Title problems when you sell a car in San Francisco, one case at a time
Yes, you can sell a car in San Francisco when the title is lost, a lender is still on it, the owner has died, or the names on it are off. Each case has its own California DMV form and its own signer. A lost title takes a REG 227. A loan needs the lender's release, and cars two model years old or newer follow a stricter rule. An heir to a small estate outside probate uses a REG 5 after a 40-day wait. Co-owners read the word between their names. Fix the title first; the rest of the sale works like any other.
Sources re-checked .
Short answer
You can still sell. A REG 227 replaces a lost or damaged California title, or replaces and transfers it in one step. A lender must release the lien first, and on cars two model years old or newer only the title can. An heir to a small estate outside probate uses a REG 5 once 40 days have passed. Co-owners joined by AND or a slash both sign.
Lost, stolen or damaged title: one form, two jobs
When the paper title is gone, California's fix is the Application for Replacement or Transfer of Title, form REG 227. The DMV accepts it for a title that is lost, stolen or damaged, in person or by mail. The form also has a second box, Transfer of Title with Replacement: you as the seller complete Sections 1 to 4, and the new owner completes Sections 6 and 7. The DMV's manual says a properly endorsed REG 227 may stand in for a lost title in any transfer.
The form warns that issuing a replacement cancels the original title, so one that turns up later is no longer valid. If your address differs from the DMV's records, you must file in person with your registration card or renewal notice and your driver license or ID card. In the city, the DMV's San Francisco field office is at 1377 Fell Street. If the title was already replaced in the last 90 days, a CHP vehicle verification is required.
The DMV says Section 5 needs a notary only when the registration shows a legal owner or lienholder. As of October 29, 2026, the DMV registration fees page lists a replacement title at $28 and a transfer at $15.
Source: DMV: REG 227 form; DMV: title transfers and changes; DMV registration manual 11.055: replacement titles; DMV: registration fees; DMV: San Francisco field office.
A lender on the title: payoff, then the release
If you still owe on the car, the lender is the legal owner of record, and its release frees the title. On a paper title the lender signs line 2, or signs a Lien Satisfied form, REG 166, which must be notarized.
The DMV's registration manual says "the California Certificate of Title is the only document that can be used to release the lien of a vehicle two model years old or newer." For those cars a REG 166, or a release on a REG 227, is not accepted. If such a title is lost, the REG 227 says the lender must apply for the replacement title first, then release its interest on that title.
If your lender uses the DMV's Electronic Lien and Title program, it holds an electronic record in place of a paper title, and you get a registration card. When you pay the loan off, the DMV mails a sole-owner paper title to you. The manual puts the average wait at eight days. The REG 227 cannot release a lien on an electronic title, so pay off the loan and wait for the paper title before you book a sale.
Source: DMV: title transfers and changes; DMV registration manual 11.015: basic transfer requirements; DMV registration manual 11.055: replacement titles; DMV registration manual 20.020: title lost after lien release; DMV registration manual 1.050: electronic lien and title; DMV: REG 166 form; DMV: REG 227 form.
Selling a car after the owner has died
If the registered owner has died and the estate is not in probate, an heir can transfer a California-titled car with a copy of the death certificate and the Affidavit for Transfer Without Probate, form REG 5. The current form, revision 12/2024, has the heir swear under penalty of perjury to these facts. No probate case is open or has been held in California for the estate, and nothing else in it needs probate. Unsecured creditors are paid or their claims discharged. And "at least 40 days have elapsed since the death of the decedent" when you sign.
The form also sets a value ceiling. Leaving out the property the form itself excludes, the gross fair market value of the estate's real and personal property in California must not exceed $184,500 for a death on or after April 1, 2022, or $166,250 for an earlier death. The DMV's manual still heads this section with an older $150,000 figure, so go by the form you download.
Who signs: the person, or all the people, who inherited the car under the will or without one, or a trustee, conservator or guardian in the cases the form lists. A REG 5 cannot be used for a car not titled in California. With the REG 5 signed, the steps on the seller paperwork page apply as for any other sale.
Source: DMV: title transfers and changes; DMV: REG 5 affidavit; DMV registration manual 11.065: small estates.
Two names on the title: AND, OR and the slash
Look at how the names are joined on the front of the title. The DMV reads a slash between two names as AND, and AND means each owner must sign to sell. OR, or AND/OR, means one owner's signature is enough. JTRS (joint tenants with right of survivorship) after the names also needs every living owner's signature. The DMV adds that when an application named neither word, the title prints a slash, so that car is an AND car.
When a co-owner has died, the label decides who signs. With AND, ownership passes to the surviving co-owner. The deceased owner's share is released by an heir with a REG 5, an administrator with Letters of Administration, or an executor with Letters Testamentary. If the survivor is also the heir, the survivor may complete the REG 5, and the title is signed twice, once by the survivor and once for the deceased owner, countersigned by the heir. With OR, the survivor's signature releases every owner's interest, unless Tenants in Common or COMPRO follows the names. Under Tenants in Common the share goes to the estate instead. Under COMPRO the survivor owns the car once an heir, administrator or executor releases the deceased owner's share.
Source: DMV registration manual 11.015: basic transfer requirements; DMV registration manual 1.035: co-owners; DMV: REG 227 form.
Your name changed, or the title spells it wrong
If your name has changed since the title was issued, the DMV takes the title, or a REG 227, with your new name printed on the back, plus the Name Statement on the Statement of Facts, form REG 256. On that form you write both names and declare they belong to one person.
A misspelling is a correction, not a change. You submit the title, or a REG 227, with the REG 256 Name Statement, which has a line for a misspelled name. Neither a name change nor a correction carries a fee by itself. Some names are not errors at all: the DMV's name index prints divided or hyphenated surnames run together, so De La Cruz shows as DELACRUZ. If a signature lands on the title in error and is lined out, the DMV wants a REG 101 from that person explaining the error.
Source: DMV: title transfers and changes; DMV registration manual 22.030: owner name changes; DMV: REG 256 form; DMV registration manual 11.060: errors on the title.
A title from another state
With another state's title, the owner endorses that title to the purchaser, the DMV's manual says. California's DMV needs no notary for signatures on an out-of-state title, even when that state's title has a notary box. If a lender appears on that title and is not staying on, the new owner's application must include proof such as the lien marked paid and countersigned, the legal owner's signature on the release line, or a lien satisfied form.
If your registration card reads Nontransferable/No California Title Issued, the DMV says a REG 227 will not work. You must get a title from the state where the car was last titled. If that state cannot, the DMV wants proof of that, and a motor vehicle bond may be required.
Source: DMV registration manual 12.055: evidence of ownership; DMV: title transfers and changes.
What the partner buyer says about no title and loans
On a missing title, the partner buyer's help article says "We have many buyers that buy cars without a title." When the offer form asks about the title, you say you cannot find it, and the system calculates a new offer from that answer.
On a loan, the answer is no: "all liens and loans must be paid in full before we can buy your vehicle." So for a financed car the order is payoff first, then the lender's release or the mailed paper title, then pickup. See how the offer and pickup work for the rest of the buyer's process.
Source: The buyer: selling without a title; The buyer: cars with a loan.
Two questions sellers ask about titles
Can I sell the car while I still owe money on it?
Not to the partner buyer: its help page requires all liens and loans to be paid off first. Under California rules the lender, as legal owner, then releases the title. For an electronic title, the DMV mails you a paper title after payoff, per the DMV registration manual. The forms are on the DMV title transfer page.
Does my REG 227 need a notary?
Only when a lender is on record. The DMV says Section 5 of the REG 227, the lienholder's release, must be notarized when the registration shows a legal owner or lienholder. With no lender on record, you sign without a notary. See the DMV title transfers and changes page.
With the title in order, finish the sale
Once the right person can sign, the rest is a standard California sale. Read the full seller paperwork, then file the release of liability within five days. Questions about your title? Call (628) 333-6040.
More on selling a car in San Francisco
- PaperworkWhich lines a San Francisco seller signs on the California title, when REG 227 replaces it, the 2026 odometer rule, and what the buyer pays.
- Release of liabilityHow a San Francisco seller files California's 5-day release of liability, online or on REG 138, and answers an SFMTA ticket or bridge toll after the sale.
- Smog checkWhen a San Francisco seller must hand over a California smog certificate, the exemptions by year and fuel, the 90-day validity, and help if the car fails.
- Any conditionSell a San Francisco car that won't start, lost its catalytic converter, was broken into or flooded: SFPD reports, BAR smog rules, free pickup.
- Junk carHow to get rid of a junk car in San Francisco: the partner buyer, a licensed dismantler or state retirement, the DMV forms, fee refunds and the SFMTA 72-hour rule.
- Car retirementWhat California's CAP pays San Francisco owners to retire a car that still drives, BAR's conditions, the Bay Area buy back, and how to weigh an offer.