Document
Vehicle bill of sale
A free bill of sale for selling a car privately, in any state. Fill it in below and download a PDF to print and sign, or download a blank one to fill in by hand at the car. It is made in your browser, and nothing you type is sent anywhere.
The form
The bill of sale form.
Anything you leave empty prints as a line to write on. The state you choose goes at the top of the page.
What it is for
What a bill of sale records.
The written record of the sale itself: who sold which car to whom, for how much, on which day, and in what condition.
The title proves who owns the car, and signing it over is what moves ownership from you to the buyer. What the title does not hold is the deal the two of you made. A bill of sale does. It names the car by its VIN, states the price and the date, records the mileage at the moment of sale, and carries both signatures.
That matters most after the car has gone. If a parking ticket, a toll or something worse arrives for a car you no longer own, the bill of sale is how you show the day it stopped being yours. If the buyer later remembers a different price or a promise you did not make, it is the page you both signed. And when the buyer goes to register the car, their agency may ask to see it.
It protects the buyer as much as it protects you. They get a record of what they paid and what they were told, signed by the person who sold them the car, which is worth having the first time anybody asks where it came from.
What goes on it
The parts of the form.
Seven things, in the order they appear on the page. Each one is there because leaving it out is how a disagreement starts.
The vehicle
Year, make, model, body style and color say what the car is; the VIN says which car it is. Copy the VIN from the title rather than from memory, then check it against the plate at the base of the windshield or on the driver’s door jamb. The form checks the VIN’s own check digit and warns you if it does not add up, because a title and a bill of sale that disagree by one character describe two different cars.
The price and the date
The price you actually agreed, in dollars, and the day the car changes hands. Write the real figure. A lower one to save the buyer some tax is a false statement on a document you are both signing, and it is the figure you would have to stand behind later.
Both of you
Full names and addresses for the seller and the buyer, written the way they appear on a driver’s license. A phone number is optional, and it is useful the week after the sale, when a toll notice or a question arrives.
The odometer reading
The mileage on the day, and what the seller states about it: that it is the actual mileage, that it has gone past what the odometer can show, or that it is not the actual mileage. Read it at the car with the buyer beside you, not from your listing.
Anything still owed
The form states that the car is free of any lien or claim except what you write here. If there is a loan on the car, say so, and say how it is being paid off. How that payoff works inside a private sale is in selling a car you still owe money on.
The condition
An as-is line says the buyer accepts the car as it is, with no warranty from you. It is ticked by default. Untick it only if you have agreed something different, and then put what you agreed in writing as well.
The signatures
Seller and buyer, each with a printed name and a date, on both copies. If your state wants the signatures notarized, tick the notary option and sign in front of the notary, not before.
Your state
What your state may add.
The form is the same everywhere. What a state asks of it is not, and that part is decided where the title was issued.
Some states require a bill of sale to title or register the car, some publish their own form and prefer it, some want the signatures notarized, and some do not ask for one at all. The state you choose at the top is printed on the document, which is the only thing this form does differently from one state to the next.
Before the day, look up your state’s motor vehicle agency. USA.gov lists the agency for every state. On its site, look for the bill of sale and for the notice of sale or transfer, which is a separate form that tells the state the car is no longer yours. If your state has its own bill of sale, use it; there is no harm in keeping this one as well.
This page does not yet list the states’ rules one by one, because each has to be read on the state’s own site before it is written here. Until yours is, your agency’s page is the one to trust.
The odometer
The odometer statement.
Federal law makes the mileage part of the transfer of ownership, and it belongs on the title first.
Under the federal rule, as NHTSA summarizes it, the seller gives the buyer a written statement of the mileage on the title when ownership changes, and says so there if the reading is not correct. A car is exempt if it is a model year 2010 or older, or at least 20 years old.
So the reading goes in two places. Fill in the odometer section of the title if it has one, exactly as the title asks, and put the same reading on the bill of sale. The two should match to the mile, and a careful buyer will check that they do.
The form offers three statements about the reading: that it is the actual mileage, that the mileage is beyond what the odometer can display, or that the reading is not the actual mileage. Choose the last one if you know the odometer was replaced, rolled over or broken for a while. Saying so is the honest answer and the one the law asks for.
Sold as is
What as is covers.
It records that the buyer takes the car as it stands, with no promise from you about what happens next.
Why a private sale is different
Dealers who sell more than five used cars in twelve months have to follow the FTC’s Used Car Rule and post a Buyers Guide on the car that says whether it is sold as is or with a warranty. The rule covers every state but Maine and Wisconsin, whose own rules require the same kind of notice. Selling your own car is not that. There is no sticker and no form from anybody, and the terms are whatever the two of you write down, which is what this line is for.
What it does not change
Whether an as-is sale limits what a buyer can claim later is a question for your state’s law, not for this form, and the answer differs from state to state. What stays the same is the listing: what you wrote and said about the car is still yours. Describe it honestly and in writing, as how to write a car listing explains, and the as-is line has much less to do.
On the day
Signing it, step by step.
Six steps, done at the car with the buyer beside you, in this order.
- Step 1
Fill it in before you meet
Type everything you already know into the form and print two copies, or print two blank ones and fill them in together at the car.
- Step 2
Check the VIN against the car
Compare the VIN on the form, on the title and on the car itself, character by character, before anybody signs.
- Step 3
Read the odometer together
Write the reading in the title's odometer section, if it has one, and on both copies of the bill of sale, with the buyer beside you.
- Step 4
Take the payment
Only once the money has cleared, in the way you agreed beforehand.
- Step 5
Sign the title and both copies
Both of you sign both copies and each keeps one. Sign the title over exactly as your state's title instructs.
- Step 6
Tell your state, then your insurer
File your state's notice of sale or transfer if it has one, and cancel the insurance only after the car has gone.
Which payment methods clear and which can be reversed after you have handed over the keys is worth reading before the day, and it is covered in full in selling a car safely.
Read next
The rest of the paperwork.
The bill of sale is one of the documents a private sale runs on. These are the others, and the sale around them.
Every document, and the order they are signed in: the paperwork for a private car sale. The whole process: how to sell a car privately.
The paperwork for a private car sale
The documents a private car sale runs on: the title, a bill of sale, the odometer reading and your state's notice of sale. What each one does, and the order they are signed in.
Selling a car safely
How to sell a car privately without being scammed: which payment methods clear and which do not, where to meet, how to run a test drive, and how to hand over the title.
Selling a car you still owe money on
The lender holds the title, so the payoff has to happen inside the sale rather than after it. How that works, what to ask for in writing, and the safest place to do it.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a bill of sale to sell a car privately?
It depends on your state. Some require one to title or register the car, some publish their own form, and some do not ask for one at all. Write one anyway: it is the only document that records the price, the date and the condition you both agreed to, and it costs nothing.
Does a bill of sale have to be notarized?
Only where your state requires it. If yours does, tick the notary option so the form leaves room, fill everything in beforehand, and sign in front of the notary rather than at home: a notary witnesses the signature, so the signing has to happen there.
Is a bill of sale the same as the title?
No. The title is the state's record of who owns the car, and signing it over is what transfers ownership. The bill of sale is the record of the sale itself: the price, the date, the condition and who the two of you are. You need the title either way; the bill of sale is what you keep afterwards.
What does sold as is mean on a bill of sale?
That the buyer accepts the car in the condition it is in, with no promise from you about repairs or future faults. How far that protects a seller is a question of your state's law, not of the form. It does not change what your listing and your messages said about the car, which is one more reason to describe it honestly in writing.
Is anything I type saved?
No. The form runs in your browser and the PDF is made on your device. We count that a bill of sale was made and which state was picked, so we know which states to write about next, and nothing else. Closing the page clears what you typed.
How many copies should we sign?
Two, one each, with both signatures on both. Print the PDF twice rather than photocopying a signed one, so each of you holds an original.
Find the buyer before you print anything.
One page for the car, with the photographs, the price and the facts from the VIN, and a link you send to whoever you want. 10 days free.