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission: the buyer must transfer the title within 10 business days of the sale, and the plates stay with the seller, not the car.
How do you sign over a New Jersey title?
Turn the title over. In the assignment/transfer section, print the buyer's name and address, the date of sale, the sale price, and the odometer reading, then sign where indicated as seller. Use a ballpoint pen and print carefully: the MVC does not accept titles with white-out or cross-outs, and an error means applying for a corrected title before you can sell.
Give the buyer the signed title. They take it — with proof of insurance and the title fee — to an MVC Vehicle Center to retitle and register the car in their name.
Who pays sales tax when a car is sold in New Jersey?
The buyer. New Jersey collects sales tax from the purchaser when they transfer the title at the MVC. As the seller, you owe no sales tax on the transaction. (Casual sales between private parties are taxed on the purchase price; the buyer handles it at transfer time.)
What do you do with the plates?
Take them off before the car leaves. In New Jersey, plates belong to you, not the vehicle. You can transfer them to your next car or surrender them to the MVC — surrendering matters if you're canceling the insurance, because New Jersey expects registration and insurance to end together. Never let a buyer drive away on your plates: until they retitle the car, tolls and tickets trace back to you.
What if you lost the title?
Apply for a duplicate before you try to sell. The titled owner files a Universal Title Application at an MVC Vehicle Center ($60 at this writing; the MVC's fee schedule is the source of truth). If a lender once held the title, bring the lien release. There is no legal way to sell a New Jersey car without a title in hand — anyone who says otherwise is describing a problem you don't want.
What about the notice-of-sale paper trail?
New Jersey doesn't have an online release-of-liability filing the way some states do. Your protection is the paper trail: a completed bill of sale, a photocopy of the signed-over title, and your removed plates. Keep them until the buyer's transfer shows up — if a parking ticket arrives for a car you sold, that file is the two-minute fix.
What's the fastest way to sell a car in New Jersey?
Skip the listing entirely. North Jersey Car Buyers is a New Jersey car-buying service that buys clean, running, titled cars at their owners' driveways across Bergen, Essex, Morris, Passaic, Hudson, Union, and Sussex counties. You call, we give you a firm written offer good for seven days, we come to you once, and payment is in your hand before we take the keys — most cars go from first call to paid in a day or two. We complete the title assignment with you at the driveway, handle any loan payoff directly with your lender, and take the transfer paperwork with us.
Weighing your options first? Read the honest comparison: the best way to sell a car in New Jersey.
One call beats four documents.
A firm number over the phone, one visit to your driveway, paid before the keys change hands.