Transferring a vehicle title in Iowa

1. Before you hand over money, check the face of the title: if a security interest is shown and has not been cancelled there, ask the seller for the lienholder's release on form 411168 — the county treasurer cannot title the vehicle to you while an uncancelled lien is showing.
2. Take the assigned title from the seller with the buyer line filled in, the date of sale printed, the odometer statement completed and the damage disclosure completed and signed — Iowa Code 321.69(7) bars the treasurer from issuing a title unless the disclosure is fully completed and signed and dated by both of you.

• Before you hand over money, check the face of the title: if a security interest is shown and has not been cancelled there, ask the seller for the lienholder's release on form 411168 — the county treasurer cannot title the vehicle to you while an uncancelled lien is showing.411168Official page
• Take the assigned title from the seller with the buyer line filled in, the date of sale printed, the odometer statement completed and the damage disclosure completed and signed — Iowa Code 321.69(7) bars the treasurer from issuing a title unless the disclosure is fully completed and signed and dated by both of you.Official page
• Ask the seller for the name of the county where the vehicle was last registered and the date the plates expire — Iowa Code 321.46(1) makes you state both on the application.
• Complete and sign form 411007, Application for Certificate of Title and/or Registration. Every person who will appear as an owner on the new title has to sign it, and it carries the purchase price and acquisition date the treasurer uses to compute the fee for new registration.411007Official page
• Bring the bill of sale or purchase agreement. On the newer Iowa title certificate you can use the "Transfer/Sale Date" bill-of-sale section on the title itself; where the title has no such section a separate bill of sale is still required.Official page
• File the whole package at a county treasurer's office within 30 calendar days of the purchase and pay the $30 title fee, the $5 title surcharge, the fee for new registration of $10 plus 5 percent of the purchase price, and the prorated annual registration fee.Official page
• Claim your own registration credit if you sold, traded or junked a vehicle in the last six months and are transferring its plates to this one — say so at the counter, because the credit is applied against the annual registration fee and is disallowed after six months or below $10.Applies when: You are replacing a vehicle you ownedOfficial page
• If you have no plates to put on the vehicle, you may drive it for up to 30 days from the date of purchase without plates provided it was currently registered and you carry the assigned title, a photocopy of it, or a bill of sale in the vehicle; alternatively buy a 30-day temporary permit from the county treasurer for $25.Applies when: You have no plate of your own to transferOfficial page
• If the vehicle is model year 2011 or newer and the mileage is not written on the back of the title, get the seller to complete form 411077, the Odometer Disclosure Statement, before you part company — form 411099 is only for when the seller cannot be found, and it produces a title recording "not actual" mileage.Applies when: The odometer statement is missing from the title411077Official page
• If the seller has already gone and you cannot reach them, swear form 411099, Odometer Certification and Statement of Fact, in front of a notary — you must state the good-faith attempt you made to find them, and the title you receive will record "not actual" mileage.Applies when: The seller gave no odometer statement and cannot be located411099Official page

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• Assign the title on the reverse: sign as seller, print the buyer's name and address on the top line, and print the date of sale.Official page
• Check the name connector on the face of the title. If the owners' names are joined by "and", every named owner has to sign as seller; if they are joined by "or", one signature is enough.Applies when: The title lists more than one ownerOfficial page
• Complete the odometer statement in the assignment area of the title and give it to the buyer — required for any vehicle of model year 2011 or newer on transfers through 31 December 2030.Official page
• Complete the damage disclosure statement in the assignment area and give it to the buyer at or before the time of sale; use the separate form 411108 where the title has no damage disclosure block, such as a title issued before 1 January 2005.411108Official page
• Tell the buyer the name of the county where the vehicle was last registered and the date the plates expire — Iowa Code 321.45(3) makes this the seller's job.
• Remove the license plates from the vehicle and keep them. Put them on a replacement vehicle bought within 30 days and pay the fees on that vehicle, or turn them in to any county treasurer.Official page
• Keep proof that you handed the vehicle and title over: a receipt from the buyer stating they accepted delivery of the car and the title, a copy of the back of the assigned title, or a filed notice of sale.Official page
• For the strongest protection, complete form 411107, Notice of Sale of Vehicle and Delivery of Title, sign it in front of a notary and file it with any county treasurer — the treasurer notes it in the vehicle registration and titling system that day and it is then presumed you assigned and delivered the title.Applies when: Optional, but recommended if the buyer may be slow to transfer411107Official page
• Claim the unused registration fee within six months of the sale — as a credit toward a replacement vehicle, or, if you are not replacing it, as a refund by turning in the plates with the Claim for Refund form at any county treasurer's office. Neither is granted below $10.Official page

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• Complete the odometer disclosure together in the assignment area of the title: the seller states the reading and signs, ticking "not actual" or "exceeds mechanical limits" if either applies, and the buyer signs to acknowledge it. Iowa Code 321.71(7) bars the treasurer from issuing a title without it.Official page
• Complete and both sign and date the damage disclosure — on the back of the title, or on form 411108. Iowa Code 321.69(7)"a" states the treasurer "shall not accept a damage disclosure statement and issue a title unless the back of the title or separate disclosure document has been fully completed and signed and dated by the transferee and the transferor".411108Official page

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• The Iowa certificate of title, assigned on the reverse by the seller with the buyer's name and address and the date of saleIowa Code 321.45(2) states a person acquires no interest in a vehicle "except by virtue of a certificate of title issued or assigned to the person".
• 411007Application for Certificate of Title and/or RegistrationSigned by every person who will appear as an owner on the new title.
• Bill of sale or purchase agreementIowa DOT accepts the "Bill of Sale on Iowa Certificate of Title" section on the newer title certificate; where the title has no such section a separate bill of sale is still required. It should list the vehicle description, the buyer and seller, the purchase price and the date of sale.
• Odometer statement, completed in the assignment area on the back of the titleRequired on any vehicle of model year 2011 or newer for transfers through 31 December 2030.
• Damage disclosure statement, completed in the assignment area on the back of the titleSigned and dated by both the transferor and the transferee. Exempt: vehicles whose model year is the current year minus eight or older, motorcycles, motorised bicycles, special mobile equipment, trucks and truck tractors rated 16,000 pounds GVWR or more, and new vehicles with 1,000 miles or less and no qualifying damage.

• Deadline30 calendar days from the date of purchase or transfer — Buyer: Apply at a county treasurer's office for a new registration and a new Iowa certificate of titleIowa Administrative Code 761—400.34(2) starts the registration-fee penalty running from the first day of the month following the purchase unless the application is submitted within 30 days. Iowa Code 805.8A(2)"j" sets a $135 scheduled fine for violating section 321.46.
• Deadline30 calendar days from the date of purchase or transfer — Buyer: Drive the vehicle without plates only within this window, carrying the assigned title, a photocopy of it, or a bill of saleIowa Administrative Code 761—400.16(1) allows it only for a vehicle that was currently registered at the time of sale and only if ownership evidence is carried in the vehicle and shown to a peace officer on request.
• Deadline30 calendar days from the date you sold the vehicle — Seller: Buy a replacement vehicle if you want to move your plates and registration credit onto itIowa DOT: "If another vehicle is purchased within 30 days, the plates can be put on that vehicle, provided the fees are paid on the replacement vehicle. If a replacement vehicle is not purchased, turn the plates in to the county treasurer."
• DeadlineClaim the unused registration fee — as a credit against a replacement vehicle or as a refund from the date the vehicle was sold, traded or junked — SellerIowa Code 321.46(3)"a": "The credit shall be claimed within six months from the date the vehicle for which credit is granted was sold, traded, transferred, or junked. After six months, all credits shall be disallowed." The same six-month limit applies to a refund claim, and neither is granted if the amount is under $10.

Iowa charges no sales tax on a vehicle. Instead the county treasurer collects a "fee for new registration" of $10 plus 5 percent of the purchase price when you apply for the title, and the Iowa Department of Revenue states it "also applies when vehicles are sold between private individuals".

Inspection

Sometimes required

• Only if your county treasurer asks for a VIN verification — the published triggers are a VIN error in the last six digits, a questionable transaction, an imported vehicle, a grey-market vehicle with a short VIN, or a vehicle suspected of being stolen or cloned.
• Only if the vehicle was homebuilt, reconstructed, a replica or a street rod, or the public VIN was lost, removed or destroyed, or the cab, body or frame was changed.

Iowa runs no periodic safety inspection and asks for none on an ordinary title transfer. Its Vehicle Inspections for Titling page lists a closed set of cases where an inspection is required, and a routine sale between two Iowa residents is not one of them.

Emissions

Not publishedNo emissions or smog test appears anywhere in Iowa's published titling requirements: not on Iowa DOT's Title a Vehicle or Register a Vehicle pages, not among the inspection types on its Vehicle Inspections for Titling page, and not in the list of supporting documents in Iowa Administrative Code 761—400.4.

Notarization

Sometimes required

• Only if the seller chooses to file form 411107, Notice of Sale of Vehicle and Delivery of Title — the seller's signature on it is sworn before a notary.
• Only if a lienholder is releasing a paid-off lien on form 411168 or on notarised letterhead rather than signing the face of the title.
• Only if the buyer must swear form 411099 because the seller gave no odometer statement and cannot be located.
• Not required for the title assignment itself, for form 411007, or for the bill of sale.

The title assignment itself is not notarised in Iowa, and neither is the application for title (411007) or the replacement-title application (411033). Four specific papers are sworn before a notary, and only the person named on each has to appear.

Odometer disclosure

Required, unless you are exempt

• Exempt: vehicles older than model year 2011, for transfers occurring through 31 December 2030.
• Exempt: from 1 January 2031, vehicles whose model year is the current year minus 20 or older.
• Exempt: vehicles with a registered gross weight rating of more than 16,000 pounds.
• Exempt: vehicles not equipped with an odometer by the manufacturer, and the exemptions in 49 C.F.R. section 580.17.

Iowa will not issue a title without an odometer statement from the transferor. It is normally completed in the assignment area on the back of the Iowa title; for transfers through 31 December 2030 it is required on any vehicle of model year 2011 or newer.

Iowa plates belong to the seller, not the vehicle. Iowa DOT's seller's checklist opens with "Remove license plates" — put them on a replacement vehicle bought within 30 days and pay the fees on it, or turn them in to your county treasurer.

• The seller keeps the plates
• The seller may move the plates to a replacement vehicle
• The seller surrenders the plates
• The buyer supplies a plate registered in their own name
• The buyer gets new plates

The plates carry a registration credit with them. Iowa Code 321.46(3) gives the seller credit for the unexpired months of the annual registration fee if it is claimed within six months and is $10 or more; if no replacement vehicle is bought, the same unused amount can be refunded instead. Under 321.46(6) that credit — and, per Iowa DOT, the plates themselves — can pass to a spouse, parent or child, but only if the recipient registers the vehicle within the 30 days section 321.46(1) allows. A buyer who has no plates to transfer may drive a currently registered vehicle for up to 30 days from purchase with ownership evidence in the car (761—400.16), or buy a 30-day temporary permit for $25.

• In person at a county office

One errand. Iowa Code 321.46 makes the buyer "apply for and obtain from any county treasurer a new initial registration and a new certificate of title" in the same 30-day transaction, on one form — the Application for Certificate of Title and/or Registration (411007) — so you leave the county treasurer's counter with plates as well as a title application.

• Start here on the Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT), Motor Vehicle Division — titles are issued over the counter by county treasurers site
• Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT), Motor Vehicle Division — titles are issued over the counter by county treasurers
• Make an appointment