How to Sell a Car With a Lein

When you have a car that still has a lien on it, that typically means there is an auto loan on the vehicle that you have not yet paid off. Usually you are still making monthly payments on the vehicle when you have a lienholder on the car. It can be a challenge to sell a car with a lien because you do not actually have the title for the vehicle. The lienholder has it. Despite that challenge you can still successfully sell a car with a lien.

Instructions

1

Look at a recent statement for your auto loan to see if the pay off amount is listed. If your pay off amount is not listed, you can call the customer service number on the statement or visit the website on the statement to get your pay off amount.

2

Check the current private party value of the vehicle on the Kelley Blue Book website (see Resources). This will let you know how much your car is worth so you know how to price it.

3

Take your pay off amount and your value amount to determine if you owe more than the car is worth. If the pay off amount is a higher number than the value amount, you do owe more than the car is worth. Subtract the value amount from the pay off amount to see how much more you owe than it is worth.

4

Disclose that you still have a loan on the car in any ads you place to list the car for sale. You can place ads in the local newspaper and on the local Craigslist site. In the ad you can list that you want someone to take over the loan payments or buy the car outright, but you can't get the title to them until it is sent by the lienholder.

5

Contact your lienholder when you have a potential buyer to see if they will allow you to have someone take over the loan. Not all lenders will do this and those that do require the new person to pass the same credit requirements that you did. If you owe more than the car is worth, you may not be able to find someone to just take over the payments.

6

Complete a bill of sale with the buyer to transfer the ownership of the vehicle. If the buyer gave you money for the vehicle instead of taking over the payments, you need to send that money to the lienholder to pay the loan off so that you can get the title of the car. If you sold the car for less than you owe, you must be prepared to pay off the remaining balance at the same time. Once you get the title, you must sign it over to the new owner so that the new owner can get the vehicle registered in his name.