How to Fill Out a Title When Selling a Car in MA

To fill out a title when selling a car in Massachusetts, flip the Certificate of Title over and complete the Assignment of Title section on the back: print the buyer’s full legal name and address, enter the odometer reading in whole miles, write in the sale price and date, check the correct odometer certification box, and sign exactly as your name appears on the front. The buyer signs and prints their name in the same section. No notary is required.

Make Sure the Title Is Ready to Sign

The original Certificate of Title is the only document that legally transfers ownership of a vehicle in Massachusetts. It has to be clean: no white-out, no crossed-out words, no alterations of any kind. If the title is damaged or has errors already on it, apply for a replacement before you try to sell.

If the vehicle was financed and the lender’s name still appears on the title, you need a lien release before the sale can go through. Massachusetts law requires the lienholder to execute a release within ten days of the loan being satisfied and either mail or deliver the title to you.¹ Without that release, the buyer cannot register the vehicle in their name.

Lost the original? Request a duplicate by submitting Form TTL117 to the RMV’s Title Division with a $25 fee.² You can mail the application with a check or money order payable to MassDOT, or handle it through certain RMV service centers. A duplicate can take time to arrive, and you cannot sell the car without a title in hand.

What to Have In Front of You Before You Write

Confirm every detail before you pick up the pen. The RMV will not accept an altered title, so a corrected entry usually means starting over with a new duplicate.

Buyer’s full legal name and current residential address, matching their driver’s license exactly.
Current odometer reading, in whole miles, no tenths.
The agreed-upon sale price, settled with the buyer before anything gets written down.
The date of the transaction.

Filling In the Assignment of Title, Field by Field

The back of the title has an Assignment of Title section, and the RMV requires you to complete every field in it.³

Print the buyer’s full legal name and residential address in the designated spaces. Double-check the spelling against their ID. A mismatch between the name on the title and the name on the buyer’s identification will create problems at the RMV counter.

Enter the sale price if the title has a space for it. If your version of the title has a price field, it must be filled in.⁴ If it does not, the buyer will need a separate bill of sale showing the amount paid. Write in the transaction date as well.

Sign your name on the seller’s signature line. Your signature must match the name printed on the front of the title. If the front says “Robert J. Smith,” don’t sign “Bob Smith.” If two owners are listed on the front connected by “and,” both owners must sign. If the names are connected by “or,” either owner can sign alone.⁵

The buyer signs and prints their name in the assignment section as well. Massachusetts does not require a notary to witness the signatures on a private vehicle sale.

The Odometer Disclosure

Federal and Massachusetts law both require the seller to disclose the vehicle’s mileage at the time of transfer.⁴ Enter the reading in whole miles only, no decimals or tenths.⁶

You also have to certify one of three things about the reading by checking the appropriate box:

Actual mileage: the odometer reflects the real distance the vehicle has traveled.
Exceeds mechanical limits: the odometer has rolled over past its maximum, which is common on older five-digit odometers.
Not actual mileage: the reading is unreliable for any other reason, such as a broken or replaced odometer.

Getting this wrong, or leaving it blank, can void the disclosure and create legal exposure for the seller.⁷

Not every vehicle requires an odometer disclosure. Under federal regulations, vehicles with a 2010 or earlier model year are exempt because they are more than ten years old. Vehicles from model year 2011 onward won’t become exempt until they reach twenty years from their model year, so the earliest exemption for that group is 2031.⁷ Even when a vehicle is exempt, filling in the reading is standard practice and causes no harm.

When You Also Need a Bill of Sale

A bill of sale is not a substitute for the title, but it may be required alongside it. If your title does not have a printed field for the sale price, the buyer must bring a separate bill of sale showing the purchase amount when they register the vehicle.⁴ A bill of sale also creates an independent record of the date, price, and buyer’s identity, which protects you if there’s any later dispute.

Mistakes That Force You to Start Over

The RMV will reject a title that has been altered. White-out, crossed-out text, or writing over an existing entry all count. Once you make an error in the assignment section, you generally cannot correct it on the same document: you’ll need to apply for a duplicate, pay the $25 fee again, and redo the paperwork. That’s why confirming every detail beforehand matters.

The most common problems that delay or block registration:

Signing a nickname or abbreviated version of the name on the front of the title.
Forgetting that both people listed with “and” must sign.
Leaving the odometer field blank even when the vehicle is exempt.
Misspelling the buyer’s legal name or using an informal version.

What to Do the Moment You Hand Over the Title

Once you sign the title over, the vehicle’s registration in your name expires automatically under Massachusetts law.⁸ The buyer cannot legally drive the car using your plates. Remove your plates before the buyer takes the vehicle. You can transfer them to a new vehicle or cancel the registration entirely.

Cancel the registration as soon as possible. The RMV allows online cancellation, which is the quickest option for a single-owner vehicle. This matters because an expired or revoked registration is still subject to local excise tax unless you formally cancel, and canceling may qualify you for an excise tax abatement covering the portion of the year after you no longer owned the vehicle.⁹

After canceling, call your insurance company and remove the vehicle from your policy. Give them the date of sale and the cancellation confirmation. If you’ve prepaid, you should receive a prorated refund for the remaining coverage period.

One Thing to Warn the Buyer About

The buyer pays 6.25% sales tax when they register, but the tax base isn’t always the price you agreed on. Massachusetts calculates the tax on the higher of two numbers: the actual sale price or the vehicle’s clean trade-in book value, adjusted for mileage.¹⁰ The RMV handles the mileage adjustment at registration but does not adjust for mechanical or structural condition. Sell a car with a blown engine for $500 when the book value is $5,000, and the buyer pays tax on $5,000. Buyers who don’t know this sometimes come back to the seller thinking they were misled, so it’s worth flagging before money changes hands. The buyer also pays a $75 title fee for the new certificate, plus standard registration fees.¹¹

1
Mass.gov. Massachusetts General Laws c90D 24
2
Mass.gov. Replace Your Vehicle’s Certificate of Title
3
Mass.gov. Private Party Car Sales
4
Mass.gov. Apply for a Registration and Title for a Vehicle Purchased from an Individual
5
Mass.gov. Change Information on Your Vehicle Title
6
Mass.gov. Registration and Title Application Instruction Guide
7
eCFR. Part 580 – Odometer Disclosure Requirements
8
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Part I, Title XIV, Chapter 90, Section 2
9
Mass.gov. Cancel Your Vehicle Registration (License Plates)
10
Mass.gov. Motor Vehicle and Trailer Sales and Use Tax
11
Mass.gov. RMV Schedule of Fees