Selling your vehicle

Introduction

If you buy a vehicle in the United States, and don't plan to export it, you will likely sell it at some point in the future.

This is an article about selling a vehicle in the US, written for travelers, tourists, travelers, foreigners - anyone who doesn't live in the US, but wants to own (and eventually sell) a vehicle here.

If you want to learn about finding a buyer for your vehicle, check out our Finding a buyer for your vehicle resource.

Table of contents

Title assignment
Receiving the money
Handing over the vehicle
The bill of sale
Making sure you're not charged for the buyer's tickets and tolls

A vehicle's title is its official ownership document. Transfer of ownership is not complete until the title is "assigned" to the new owner.

Title assignment refers to the process of signing the vehicle’s ownership documents in order to transfer ownership of the vehicle from one party to another.

The process of assigning your title to a buyer is similar to the prior title assignment process, except that, in this situation, you’re the seller.

In short, you must:

• Provide the authentic title,
• Properly release your all owners’ ownership interest in the vehicle, notarizing the seller’s signature(s) where required,
• Disclose the current odometer reading, if the vehicle is model year 2011 or newer,
• Arrange to have any liens on the vehicle released,
• (You don’t have to worry about title re-assignments, as those happen subsequent to the first sale of a vehicle), and
• The buyer should complete the new registered owner section of the vehicle’s title.

While we recognize that a concrete title assignment example would be helpful, remember that each US state has its own form of title, and that each state revises its title form every ten years or so.  Providing examples for each possible form of title that you might encounter is therefore impractical.

If you hire visitor.us to register your vehicle, we will register it in Montana, and your vehicle’s ownership document will be a Montana title.  You can refer to our Montana title signing instructions here.

If you're selling a vehicle, receiving the money is usually the most important step of the process.

The process differs slightly, depending on whether you're selling to an individual or a dealership.‍

Whether you sell to an individual or to a dealer, bank transfer is one of your payment options.

Bank transfers into and out of the United States can be incredibly stressful, time-consuming, and expensive - our banking system just doesn't work well with other banking systems around the world.

If you don't already have an account with Wise (formerly known as Transferwise), you should get one for your vehicle sale.‍

With a Wise account, you can get a US Dollar account at a US bank. This allows you to accept a domestic US bank transfer.

The magic of Wise is that it allows you to instantly (and at rates 2-4x cheaper than traditional banks) funds from your USD Wise bank account to your home currency Wise bank account.

From there, you can make a domestic bank transfer from your home currency Wise bank account to your home bank.

Individuals usually have a number of options to pay for a vehicle, including

• Bank transfer
• Cash
• Paypal

It's pretty easy for individual buyers and sellers to work out the method of payment that makes sense for both of them.

Auto dealerships have processes and controls to follow, and can usually only pay for a vehicle in one of two ways:

• Bank transfer (usually only to a US bank account), or
• Physical check or bank draft.

Because bank drafts are a specific type of physical check that is hard to cash outside of the US, you should avoid this method.

Most dealers use the US Automated Clearing House, or ACH, payment system for bank transfers. ACH cannot be used for international transfers.

Important note about selling to a dealership

Many dealers have policies that require them to make payment to the registered owner listed on the vehicle's title.

(Think about it: if Bob Smith brought a vehicle titled to Alice Jones into Ford of New York for sale, this vehicle may be stolen or otherwise ill-gotten. If Ford of New York paid Bob Smith for the vehicle, they may be abetting a crime. They don't want that trouble, so they'll usually only make payment to Alice Jones.)

If visitor.us registers a vehicle for you, the registered owner of your vehicle will be your Montana Limited Liability Company (LLC), not you, the individual.

Setting up a bank account for your LLC is a hassle, which you probably don't want to go through if you're about to leave the country.

So how can you most easily receive the proceeds of your vehicle sale?

Here's the solution: most dealers can make payment to agents or owners of a company, if documentation of that agency or ownership is provided.

So when you approach a dealer to sell your vehicle, bring your printed Montana Articles of Formation, which prove that you own the LLC that owns your vehicle.

Give this information to the dealership at the start of the conversation, before they inspect your vehicle. If they can't make a deal work, find another dealer.‍

Now, let's discuss handing the vehicle over to the seller.‍

This step is simple: give the buyer the keys and the vehicle.‍

Easy, right?

Depending on the state where the vehicle is titled, a bill of sale (a simple sales contract) may or may not required.

If you hire visitor.us to register your vehicle, your vehicle will be titled in Montana.

A bill of sale isn't legally required to transfer ownership of a Montana vehicle, but it is a good idea.

You want to walk away from the sale of your vehicle with no further commitments.

Signing a bill of sale with the vehicle's buyer, in which you document that the vehicle is sold "As Is," with no warranties, closes the door on the buyer's ability to make claims against you in the future.

At a minimum, your bill of sale should document the following:

• The vehicle's year, make, model, and VIN,
• The date of the sale,
• The value paid for the vehicle,
• The buyer's name and signature, and
• The seller's name and signature.

From the date of the sale onward, the buyer should be responsible for all tickets and tolls on the vehicle.

Every US state chooses its own mechanism to manage the transfer of responsibility.

Some states, like Florida and California, require the seller to submit a transfer notice form to inform the state of the new buyer’s details.

Other states, like Montana, require sellers to remove the license plates from a vehicle upon sale.  Because tickets and tolls reference the vehicle’s license plates, removing the plates ensures that the seller isn’t wrongly charged for tickets and tolls that the buyer incurs.

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