Sell your car privately in Florida, day by day.

Florida is one of the easiest states in the country to sell a car privately. No notary. No emissions test. No witness requirement. The whole transfer hinges on two pieces of paper the state already publishes — the original title and an HSMV 82050 — and a single 30-day deadline for the seller to file a Notice of Sale. Compare that to Pennsylvania or Ohio, where the title itself has to be notarized in front of a commissioned agent, and Florida looks nearly frictionless.

That said, "easy" is not the same as "no rules." Miss the 30-day filing and you stay legally attached to the vehicle for tolls, red-light tickets, and civil claims. Accept the wrong kind of check and you hand your car to a stranger for free. This guide walks you through the process in chronological order — from the day you decide to list the car through the 30th day after the sale, with every form, deadline, and common trap flagged along the way.

Day 1–3: Before you list the car

The work you do before writing a single word of your listing is the work that determines whether the sale closes in a weekend or drags on for a month.

Find the original Florida title.Not a photocopy, not a photo on your phone — the actual paper certificate with your name on the face. If it's lost, order a duplicate from FLHSMV on form HSMV 82101 before you list. Duplicates take about an hour at a motor vehicle service center or 5–10 business days by mail. Check the face for any recorded lien; if one exists, get a written lien release from the lender first.

Write down the odometer reading. Go to the car, turn the key, and copy the number exactly as it shows on the dashboard. Do not estimate. Federal law (49 CFR Part 580) requires an accurate odometer disclosure on the bill of sale for any vehicle model year 2011 or newer, and that disclosure has to match what appears on the title.

Decide on a price. Pull three numbers: Kelley Blue Book Private Party Value (uses Florida ZIP comparables), Edmunds True Market Value, and a no-obligation instant offer from Carvana, Vroom, or CarMax. The instant offer is your floor — if no private buyer will pay more than Carvana, just sell to Carvana and skip the parking-lot meeting altogether.

Clean it. A $30 detail often adds a few hundred to the sale price and cuts days off the listing. Vacuum, wipe the dashboard, wash the exterior, pull personal items from the glovebox, and remove the garage-door opener.

Optional but smart: get a pre-sale mechanic check ($80–120 at any chain) and order a Carfax or AutoCheck history report to share with serious buyers. Both remove the "what are you hiding?" objection before it surfaces.

Day 3–5: Writing the listing

Three platforms cover most of the Florida private market: Facebook Marketplace (highest volume, lowest buyer quality), Craigslist (still busy in Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville), and Autotrader (serious buyers, small fee, better for cars priced $10K and up). Post on all three if you have the time; the overlap is lower than you'd expect.

What to include. Year, make, model, trim, mileage (the number you wrote down, exactly), VIN, asking price, Florida county, clear daytime photos from eight angles, a short honest paragraph about condition, and any known defects. Lead with the mileage and price — those are the two filters every buyer uses.

Scam buyers give themselves away fast.Watch for: offers above asking price before anyone has seen the car, requests to "send a mover next week" with a check covering "extra expenses," buyers who refuse to call or meet, anyone pushing a cashier's check drawn on an out-of-state bank, and the classic "I'm deployed overseas, my assistant will pick it up." Every one of those is an attempt to stall you until a fake check has cleared just long enough for your bank to claw it back. Delete and move on.

Day 5–10: Meeting the buyer safely

Most Florida private sales are completely uneventful. A handful go sideways every year, and the pattern is almost always the same — a solo seller meeting a stranger in their driveway after dark. Don't be that seller.

Meet in a public parking lot during daylight hours.A Publix, Target, or bank lot near you works. Many Florida county sheriffs now operate designated "Safe Exchange Zones" in their station parking lots with 24/7 video recording — check your county sheriff's website.

Bring a friend. Two-on-one is a different dynamic than one-on-one, and the second person also handles your phone, your payment verification, and the test-drive logistics.

Test drives.Ride in the passenger seat — never hand the keys to a stranger and wave. Before the engine starts, photograph their driver's license (front only is fine) and text the photo to someone. Confirm they have active auto insurance; Florida insurance typically extends to any vehicle the policyholder is driving, but verifying it takes thirty seconds. Avoid evening meetings, and avoid any buyer who wants to take the car to an address to "show their wife" before paying.

Day 7–10: Agreeing on how the money moves

The payment method matters more than any other decision in the sale.

Cash is fine for amounts under about $5,000, but it creates bulk and counterfeit risk. Go to a bank together if you want to rule out fake bills. A bank-verified wire transfer is the gold standard — the buyer sends the funds from their bank to yours, you see the money land in your account in real time, and the transfer is irrevocable. Cashier's checks are acceptable only if you physically visit the issuing bank branch with the buyer, confirm the check is valid, and ideally deposit it in your account on the spot.

Never accept a personal check.Never accept a money order from someone you don't know. Zelle and Venmo have transaction limits and reversal windows that make them risky above a few thousand dollars. When in doubt, meet at a bank.

Day of sale: The three documents you actually need

Florida's private-sale paperwork reduces to three forms. Memorize these.

1. HSMV 82050 — the Bill of Sale

The HSMV 82050 is Florida's all-in-one form: it doubles as both the Bill of Sale (buyer uses it at the DMV to register) and the Notice of Sale (seller files it with FLHSMV to release liability). Check the Bill of Sale box at the top, complete vehicle details (year, make, model, body, color, VIN, title number), buyer name and address, purchase price, date, and odometer disclosure — then both parties sign. Full field-by-field walkthrough lives at our HSMV 82050 explainer, and the finished PDF generator is at /florida-bill-of-sale.

2. The original Florida title

Both parties sign the title at the same time. The seller fills out the Transfer of Title by Sellersection on the back — signature, printed name, date, odometer reading, disclosure box (Actual / Exceeds Mechanical Limits / Not Actual / Exempt), buyer's name and address, and purchase price. The buyer signs acknowledging receipt. The odometer block on the title and the odometer field on the HSMV 82050 must show the exact same number, as required by federal law (49 CFR Part 580). Do not detach, fold sharply, or otherwise damage the title — Florida titles have anti-fraud features that DMV clerks inspect.

3. HSMV 82042 (situational)

If the VIN on the dashboard is partially worn, the title is unclear, or the vehicle was previously titled out of state, the buyer will need form HSMV 82042— a Vehicle Identification Number and Odometer Verification. A mechanic, a Florida notary, or any Florida law enforcement officer can complete it. For a straightforward in-state sale with a clean title, you probably don't need this form at all.

Why a bill of sale matters even though a signed title alone is technically accepted

Florida will title a vehicle with just a properly signed-over title. So why bother with HSMV 82050? Three reasons, all of which come up later and never before: liability (the Notice of Sale portion releases your name from the vehicle in state records immediately — critical for tolls and tickets), tax basis proof (the buyer pays 6% sales tax on whatever the DMV decides the price was, so a written record protects both parties), and dispute resolution(a signed document listing known defects and the "as-is" clause is the single best defense against "the transmission failed two days later, you owe me $3,000" claims). If you're going to sell the car, spend the five minutes and generate the form. Our Florida Bill of Sale wizard handles it end to end.

Day of sale: The handoff

The sequence at the parking lot matters. Both parties sign HSMV 82050 at the same time, side by side, with everything already filled in. Then, and only then, the buyer hands over payment— cash counted in front of both of you, or a wire transfer confirmed on your phone, or a cashier's check you've already verified with the issuing bank. Once the money is yours, you transfer the keys, the signed title, a signed copy of the HSMV 82050, spare keys, owner's manuals, any service records you have, and the garage-door opener if one is clipped to the visor. Unscrew the license plate before the buyer drives off — Florida plates belong to the person, not the car.

After the sale: Your 30-day clock starts now

This is the step sellers forget, and it is the single most important one on the entire page.

Florida law requires the seller to file a Notice of Sale with FLHSMV within 30 days of the sale, or remain legally liable for the vehicle.

That means if the buyer runs a red-light camera, blows through a SunPass gantry, or gets into a collision between the sale date and the day they register the car in their name — you get the notice. File the Notice of Sale portion of the HSMV 82050 the same day you hand over the keys. You can submit online at services.flhsmv.gov (takes about five minutes, no cost) or in person at any FLHSMV motor vehicle service center. Keep the confirmation.

Cancel your insurance — but not before the filing clears. Call your insurer, give them the sale date and the buyer's name, and ask for a pro-rated refund of your remaining premium. Most insurers cut a check for the unused portion within a week. Don't cancel first, because a brief driving-to-the-DMV gap without insurance is its own Florida ticket.

Update toll accounts.If your SunPass or a county toll transponder is linked to the VIN, log into your account and remove the vehicle. Same for any Pay-By-Plate service. Otherwise the buyer's tolls start showing up on your credit card for the next month.

Taxes: who pays what

The buyer pays 6% Florida state sales tax, plus a county discretionary surtax (0–2.5% depending on county) capped at the first $5,000 of the purchase price. Tax is collected at the DMV when the buyer registers the vehicle, not by the seller at the parking-lot handoff. Don't let an anxious buyer tell you otherwise, and don't "help" them by writing a lower price on the bill of sale — understating price to avoid tax is a felony in Florida and also destroys your paper trail if the sale is ever disputed.

The seller owes no Florida sales taxon a private sale. For federal income tax, you only report the sale if you sold at a gain — which is vanishingly rare for used cars (collector vehicles aside). If your basis was $18,000 and you sold for $11,000, that's a personal-use loss and it's not deductible either. Nothing to report.

If something goes wrong

Three failure modes cover most disputes. A cashier's check bounces: the vehicle is technically still yours because consideration never transferred; file a police report immediately (fraud) and contact the issuing bank. The buyer claims the car wasn't as described: Florida treats private sales as "as-is" by default; a signed bill of sale listing known defects is your strongest defense. The DMV flags the title: usually a clerical issue (name mismatch, illegible signature, odometer inconsistency) — the buyer contacts FLHSMV, you provide a corrective affidavit, and it resolves in a week or two.

For anything more serious — a title-washing allegation, a claim above small-claims court limits ($8,000 in Florida), or fraud — talk to a Florida attorney. Our FAQ covers the common cases and our Terms and Privacypages explain exactly what we do and don't do. We're not a law firm, and nothing on this page is legal advice.

Skip the HSMV 82050 paperwork in three minutes

If you'd rather not hand-print a PDF at a parking-lot picnic table, that's the reason this site exists. Our Florida Bill of Sale wizard takes you through every field in about three minutes: seller and buyer details, VIN auto-fills year/make/model from the free NHTSA database, odometer disclosure with the correct federal language, price and payment method, and canvas signature capture on your phone. Pay $9.99 once and the finished HSMV 82050 PDF lands in both inboxes, DMV-ready.

No subscription, no account, no $39/month auto-renewal trap. One document, one transaction, done. If it's useful, use it — and either way, good luck with the sale, and don't forget the 30-day filing. Start your Florida Bill of Sale →