How do I sell my car?

August 8, 2008 5:42 AM

Where can I find information about how to sell my car? (Ohio)

I've never sold a car before and I'm unsure of all the steps I need to take (and in what order to take them). The BMV website doesn't provide much guidance (unless I'm missing some sort of obvious page that explains it all). When do I sign over the title? What do I do with the plates? When do I notarize the mileage? What steps am I leaving out?

posted by imposster to work & money (7 answers total)

Could you please tell us the year/make/model of your car.

I recently sold my 7-8 year old American made car. Normally for a car like that you set the asking price about $100 - $200 below the KBB value. But I have seen most Japanese vehicles (7-8 years old) have a asking price $200-$300 higher than than KBB value.

Try putting up ads on Craiglist and Facebook.

I always go to the court house with the buyer. Do the paperwork in front of the officer and handover my title. Buyer gets new plates. remove my old plate and return it.
posted by WizKid at 7:01 AM on August 8, 2008

I'm in Ohio, and have done this several times.

You keep the plates. You can, for a fee, get them transferred to your new vehicle if the stickers haven't expired. If you're not replacing the car then destroy the old plates. DON'T give them to the buyer.

After you get paid for the car, you can write the mileage and buyer's name and address on the back of the title at any point. Take the title, UNSIGNED, to a notary (any Notary Public will do -- my bank does it for free), let the notary look the title over and confirm that all is in order, sign the title and have it notarized. Give title (and keys) to buyer. They buyer does not need to accompany you to the Notary.
posted by jon1270 at 7:39 AM on August 8, 2008

It sounds like the main steps are:
1) Get paid
2) Get the title notarized
3) Hand over the title and car sans plates
4) Cancel the insurance

What about canceling the registration? (I still can't believe this information isn't on the BMV website).
posted by imposster at 7:49 AM on August 8, 2008

Customer Request to Cancel Vehicle Registration.

What's weird is, I've never had to fill out this form, and I've sold a couple of cars in Ohio. I always assumed that the registration was tied to the title, but maybe not? Anyway, never had any problems later on.
posted by Liosliath at 8:14 AM on August 8, 2008

Consumer Report has some good, albeit brief advice.
posted by Neiltupper at 10:12 AM on August 8, 2008

You don't have to do anything with the registration. The registration is associated with the plates, which you keep. If you transfer the plates to a new car, the old registration will be invalidated and they'll give you a new one. If you don't transfer the plates to a new car the registration will simply expire. Don't get too worked up about this -- it's not as complicated or dangerous as you fear.
posted by jon1270 at 1:01 PM on August 8, 2008

Thanks everyone for the advice and thanks to jon1270 for helping to keep me grounded. (Yes, I am totally freaked out about this.)
posted by imposster at 1:18 PM on August 8, 2008