1. Start with the title in your hand
In Michigan the title is the sale, so find it before you list the car. Read the front: is your name on it the way it should be, can every owner listed be there to sign, and is a lienholder printed on it? If you still owe on the car, the lender holds the title (often electronically) and it won't be released until the loan is paid.
There are two clean ways through a lien. Pay the loan off first and wait for the release and the title to arrive, or close the sale somewhere the payoff can happen at the same time — the lender's branch, or a bank that can send the payoff and document it. The Secretary of State accepts a lien release in a few forms — a dated, signed “paid” stamp on the title itself, or a separate termination statement or letter from the lender that lists the VIN — so ask your lender which one they give.
2. Find the buyer
A private sale pays retail instead of wholesale, and the cost is your time — trade it in, or sell it yourself? walks through that math, including Michigan's trade-in tax credit. If the spread says sell, the checklist on this page is the whole job.
If you'd rather not put your number on a classifieds board, a listing on YouBuyCars is free for one car and buyers reach you by text or on-site message.
3. Meet safely and get paid in a way that clears
Meet in daylight somewhere public — several Metro Detroit police departments keep a marked safe-exchange spot in their lot (Sterling Heights is one) — and bring someone with you. Ask to see a driver's license before the test drive, ride along, and make sure the name on the license is the name going on the title.
For payment, cash counted at your bank or a cashier's check you watch the teller print beats anything mailed, wired or sent through an app. A cashier's check the buyer brings from home is exactly the one you can't verify on the spot. Don't sign the title until the money is real; once it's signed, the car is theirs.
4. Fill in the title completely, with the buyer watching
The seller's section of a Michigan title asks for the buyer's name and address, the selling price, the date, the odometer reading and your signature. Fill in every line in ink while the buyer is standing there, and have them sign on the buyer's line. The odometer reading is a federal disclosure, not a formality: write what the dash shows, and if your title has no space for it the SOS has a separate odometer statement.
Never hand over a title with the buyer's side blank. An open title can be passed from hand to hand without ever being put in anyone's name, and the whole time, the car is still yours on paper while a stranger drives it.
5. Your plate stays with you
Michigan plates belong to the person, not the car. Take yours off before the buyer drives away — the one exception the SOS makes is a transfer to immediate family. You can move the plate to your next car, and if you're done with it, the SOS suggests bending or cutting it so nobody else can use it. The buyer either transfers a plate of their own or buys a new one when they register; that's their side of the counter, not yours.
6. Write a record of sale, and keep your copy
The title proves who owns the car; a bill of sale proves what happened and when. One page does it: year, make, model, VIN, odometer reading, price, date, both names and addresses, the words "sold as-is", and two signatures. The SOS doesn't ask for one on a titled car — the filled-in title is what they read — so this page is for you, not for them. A private sale in Michigan is as-is unless something in writing says otherwise, so if you promise a repair to close the deal, either write it down or don't promise it.
Make two copies and keep yours, along with a photo of the signed-over title. Until the buyer finishes the transfer, the title record is still in your name, and the SOS's own advice is that a seller who can prove the sale is in a far better position if the buyer never gets around to it. Your copy is that proof when a parking ticket or an impound notice shows up months later. The SOS says how long to keep it; keep it longer.
7. Finish the transfer before you cancel insurance
The buyer has a short window after the sale to title and register the car — the SOS site says how long — and pays Michigan's 6% tax on the price when they do. The SOS recommends the two of you go to a branch office together and finish it in one visit; there's an online transfer too, with a step for each of you. Going together is the seller's insurance that the transfer actually happens.
Keep your policy on the car until the transfer is done and the car is off your name, not the moment you're paid, and then call your agent — you may want to move the coverage to your next car rather than cancel outright. Michigan no-fault insurance has to be in place before the buyer drives on their own plate, so a buyer who asks to "just use your plate for the weekend" is asking you to carry their risk.