The best place to get a car bill of sale is your state’s motor vehicle agency website, where the official form is free to download and built to match exactly what your local title office will accept. Depending on the state, that agency might be called the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Revenue, or something else. A search for your state’s agency plus “bill of sale” will land you on the page.
Using the official version matters because some states accept only their own numbered template. Others are flexible and will process any document that carries the required information. If you live in a state in the first group and arrive at the counter with a generic printout, the clerk sends you home. Starting at the official source avoids that trip.
When a Third-Party Template Makes Sense
If your state doesn’t publish its own form, or the deal has terms a bare government form doesn’t cover, automobile clubs and legal document websites offer bill of sale templates drafted for common private-sale scenarios. These help when the sale involves a payment plan, a trade-in credit, or specific warranty disclaimers.
No third-party template is guaranteed to satisfy your local title office, though. Check whether your state requires its own form before you rely on one. If it does, the private template can still work as a supplemental contract between you and the other party, but you’ll need the official document for the title transfer itself.
Does Your State Even Require One?
Roughly 20 states don’t require a separate bill of sale for a private vehicle transfer. In those jurisdictions, the signed title assignment on the back of the existing certificate of title is the only document the motor vehicle office needs. The seller signs over the title, the buyer brings it in, and that’s enough.
Write one anyway. Even where it isn’t legally required, a bill of sale creates a dated record of who sold what to whom, at what price, and in what condition. If a dispute surfaces later about whether the sale happened or what the buyer agreed to, that piece of paper is your evidence. It also helps the seller prove they no longer owned the vehicle if it turns up in an accident or racks up parking tickets after the sale date.
What a Complete Bill of Sale Includes
Whether you use an official form or draft your own, a complete car bill of sale carries:
- Vehicle identification: year, make, model, body type, and the 17-character Vehicle Identification Number.
- Full legal names and current addresses for both the seller and buyer, matching their government-issued identification.
- The exact purchase price, the date of the transaction, and the method of payment.
- The current odometer reading at the time of transfer.
- Signatures and dates from both parties.
Fill in every blank. A county clerk who sees empty fields may reject the document, and tracking down the other party weeks after the deal to complete it is a problem you don’t want.
Federal Odometer Disclosure
Federal law requires the seller to provide a written odometer disclosure whenever ownership of a motor vehicle changes hands. The transferor must disclose the cumulative mileage on the odometer, or state that the actual mileage is unknown if the reading doesn’t reflect the true distance traveled.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 USC 32705 – Disclosure Requirements on Transfer of Motor Vehicles The implementing regulation requires the odometer reading at the time of transfer, the date, the printed names and current addresses of both parties, and the vehicle’s make, model, year, body type, and VIN.2eCFR. 49 CFR Part 580 – Odometer Disclosure Requirements
Many state bill of sale forms build the odometer disclosure into the document, so the federal requirement and the state paperwork are satisfied in a single step. If your state’s form doesn’t include an odometer section, complete the disclosure on the title itself or on the separate form the state provides.
Not every vehicle needs an odometer disclosure. The federal regulation exempts vehicles that are not self-propelled, vehicles with a gross weight rating over 16,000 pounds, and vehicles above a certain age. For model year 2010 and earlier, the exemption applies 10 years after January 1 of the vehicle’s model year. For model year 2011 and later, the threshold is 20 years.3GovInfo. 49 CFR 580.17 – Exemptions So a 2006 model year car sold in 2026 needs no odometer disclosure; a 2015 model year car won’t be exempt until 2035.
Notarization and Witnesses
A handful of states require the bill of sale or the title assignment to be notarized before the motor vehicle office will process the transfer. Both the buyer and seller sign in front of a notary public, who applies a seal confirming the signatures are genuine. Where notarization is required, skipping it means the title office will reject the paperwork.
Notary fees for a simple signature acknowledgment are low. Most states cap the fee between $2 and $25 per signature, and banks, shipping stores, and courthouse offices often provide the service. A few states also require one or more witnesses who are not involved in the transaction to sign. Your state’s motor vehicle agency website will tell you whether notarization or witnesses apply.
Watch-Outs Before You Sign
Outstanding Liens
If the seller still owes money on the vehicle, the lender holds a lien on the title and typically possesses or controls it. A car can still be sold with an outstanding lien, but the lien has to be paid off and released before a clean title can be issued to the buyer. The safest approach is to complete the payoff at the lender’s office or through an escrow arrangement so the buyer can verify the lien is cleared before handing over the full purchase price. The bill of sale should note the lien and describe how the payoff is being handled. A buyer who skips this risks paying for a car they can’t legally register, because the motor vehicle office won’t transfer a title that still shows an active lien.
As-Is Language
Most private vehicle sales happen on an as-is basis, meaning the buyer accepts the car in its current condition with no warranty from the seller. If that’s the deal, the bill of sale should say so plainly. Some state forms include an as-is checkbox or statement; if yours doesn’t, a sentence like “Vehicle is sold as-is with no warranties expressed or implied” accomplishes the same thing. An as-is clause does not protect a seller who concealed a known defect or lied about the vehicle’s condition. Fraud overrides contract language everywhere.
Don’t Underreport the Price
Writing a lower number on the bill of sale to shrink the buyer’s sales tax bill is tax fraud, and tax agencies know what to look for. Many states compare the reported price against the vehicle’s fair market value or book value, and if the number looks suspiciously low, the state can assess tax based on book value anyway. Consequences range from back taxes and interest to fines. In some states the bill of sale includes a certification under penalty of perjury that the stated price is accurate, which turns a false number into a criminal matter. The tax savings is never worth the exposure.
After Both Parties Sign
Make at least two copies of the signed bill of sale so the buyer and seller each keep one. The buyer takes the bill of sale, the signed title, and any other required paperwork to the local motor vehicle office to apply for a new title and registration, and should expect title transfer and registration fees at that visit. Rules for what happens to the license plates vary by state: some require the seller to remove and surrender or transfer them, while others let the plates stay with the vehicle. Check before the sale.
Many states also allow or encourage the seller to file a notice of transfer or release of liability with the motor vehicle agency after the sale. This step formally tells the state you no longer own the vehicle and protects you from liability for parking tickets, toll violations, or accidents that happen after the sale date, especially if the buyer delays the title transfer. Where available, the filing can usually be completed online in a few minutes. Sellers who skip it sometimes end up answering for someone else’s red-light camera ticket months later.
Keep your copy of the bill of sale indefinitely. It’s your proof of when you sold the vehicle, what price you received, and who bought it, and it’s the first thing you’ll reach for if any tax, insurance, or liability question comes up later.