It’s important that you stay safe and secure when doing private vehicle transactions. This buyer’s guide will show you how to navigate the process in the state of Mississippi.

PrivateAuto has an end-to-end platform for private-party buyers and sellers in Mississippi to get the deal done as fast as possible. From instantaneous, safe money transfers to encrypted messaging, we are the first and only transactional marketplace for private-party used cars.

In Mississippi, you will go through the following steps when buying a used car from a private party.

1. Find a vehicle that suits your needs
2. Agree on a purchase price
3. Schedule the test drive
4. Transfer funds to the seller
5. Have the seller sign over the title
6. Register the car in your name
7. Transfer the vehicle title with the DOR
8. Pay the sales tax and fees
9. Acquire new license plates

Let’s go over the vehicle purchasing process in Mississippi in more detail.

Whether you want a pickup, a hybrid, or a sedan, you’re better off buying from a private owner than a Mississippi used car dealer. To make a profit, car dealerships must buy low and sell high. It’s best to avoid the middleman.

PrivateAuto has a wide range of used cars for sale in Mississippi, as well as safety and convenience features our competitors don’t have.

For instance, we verify seller identities so you know who you’re negotiating with. Within the app, you can look at listings for used cars and make offers. If the seller accepts your offer, you can use our easy scheduling feature to set up a test drive. Everything takes place within the app, and you never share your personal contact information.

When you’ve found the perfect used car for sale near you and agreed on a price, it’s time to take it for a spin.

Other marketplaces force you and the seller to interact outside the website, exchanging personal info and having a lot of back and forth. We keep your personal info private and secure. Our in-app scheduler makes it easy for you and the seller to find the best time and place to meet.

Before purchasing a vehicle, it is always advisable to research its history. A service such as CarFax can provide you with a thorough vehicle history report.

AutoCheck and PrivateAuto have teamed up to provide buyers with a motor vehicle history report. When sellers choose a PrivateAuto Premium listing, we provide a vehicle history report for your peace of mind.

Before buying a used car, you may want to have it mechanically inspected. This is especially important for vehicles that have a high mileage or have not been driven in a long time. See our complete guide to used vehicle inspections for more on this.

Documentation is a key part of the transaction process. Different states have different documentation requirements; here is the required paperwork when buying a used vehicle in Mississippi.

Both you and the seller will fill out the certificate of title thoroughly. The following information is required:

See our guide to transferring a car title in Mississippifor more detail on how to fill out a Mississippi Certificate of Title. Or, to understand more about vehicle titles in general, give our vehicle title guide a read.

When purchasing a vehicle, Federal law requires the seller to complete the odometer reading statement (also known as an odometer disclosure) on the back of the title.

If there’s no room left on the vehicle title, make sure to complete the Federal Odometer Disclosure Statement.

By inspecting the odometer, you can ensure that the reading on the title is correct. Keep in mind that sellers who tamper with a car’s odometer to obtain a false reading can face serious consequences.

For your convenience, the PrivateAuto app includes an odometer reading field where both the buyer and seller can confirm the mileage before proceeding.

In Mississippi, if you buy a car from a private seller, you need a bill of sale.

As part of our standard in-app transaction procedure, PrivateAuto provides you with a bill of sale for Mississippi. Both the buyer and seller will be required to electronically sign the bill of sale in the mobile app at the appropriate time during the transaction.

When you meet for a test drive and like the vehicle, the entire transaction, including the bill of sale, can be completed in a matter of minutes. It is so simple and quick that you won’t believe it. The electronic bill of sale will then be available in your PrivateAuto account as proof that the transaction was legal.

When purchasing a used car, always do VIN verification. Compare it to the actual VIN on the vehicle. When you go to register your newly purchased car with the State of Mississippi, you want to avoid having the wrong VIN on the car title.

The PrivateAuto app has a field for the VIN, where both buyers and sellers can check it for accuracy. This helps to eliminate errors or having to use a vin decoder (or the rare case of outright seller fraud).

In the state of Mississippi, no inspection is needed to register a car. The state of Mississippi does not require vehicle safety checks or emissions testing.

Now is the time to pay the car’s seller. There weren’t many safe ways to send large sums of money in a private car transaction before PrivateAuto arrived on the scene.

You can send up to a million dollars instantly using our integrated banking gateway, PrivateAuto Pay. The seller will receive the money immediately, whether it is after business hours, on the weekend, or on a holiday. We don’t charge a fee for processing payments. It truly is revolutionary.

If you don’t like the idea of carrying a briefcase full of cash or waiting for your check to clear, PrivateAuto Pay is for you.

Oh, and if you don’t want to pay cash for your next vehicle, you can apply for a used auto loan directly from the PrivateAuto app. When your application is approved, your profile will show that you have verified funds, which will set you apart from other buyers.

Our lending partner will pay the seller in full when we close the deal and send payment. You will make monthly car payments to the lender. It’s that simple. Curious as to how much your payments will be? Our handy car loan calculator will tell you.

The transfer of the Mississippi car title from the seller to the buyer is the crucial phase of the entire transaction. The vehicle is legally yours once there is a seller’s signature on the document and they hand it to you. After transferring the title, there are a few more steps to complete before you can call the car yours.

If there are more than one seller on the title, all of them must sign the document for it to be legal.

It’s always a good idea to do preliminary research on the car title before meeting with the seller.

To protect yourself from fraud, the Mississippi Center of Justice suggests looking up the title of a used car you might buy on the National Insurance Crime Bureau website. It doesn’t happen often, but sellers will occasionally try to mislead or outright deceive. They might try to pass off a salvage title as a clean title, for example.

Good title research will help you check for:

n Mississippi, you have to finish the process of transferring the title at the Mississippi Department of Revenue (DOR). They will require you to complete the following:

If you want a more in-depth exploration, take a look at our Mississippi title transfer guide.

The title fees in the state of Mississippi are $35. You will also have to pay:

Used car sales tax in Mississippi is based on the type of car, its value, and where the owner lives. Contact the county tax collector’s office if you need assistance computing these taxes.

 

Different states will have different rules regarding what happens to license plates when a used car is sold. Some states allow the plates to remain with the car and be transferred to the buyer. Mississippi, unfortunately, is not one of those states.

When you buy a used vehicle in Mississippi from a private owner, Mississippi law requires the seller to take off the license plates.

When you register the car in your name with the tax collector’s office, you’ll need to apply for new license plates. Standard Mississippi license plates cost $10.

To register your vehicle, you will need to send in the following registration paperwork and payments:

Registration fees for a Mississippi resident include the following:
1. Passenger vehicle registration: $14
2. Mississippi Road and Bridge Privilege Tax: $15