The short answer, and why the question is usually the wrong one
In the large majority of states, no. A private motorcycle sale is a contract between two adults, and a bill of sale is valid when both of them have signed it. No notary, no witnesses, no filing fee.
But the question hides a second one that matters far more, and it is the reason the answers you find are contradictory. The few states with a notary requirement do not aim it at the bill of sale. They aim it at the title assignment. The signature that has to be witnessed is the seller’s signature on the back of the certificate of title, because that is the signature that actually moves ownership. A separate contract between buyer and seller is not what the state is protecting itself against.
So if you are about to pay a notary because a template site told you your state requires a notarized bill of sale, the risk is that you notarize the wrong document and still hand over a title the state will reject.
What a notary actually does
Worth being precise about, because “get it notarized” is treated as a spell that makes paperwork official, and it is nothing of the sort.
A notary performs a specific act — an acknowledgment or a jurat — and what that act certifies is who signed. The notary checks the signer’s identity against an acceptable identity document, confirms the person is physically in front of them, and records the act. California’s rules on this are explicit that the party has to be physically present: a video call does not satisfy the requirement.
What the notary does not do is read the deal and bless it. Notarization does not make a bad price fair, does not turn a stolen motorcycle into a legitimately owned one, and does not create ownership where there is no title. It is identity verification with a stamp, and its whole value is that it makes “that was not my signature” a much harder claim to make later.
Which is exactly why states that use it, use it on the title.
Louisiana, the state every list names
Search this question and you will be told, over and over, that Louisiana requires a notarized bill of sale. Louisiana’s own Office of Motor Vehicles publishes what it requires, in Policy 2.00, Basic Requirements for Obtaining a Certificate of Title, and it says something different:
“The Certificate of Title must be signed by the seller in the presence of a notary or in the presence of two (2) witnesses, if the sale is between private entities.”
The requirement is on the certificate of title. And a notary is not the only way to satisfy it — two witnesses will do, as long as the acknowledgement-of-witness section printed on the title is completed. If someone other than one of those two witnesses fills in that section, the same policy says the file will not be accepted.
Then, on the bill of sale itself:
“A separate bill of sale is not required for private sales, if the sales price is included as part of the title assignment to the purchaser.”
In the state held up as the strictest, a bill of sale is optional. What the state wants is a verified seller signature and a price, and it will take the price from the title. Everything else the internet says about Louisiana bills of sale is describing a document Louisiana treats as supporting evidence.
There is one more line in the same policy worth knowing if you are being given a motorcycle rather than buying one: a transfer by act of donation “must be signed in the presence of two witnesses and a notary or it will not be accepted.” Gifts are held to a stricter standard than sales, which is the opposite of what most people assume.
How to check your own state in one minute
Forget the lists. There is a method that works in all fifty states and does not require trusting anybody’s table, including this one.
Turn the certificate of title over and read the assignment section. That is the block where the seller signs and the buyer’s details go. If your state requires a notary, there will be a notary block printed on the form — a space for the notary’s signature, commission number, expiry and seal, usually labelled “subscribed and sworn before me” or “state of ___, county of ___”. States that do not require one do not print the block, because the form is designed around the state’s own procedure.
The same trick answers three other questions at the same time:
- Whether an odometer block exists. If the title has one, that is where the federal odometer disclosure goes and the bill of sale does not need to carry it. If it does not, the bill of sale is where it belongs.
- Whether the state wants the price. A “sale price” field on the assignment usually means a separate bill of sale is not going to be demanded.
- Whether witnesses are an alternative. An acknowledgement-of-witness section, like Louisiana’s, means you have a second route if you cannot get to a notary.
Read that block before you agree to meet, not at the meeting. If it wants a notary, the sensible move is to arrange the handover at a bank branch that offers notary services to customers, or at a shipping and print shop that has one, and to do the money, the title and the bill of sale in one sitting. Both of you have to be there.
Four states, four different answers
Taken from the states’ own published requirements, and they show how little a general rule is worth here:
| State | Notary on the bill of sale? | What the state actually asks for |
|---|---|---|
| Louisiana | No — and no bill of sale needed if the price is on the title | Seller signs the title before a notary or two witnesses. Donations need witnesses and a notary |
| Texas | No | Signed title plus Form 130-U. The buyer has 30 days from the date of sale to title the machine. The DMV advises the seller to keep written records regardless |
| California | No | Signed California Certificate of Title. Ownership change reported within 10 days; the seller files a Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability within 5 days. Form REG 135 exists but is not required in an ordinary private sale |
| Nebraska | No, but a bill of sale is required | A bill of sale or Department of Revenue Form 6. The buyer’s name, address and signature must be on the title at the time of purchase — an open title “is a violation of the law and will be confiscated” |
Nebraska is the useful counter-example. It has no notary requirement at all, and yet it is stricter than Louisiana about the bill of sale, because it wants one in every private sale. “Does it need a notary” and “does it need a bill of sale” are two separate questions and the answers do not travel together.
When it is worth doing anyway
Nobody is going to make you, but there are four situations where twenty minutes and a small fee buy something real:
- The seller is not the name on the title. This is the big one. If the person selling is not the registered owner — a relative, a dealer’s employee, someone handling an estate — a notarized signature ties the transaction to an identified human being. If the title turns out to be problematic later, “I bought it from a man in a car park” is a bad position and a notarized document is a much better one.
- The price is unusually low. Selling a motorcycle to a friend for a fraction of its value is legal, and it also looks exactly like tax avoidance to a revenue office. A notarized bill of sale with an honest price and a stated reason is cheap insurance against being reassessed at book value.
- The sale crosses a state line. The buyer will title it under their own state’s rules, not the seller’s. If either state notarizes, notarize.
- The machine is being handed over before the money clears. Any gap between possession and payment is worth documenting properly.
Against those, the honest downside: it costs a few dollars, it means both of you standing in the same room at the same time, and it protects the identity of the signature rather than the substance of the deal. It is not a substitute for checking what you are buying. Run the number through the motorcycle VIN decoder, confirm the frame stamping matches the paperwork using where the VIN is on a motorcycle, and check it is not reported stolen — how to check if a motorcycle is stolen is free and takes a minute.
You already signed without one. Now what?
Usually nothing, because usually it was never required. If it turns out your state does want the title notarized and it was not:
- Do not alter the title. Crossing out, writing over or correcting an assignment is how a transferable title becomes a rejected one. Most states then need an affidavit of correction, notarized, signed by both parties — which is more work than the original notary would have been.
- Go back to the seller while you still can. A notary can witness the signature later, but the seller has to be there in person. The value of a phone number that still works drops fast after the sale.
- Ask the state office before you queue. Some accept a supporting document; some have a specific form for exactly this. It is a five-minute call against a wasted trip.
- If the title itself is missing rather than mis-signed, that is a different problem with its own procedure — see lost motorcycle title.
The whole document, field by field, including the federal odometer rule that catches out every template written before 2021, is in motorcycle bill of sale. What happens after both of you have signed is in motorcycle title transfer. And if you are the one selling, how to sell a motorcycle covers where to list it and what each route costs, while what a motorcycle is worth covers the number you should be writing on the form in the first place.
Frequently asked questions
Does a motorcycle bill of sale need to be notarized?
In most states, no. Where a notary is required, the requirement almost always falls on the certificate of title rather than on the bill of sale. Louisiana, the state cited most often, requires the seller to sign the title before a notary or two witnesses, and says a separate bill of sale is not required at all if the sale price appears in the title assignment.
Which states require a notarized bill of sale for a vehicle?
Fewer than the lists suggest, and the lists tend to conflate two different documents. Rather than trusting a table, look at the back of the certificate of title: if your state requires a notary, a notary block is printed on the assignment section of the form itself. That test is accurate for whatever state issued the title in your hands.
Is an unnotarized bill of sale still valid?
Yes. A bill of sale is a contract, and it is binding once both parties have signed. Notarization adds proof of who signed it; it does not create the agreement and is not what makes it enforceable.
What does a notary verify on a bill of sale?
The identity of the person signing, in person. The notary checks an acceptable identity document, confirms the signer is physically present, and records the act. The notary does not check the price, the condition of the motorcycle or whether the seller actually owns it.
Can a bill of sale be notarized after it was signed?
The signer normally has to appear before the notary, so in practice it means going back with the seller and signing again in front of one. Do not add a notary block to a document that has already been signed and separated — ask the state office what it will accept before altering anything.
Do both buyer and seller have to be present for the notary?
Whoever’s signature is being notarized has to be present. On a title assignment that is usually the seller, since it is the seller’s signature that transfers ownership. If both signatures are being notarized, both of you need to be there at the same time.