If the car is free and clear (without a car note), it is probably better to transfer the car before death to remove it from your estate. Any assets left in your estate will be used for debt if you don't designate the order of the assets to be sold to satisfy your liabilities.  Moreover, even if you establish the order of sale to satsify your liabilities, if there are insufficient liabilities, the car canl still be sold to satisfy the debt.