Selling vehicles, equipment, boats and aircraft at auction in Tennessee

Every one of these sales starts with two questions. First, who has the authority to sell? That is the owner on the title or registration, or someone with legal authority for them, such as an executor, a company officer, a bankruptcy trustee or a lienholder enforcing a lien. Second, is anything owed against it? A loan, a UCC filing or a lien has to be paid off or released at the sale, usually from the proceeds.

Selling for an estate? See selling estate property for how vehicles titled to someone who died are transferred. For a closing business, see liquidating a closing business.

Titled vehicles transfer by assigning the title from the seller to the buyer. The buyer then titles and registers the vehicle at the county clerk, which is also where Tennessee collects sales tax on a used vehicle bought from someone who is not a dealer.[1]

Equipment buyers are often contractors, farmers and dealers who buy nationally and bid online, so the right auction can reach far past your county. The key paperwork question for equipment is liens.

Keep serial numbers, hour meter readings, service records and a short note on any known problems. Honest condition information draws more bidders, not fewer, because buyers who trust the description bid closer to their real number.

Boats are not titled in Tennessee. Motorized boats are registered through the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.[4]

Boats also come with trailers that have their own paperwork, engines with their own serial numbers, and sometimes a marina storage bill. If a marina is owed money, that has to be settled before the boat can move; see our lien sales guide.

Aircraft ownership is recorded federally, with the FAA Aircraft Registry. To register an aircraft, the buyer files an Aircraft Registration Application (AC Form 8050-1) with evidence of ownership and the registration fee.[5] The usual evidence of ownership is the FAA's Aircraft Bill of Sale, AC Form 8050-2.[6]

Logbooks drive aircraft value. Keep the airframe, engine and propeller logs together and with the aircraft. A plane with complete logs and a recent annual inspection reaches a much wider group of buyers than one with gaps.

Tennessee exempts many one-time sales by people who are not in the business of selling, but that exemption does not cover vehicles, boats or aircraft that must be registered.[12] In practice, the buyer pays the tax when they title or register the vehicle or boat at the county clerk.[1] Business equipment can raise its own sales tax questions, so a closing business should ask its CPA.

A dump truck, a pontoon boat and a vintage Cessna each have their own buyers, and those buyers follow different auction houses. The best-run general auction in your county may not be where the serious bidders for your asset are looking. FALCO matches each asset to the licensed Tennessee firm whose buyers want it, and the firm handles the listing, the bidding and the paperwork at the end.