How to Sign Over a Car Title in Mississippi: Steps, Fees, and Deadline

To sign over a car title in Mississippi, the seller completes the Assignment of Title on the back of the Mississippi Certificate of Title (printed name, signature, date, and odometer reading), the buyer prints their full legal name and address in the buyer section, and the buyer then takes the signed title to their county tax collector’s office within 30 business days along with proof of insurance, a photo ID, and payment for the $9 title fee, sales tax, and annual ad valorem tax.

What the Seller Fills In and Signs

The seller’s work happens on the back of the title in the “Assignment of Title” section. Print your name, sign, date the transfer, and record the current odometer reading. The Mississippi Department of Revenue instructs sellers to complete every field on the assignment except the buyer’s printed name and signature.¹ Do not leave the buyer’s name blank for someone to fill in later. That’s a violation of Mississippi law and invites fraud.

Odometer disclosure is required under federal law for almost every passenger car and light truck sold today. Vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating above 16,000 pounds are exempt, and so are model-year 2010 and earlier vehicles that have cleared the 10-year window.² If the title has no dedicated odometer field, both parties complete an Odometer Disclosure Statement (Form 78-015).³ Falsifying the reading is a state and federal offense.

Once the title is signed and the vehicle handed over, remove your license plate immediately. You cannot leave it on the vehicle, and you cannot move it to a different car. Surrender the plate to your county tax collector. Until you do, the state still shows you as the registered owner, and parking tickets, toll bills, and other liabilities can follow you.¹ Before you hand the title over, photocopy both sides. That copy is your proof the sale happened if anything is disputed later.

You can’t get a cash refund for the unused months on the plate you surrender, but you can apply the credit toward a new Mississippi registration. The credit starts on the first of the month after you turn in the plate, not the date of sale, so don’t delay.

What the Buyer Completes and Brings

Before going to the tax collector’s office, the buyer prints their full legal name and current address on the title in the designated buyer section. Then gather:

The signed original title, with every seller field on the assignment completed.
A lien release, if the seller’s vehicle had a loan. Mississippi requires lienholders to release liens electronically within 14 days of payoff through the state’s E-Lien Program.⁴
Proof of Mississippi auto insurance. The state verifies insurance electronically, but bring your card or declaration page.
A valid photo ID (driver’s license or state-issued ID).
A bill of sale. Mississippi has no official form, but a written record with the vehicle description, VIN, both parties’ names and addresses, sale price, and date protects everyone. Note that the state’s Affidavit of Ownership (Form 78-013) is used to establish ownership through a bill of sale; it is not itself the bill of sale.⁵

Where You Finish the Transfer

Title transfers happen at your local county tax collector’s office, not online and not at DOR headquarters. The tax collector inspects your documents, verifies insurance, and processes the application for a new title in your name.⁶ You’ll leave with a temporary receipt, and the new title typically arrives by mail in three to four weeks. If you need it sooner, the Fast Track option costs an extra $30 and produces the title within 72 hours after the DOR’s central office receives the application.⁷

What It Costs

The title fee itself is small; the taxes are where the money is.

Title fee: $9.⁸
First-time registration fee: $14.¹
Sales tax (5%): For a private-party sale, Mississippi calculates the 5% tax on the vehicle’s “true value” from the DOR’s assessment schedule, not the price you paid. Writing a lower sale price on the title will not reduce your tax. If you traded in a vehicle, tax is calculated on the net difference between the new vehicle’s assessed value and the trade-in credit.⁹
Ad valorem (property) tax: Mississippi charges annual property tax on vehicles with a gross weight of 10,000 pounds or less, due at registration. The tax is based on 30% of the original MSRP, reduced by depreciation over 10 years, and multiplied by your county’s millage rate. A minimum assessed value of $100 applies to passenger vehicles. Rates vary by county, so ask your county tax collector for a figure before you go.¹⁰
Fast Track fee (optional): $30.⁷

Family Transfers and Gifts

Certain transfers are exempt from the 5% sales tax, though the title still moves through the same tax-collector process. Exemptions include transfers between spouses, parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, or siblings; any vehicle 10 years old or older based on manufacture date regardless of relationship; inheritance through a will or intestate succession; transfers between a trustee and a beneficiary; and transfers between a business entity and its shareholder, partner, or member (qualifying under IRS Code Section 351 for corporations). Each exempt transfer requires an Affidavit of Motor Vehicle Title Transfer as supporting documentation.¹¹

Gifting a vehicle to a friend or anyone outside these categories does not remove the tax. The full 5% still applies on the vehicle’s assessed value, and writing “gift” on the title changes nothing.

The 30-Day Deadline and Late Penalties

The buyer has 30 business days from the purchase date to register and title the vehicle. If you bought the vehicle outside your home county, you get 48 hours to transport it home before the 30-business-day clock starts.¹ Miss the deadline and you face standard late penalties plus an additional $250 penalty.¹² The same $250 penalty applies to new residents who don’t register an out-of-state vehicle within 30 calendar days of moving to Mississippi.

Inherited Vehicles

The process depends on whether the deceased owner left a will and how the title was held. If the owner died without a will and the estate is not going through probate, the next of kin can file an Affidavit of Heirship for a Motor Vehicle (Form 78-014) with the county tax collector.¹³

If the title lists two owners joined by “OR,” the surviving owner can sign and transfer it without additional court paperwork. If the title uses “AND,” both signatures are normally required, so the surviving owner will likely need a court-validated copy of the will or a letter of administration. The same holds for “AND/OR” titles when the deceased was the primary owner. If probate is involved, talk to an attorney before visiting the tax collector.

Vehicles With an Existing Lien

A vehicle with an active loan can’t be cleanly transferred until the lien is released. Once the loan is paid off, the lienholder has 30 days to execute a release and either forward the title to the next lienholder or, if none, to the owner.¹⁴ Most institutional lenders now release liens electronically through the E-Lien Program within 14 days, with a $250 penalty per incident for noncompliance.⁴

If you’re buying from someone who still owes money on the car, the safe move is to go with the seller to their lender, pay off the balance directly, and wait for the lien release before completing the transfer. Taking a seller’s word that the release is on its way is how buyers end up with a car and no way to title it.

Salvage and Branded Titles

If the vehicle was previously totaled by an insurance company, the title carries a permanent brand: salvage, rebuilt, flood-damaged, or hail-damaged. When an insurer pays a total loss claim, it must apply for a salvage title within 72 hours of obtaining the owner’s certificate.¹⁵ Anyone selling a salvage vehicle must attach a signed statement to the title identifying the damage type (collision, hail, flood, recovered theft, or unrecovered theft). If you’re buying a rebuilt vehicle, verify the brand on the title matches the seller’s disclosure.

Replacing a Lost or Damaged Title

You cannot transfer a title you don’t have. If the original is lost, damaged, or stolen, the registered owner must apply for a replacement first. File an Application for Replacement Certificate of Title (Form 78-006) with the Department of Revenue along with a $9 fee.¹⁶ Standard processing takes several weeks; a Fast Track replacement costs $39 total and arrives within 72 hours of the DOR receiving the application.⁸

Fixing Mistakes on the Title

If someone strikes out and rewrites information during the assignment, the person who made the error must complete an Affidavit of Correction (Form 78-008). This form covers most corrections except for the odometer reading, the purchase date, and an incorrectly recorded lienholder. Those cannot be fixed with an affidavit.¹⁷ Correction fluid or tape on a title voids the Affidavit of Correction route entirely, in which case you need replacement documents. A wrongly listed lienholder can only be fixed by obtaining a lien release from that wrong lienholder and resubmitting. The DOR’s guidance: never accept or deliver a title that is incomplete or improperly filled out.

1
Mississippi Department of Revenue. Motor Vehicle Frequently Asked Questions
2
eCFR. 49 CFR Part 580 – Odometer Disclosure Requirements
3
Mississippi Department of Revenue. Odometer Disclosure Statement
4
Mississippi Department of Revenue. Motor Vehicle E-Lien Program
5
Mississippi Department of Revenue. Affidavit of Ownership
6
Justia Law. Mississippi Code 63-21-15 – Application for Certificate of Title
7
Mississippi Department of Revenue. Fast Track Title Procedure
8
Mississippi Department of Revenue. Motor Vehicle Titles
9
Justia Law. Mississippi Code 27-65-201 – Tax Upon Sale of Motor Vehicle by Individual
10
Mississippi Department of Revenue. Motor Vehicle Ad Valorem Taxes
11
Cornell Law Institute. 35 Mississippi Code R 4-03-02-104
12
Mississippi Department of Revenue. Motor Vehicle Registration and Renewal
13
Mississippi Department of Revenue. Affidavit of Heirship for a Motor Vehicle
14
Justia Law. Mississippi Code 63-21-49 – Procedure Upon Release of Security Interest
15
Mississippi Secretary of State. Motor Vehicles and Titles – Salvage Vehicles
16
Mississippi Department of Revenue. Application for Replacement Certificate of Title
17
Mississippi Department of Revenue. Affidavit of Correction