Buying or Selling a Car Across State Lines

The rule that governs everything here: the transaction follows the requirements of the state where the vehicle will be titled and registered, which is the buyer’s state, not the seller’s.

Sellers in New York routinely get this backwards, sign the title the way New York would accept, and then hear from a buyer in Pennsylvania or Ohio who cannot register the car.

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Ask one question before you sign anything

Buyer, ask your own motor vehicle agency: what do you need from an out of state seller?

The answers vary more than people expect. Some states require the seller’s signature on the title to be notarized. Some require a notarized bill of sale. Some require a specific odometer disclosure form. Some require a VIN inspection on arrival. Some require the title to be signed in a particular place that differs from New York’s layout.

Get that answer before the seller signs, because a title signed in the wrong place or without a required notarization cannot be unsigned. Corrections on a title are a serious problem, and in many states an altered title is void.

New York does not require a notarized title signature

Which is precisely why New York sellers are caught out.

Because it is not part of the routine here, a New York seller signs and posts the title, and the buyer’s state then refuses it because it lacks a notarial certificate the seller never knew was needed.

Getting a seller back afterward, particularly one who has already been paid, is the hard part. Handle it at the point of sale.

What a notarization can and cannot fix

Where the buyer’s state requires the seller’s signature to be notarized, the seller signs the title in front of the notary. Not beforehand. A title already signed generally cannot be notarized after the fact, because the notary did not witness the signature.

Where the parties are in different states, each can be notarized separately, including online in minutes, though you should confirm the receiving agency accepts an electronically notarized document, since practice on titles varies more than on other documents.

What a notarization does not do is make an out of state title acceptable in itself, verify ownership, or substitute for a required inspection.

Sales tax is paid where it is registered

Generally the buyer pays sales tax in their own state when registering, rather than in the seller’s state.

The seller’s job is to record the actual price accurately. Understating it to help a buyer with tax is a false statement on a state form, and it also undermines the buyer’s own documented value for insurance and resale.

Tax questions belong with the relevant tax authority. A notary cannot advise on them.

Plates, insurance and driving it home

Plates stay with the seller in New York, so a buyer cannot drive away on them.

The buyer needs to arrange insurance and, depending on the states involved, a temporary registration or transit permit to get the vehicle home lawfully. Ask their agency about that in the same conversation as the title requirements.

Transport rather than driving is often the simpler answer for a long distance purchase, and it removes the whole question.

A workable sequence

Buyer confirms their state’s requirements in writing. Both parties agree what will be signed and whether notarization is needed. Seller obtains a duplicate title first if theirs is missing. Money and title change hands together. The title is signed correctly, in front of a notary if required. Both keep a bill of sale and photographs of the signed title. Seller removes plates and surrenders or transfers them. Buyer registers promptly in their own state.

Eight steps, and the whole risk in this transaction sits in the first one.

Moving to New York with a car

Different transaction, same principle in reverse.

A new resident bringing a vehicle registers it here, which generally means surrendering the out of state title and registration, providing proof of insurance from a New York authorized insurer, and satisfying inspection requirements.

Where a lien exists, the out of state lender frequently holds the title, and coordinating its release to New York takes longer than people plan for. Start that early rather than in the week your out of state registration expires.

Ask the DMV about the current document list rather than working from a summary, because requirements for new residents change.

Buying from a dealer in another state

Considerably easier than a private sale, because the dealer handles the paperwork daily and usually knows what your state requires.

Even so, ask two questions before you commit: will you provide temporary tags valid for the drive home, and will you handle the title paperwork for my state or send it to me?

Dealers vary on the second. Where they send you the paperwork, you are back in the private sale situation and the requirements on this page apply.

The scam pattern to know

Long distance private sales attract fraud, and it follows a recognizable shape.

A vehicle priced well below market. A seller who cannot meet in person or show the car. A story involving deployment, relocation or a deceased relative. Pressure to use an unusual payment method, or a third party escrow the seller recommends. A title that will be sent after payment.

Any two of those together should end the conversation. There is no version of this where paying first for a car you have not seen, to a seller you cannot verify, works out.

If the seller is the one who is elsewhere

Common in New York City, where a family member upstate or out of state owns a car being sold here.

Two workable routes. The owner signs the title in front of a notary wherever they are and posts it, which works where the buyer’s state requires a notarized signature anyway. Or the owner grants a vehicle power of attorney so somebody local can sign on their behalf.

The second is usually faster and it is the reason that form exists. Use the form published by the state where the vehicle is titled, and have the owner sign it in front of a notary rather than beforehand.

Either way the owner can be notarized online in minutes from any state, which removes the postal round trip that otherwise adds a week to the sale.

Keep the paperwork after it is done

Both sides should hold on to this longer than feels necessary.

Seller: your copy of the bill of sale, a photograph of the signed title, and the plate surrender receipt. If the buyer never registers the vehicle, that file is what separates you from their tickets, tolls and worse.

Buyer: everything, plus the registration and any inspection paperwork. If a title problem surfaces months later, the record of what you were given and when is the whole of your position.

Photograph everything before it goes in the post. Documents do get lost between states, and reconstructing a title transfer from memory is not possible.

Out of state owner? Use the form from the state where the vehicle is titled. See our Arizona vehicle power of attorney guide as an example, and we notarize online from any state.

The title and the power of attorney are different documents

An important distinction, and the one that decides whether anything here can be handled remotely.

A power of attorney form is an ordinary document. It can be printed, completed, signed in front of a notary and printed out, and several states accept an electronically notarized one. Arizona, for example, states that a motor vehicle power of attorney may be notarized electronically using a notarial certificate.

A certificate of title is a physical security document. The seller signs the actual paper, and a notary has to witness that signature on that paper.

Some states are explicit about this. In Pennsylvania, certificates of title may not be notarized electronically or remotely, and PennDOT notarizations are generally handled by a Pennsylvania notary or an authorized agent. Ohio requires personal appearance before the notary for the title.

So do not assume a service that notarized your power of attorney online can do the same with the title itself. Ask the motor vehicle agency in the state where the vehicle is titled, specifically, before arranging anything.

States that require the title notarized

Most states do not. A minority do, and in those the notarization is a legal requirement rather than a preference.

As of 2026 that group includes Arizona, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Wyoming. Montana removed its requirement in October 2025, and Maryland’s repeal takes effect in October 2026.

Requirements change, and which signatures must be notarized differs between them, so confirm with that state’s agency rather than relying on any list, including this one.