For dealers
How to Handle Title and Registration on an Online Vehicle Sale
Selling a vehicle online moves the paperwork, it does not remove it. The title transfer, the registration and the plates still have to happen, now for a buyer who may live in another state.
Five steps carry it, and every one of them can run without the buyer in the building.
What titling an online sale involves
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Work from the buyer’s state, not the dealership’s
The buyer’s home state sets the tax basis, the title paperwork and the registration filings. An online sale reaches buyers outside your market, so the rules you file under change deal by deal. Taxes and fees are calculated against the buyer’s jurisdiction before they sign, so the number they agree to is the number that gets filed.
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Collect the documents inside the purchase
Identity, the signed purchase documents and any financing paperwork are gathered online as part of checkout. Signing links stay valid however long a signer takes, so a buyer who reads the packet the next evening does not need it reissued.
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File the title transfer and registration
Ekho processes title work, registration filings and DMV submissions in all 50 states, including many off-road classifications. Where a state or vehicle type requires the buyer to file, Ekho guides them through it. There is no separate title service to contract.
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Get temporary tags on the vehicle
Temporary tags are processed in the same transaction. Buyers get tracking by email as soon as the temp tag ships, and the email spells out any follow-up steps they still need to take.
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Close out the permanent plates
Where Ekho files the registration, tax is remitted on the buyer’s behalf and permanent plates arrive by mail. Your title clerk supervises exceptions rather than processing every packet.
Go deeper
The rest of a remote sale, from payment to delivery, and what goes into the price the buyer sees before any of this is filed.
Questions dealers ask
File in the buyer’s home state, using that state’s tax basis, title paperwork and registration forms, and collect the documents online as part of the purchase. Ekho processes the title transfer, registration filings and DMV submissions in all 50 states, issues temporary tags in the same transaction, and the permanent plates arrive by mail. Where the buyer has to file, Ekho guides them through it.
For titling and registration, the buyer’s home state. The vehicle is registered where the buyer lives, so that state’s tax basis and paperwork govern even when the dealership is somewhere else.
Not with Ekho. Title work, registration and DMV submissions are processed as part of the platform, so there is nothing to contract separately and no packet to hand off.
They are processed with the sale. The buyer gets tracking by email as soon as the temp tag ships, and that email sets out any steps they still need to take for their vehicle.
Yes, in different ways. Ekho files titling and registration for motorcycles and many off-road classifications, with their temporary tags. For boats and towable RVs, the buyer completes titling and registration with Ekho guiding them through it.