The 5-day DMV notice every San Francisco car seller files

How the DMV counts the five days

The DMV's page sets the clock: "You are required by law to notify DMV within 5 calendar days from the date you sell or transfer the title or interest in your vehicle, and deliver possession of the vehicle to another owner." The DMV's Vehicle Industry Registration Procedures Manual says the same: five calendar days of the sale.

Calendar days means Saturdays, Sundays and holidays all count. A car handed over on a Friday is due by the next Wednesday at the latest, or Tuesday if the sale day counts as day one. The DMV pages read for this guide do not say whether the sale day counts, or whether a deadline that lands on a holiday moves. Treat the earlier date as yours.

The practical rule: file the day the buyer drives or tows the car away, while every detail is at hand.

Source: DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability; DMV manual 11.125: NRL and REG 138.

Filing online: plate, last five of the VIN, odometer

Start at the DMV's online NRL application. Before you begin, the DMV lists three things to have ready:

• The new owner's name and address.
• The license plate number and the last five digits of the VIN.
• The odometer reading at the time of sale.

The online service fills in the make and model year. For the odometer you choose one of three readings: actual mileage, exceeds mechanical limits (the odometer has rolled over), or not actual mileage (it is broken, was replaced, or you are unsure of the true miles).

When the NRL goes through, you receive a confirmation. Print it or save it; the DMV calls that page your proof the NRL was submitted. The DMV says the vehicle record is updated within 1 business day of an online filing; no paper copy is needed.

If you forgot the buyer's name, the DMV lets you enter unknown, but warns that missing details may stop it from updating the record and may disqualify your liability exemption. If the plate or VIN will not match, check what you typed, then call the DMV at 1-800-777-0133.

Source: DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability; DMV: online NRL application.

Mailing the paper REG 138, with no receipt

The paper route is form REG 138 (Rev. 3/2024). Print in capital letters in black or blue ink. The top card asks for:

• The new owner's name (or company) and address.
• The odometer reading, no tenths.
• The date of sale, transfer or lease return.
• Your name and address, and your signature.
• The selling price in whole dollars; enter 0 if the car was a gift.
• The plate number, make, year model and full VIN.

Mail the top card with first-class postage to DMV, Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability, P.O. Box 942859, Sacramento, CA 94259-0001. Keep the bottom part for your records, use one form per vehicle, and do not enclose a bill of sale or other papers.

The form warns: "This form may also be mailed, but no notification will be sent confirming the DMV has received it." The DMV adds that you should photocopy the completed form before it goes in the mailbox.

Source: DMV: REG 138 form (PDF); DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability.

What the release covers, and the step that stays with the buyer

The DMV states the protection this way: "After you complete the NRL and DMV receives the notice of transfer information, any liability for parking violations, traffic violations, or civil litigation after the date of sale becomes the responsibility of the subsequent purchaser." Once the record is marked, renewal notices for that car stop coming to you. In a lawsuit, the DMV notes, a court decides whether you complied.

What it does not do: the DMV says an NRL does not count as a transfer of ownership, and only the buyer's application for transfer, using the title you signed, removes your name from the record. The manual ties your protection to handing over the car and a properly signed title, plus the REG 138 or the online filing, so do both. The full seller paperwork page covers the title signatures.

If you sell to the partner buyer, its driver completes the buyer's title-transfer paperwork at pickup; the release is still yours to file. See how the offer works.

Source: DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability; DMV manual 11.125: NRL and REG 138; The buyer: selling and free pickup.

Tickets and bridge tolls that arrive after the sale

A parking ticket or a toll invoice for the car you sold is the moment your release pays off. SFMTA says not to pay a citation you plan to protest. The evidence is the same for both kinds of mail: your NRL confirmation page or REG 138 photocopy, plus your bill of sale, showing the car left you before the date printed on the notice.

For a San Francisco parking citation, the SFMTA protest form has a box marked Sold/Not owned yet and asks you to include copies of documents that support your statement. For a Golden Gate Bridge toll invoice, the bridge district asks you to fill in the toll dispute section on the back and return it by the due date. Both run on short clocks. The deadlines, the hearing steps and taking the plate off your FasTrak account are on the after you sell page.

Source: SFMTA: Contest a citation; SFMTA: Citation protest form (PDF); Golden Gate Bridge: toll payment FAQs; DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability.

Renewal notices or tickets that keep coming after the sale

A registration renewal notice for the sold car means, the DMV says, that it did not receive your NRL or that the one it got was incomplete or illegible. Either way, you submit another. Renewal notices are generated more than 60 days before expiration, so one can cross your NRL in the mail. If your first one was filed online, do not mail the renewal notice or the confirmation page back; the confirmation is your proof.

The DMV's procedures manual describes an expedited update for a seller who filed but whose record was never changed and who is now receiving parking or toll violations or delinquent registration notices. It calls for a copy of the original REG 138, the complete online transaction receipt, and a new REG 138. For a former owner getting towing or parking and toll charges on a car they do not own, the manual points to a Record of Complaint Form (INV 172A).

Keep your NRL copy with your bill of sale. The REG 138 warns that collection notices can arrive months or years after a sale, and tells you not to ignore them.

Source: DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability; DMV manual 11.125: NRL and REG 138; DMV manual 10.145: removing an NRL; DMV: REG 138 form (PDF).

Where to go once the release is filed

With the release on record, the rest of the seller's checklist is on the after you sell page, and the title and bill of sale steps are on the paperwork page. Questions about selling a car in San Francisco: call (628) 333-6040.

Work out your NRL filing date

California counts this deadline in calendar days, so a weekend or a holiday inside the five days still counts. Enter the day the buyer took the car and the counter gives the date to file by.

Source: DMV: Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability ("within 5 calendar days from the date you sell or transfer the title or interest in your vehicle") and DMV manual 11.125. Neither page says whether the sale day is day one or whether a holiday moves the deadline, so the counter shows the earlier date first.