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Private car sale agreement
A free agreement for the part of a private sale before the car changes hands: the price, the deposit, the handover, an inspection and what you have told the buyer about the car. Fill it in and download a PDF to sign, or print a blank one. It is made in your browser, and nothing you type is sent anywhere.
The form
The sale agreement form.
Anything you leave empty prints as a line to write on. The balance is worked out from the price and the deposit.
What it is for
When a sale needs an agreement.
When the money and the car do not change hands in the same hour.
Most of a private sale happens in one afternoon: the buyer looks, pays, signs and drives away, and the signed title and a bill of sale record what happened. Some sales take longer. The buyer wants their mechanic to look first, or needs a week to arrange the money, or there is a loan on the car and the lender has to release the title. In between, there is a deal that exists only as a conversation.
The agreement is that conversation on paper. It names the car, the price and the deposit, says when and where the handover happens, records what you have told the buyer about the car, and says what happens if one of you does not go through with it. Both of you sign it, and each keeps a copy.
It does not replace the papers of the handover itself. On the day, the title is signed over, with the odometer reading in its section, as the odometer disclosure statement page explains, and a bill of sale records the sale that took place.
What goes in it
The terms in the agreement.
Eight parts, in the order they appear on the page. Each one answers a question that otherwise gets answered from memory.
The car
Year, make, model, color and VIN, and the odometer reading on the day you sign. The reading matters because the car is still being driven until the handover, and both of you should know what it said when you agreed.
The price and the deposit
The price you agreed, the deposit paid today and the balance due at the handover, which the form works out for you. Add how the balance will be paid, so the buyer does not arrive with the wrong kind of money.
If one of you pulls out
You choose whether the deposit goes back to the buyer or stays with you if the buyer does not go ahead. If you are the one who pulls out, the deposit goes back in full.
The handover
A date by which the handover happens, and a place. The car, the keys and the signed title change hands once the balance has been received, and until then you keep the car insured and as it is.
The inspection
A box to tick if the sale depends on the buyer’s mechanic looking at the car first, with the date it has to happen by. More on how that works further down.
What you have told the buyer
The faults you know about and have mentioned, written down. Also anything that comes with the car, such as a second key or the service records.
Anything still owed
A loan on the car, and how it is being paid off. If there is one, the agreement says so rather than stating that the car is free of any claim.
Both signatures
Seller and buyer, each with a printed name and a date, on both copies. There is no notary on this one, because it is a record between the two of you.
The deposit
Taking a deposit on a car.
A deposit holds the car for one buyer while they arrange the rest. What happens to it if the sale falls through belongs in writing before it is paid.
How much. Enough that the buyer is committed and small enough that returning it would not be a hardship for you. It counts toward the price, and the form shows the balance that is left.
How it is paid. In a way that has cleared before you stop showing the car to other people. The same rules apply as to the full price, and selling a car safely covers which methods to accept and which can be reversed.
If the buyer does not go ahead. The form asks you to choose: the deposit is returned, or you keep it. Say which out loud as well, before anything is signed, so the choice is not a surprise to anybody. Whether a kept deposit holds up in a dispute is a question for your state’s law, not for the form.
If you do not go ahead. The deposit goes back in full. That term is fixed on the form, because a deposit that the seller can keep after deciding not to sell is not a deposit a buyer should pay.
Sold as is
Selling as is, with the faults written down.
As is says the buyer takes the car as it stands. A written list of the faults you know about is what keeps that fair to both of you.
Dealers who sell more than five used cars in twelve months follow the FTC’s Used Car Rule and post a Buyers Guide saying whether a car is sold as is or with a warranty. Selling your own car is not that, and the agreement is where your terms are written instead. The FTC also tells dealers that state law decides whether and how an as-is sale works: some states ask for particular words or steps, and some limit it.
So the as-is line on this form is ticked by default and covers everything except what the agreement itself says. How far it reaches in your state is for your state’s law, and it does not take back anything you said about the car in your listing or in messages.
The list of faults is the part that does the work. Write down every fault you know about and have mentioned: a warning light, a leak, a noise, a repair that is due, damage that was fixed. A fault written down is part of the deal you both signed, and the price already reflects it. Neither of you has to remember later what was said at the car.
The inspection
Letting the buyer's mechanic look first.
The FTC advises used car buyers to have an independent mechanic inspect a car before buying it. The agreement can make the sale depend on that.
The FTC’s advice to used car buyers is to have a mechanic of their own choosing look at the car, to ask for a written report that names the car’s make, model and VIN, and to get every promise in writing, because spoken ones are hard to enforce. A private sale is the same car with fewer people involved, and the same advice holds.
When you tick the inspection term, the buyer chooses the mechanic, pays for it, and has it done before the date you set. If the mechanic finds a problem that is not on your list of faults, the buyer may cancel and the deposit is returned. A problem already on the list is not a reason to cancel under this term, because the buyer agreed to the price knowing about it.
Go with the car, or take it to the mechanic yourself. Handing the keys to a stranger for a day is a different risk from a test drive with you in the passenger seat, and the same caution applies as in the rest of the sale.
Your state
What the agreement leaves to your state.
The form is the same in every state. What a state makes of its terms, and what it asks of the title, is not.
What varies
How far an as-is sale reaches, whether a kept deposit holds up, whether the title or the bill of sale has to be notarized, what happens to the plates, and whether you file a notice that the car has been sold. None of that is written into this form, because each one is your state’s to decide.
Where to look
For the title, the plates and the notice of sale, your state’s motor vehicle agency. USA.gov lists the agency for every state. For questions about as-is sales and warranties, the FTC sends dealers to their state attorney general’s office, and that office is the one to ask.
From deal to handover
From the agreement to the handover, step by step.
Six steps, from the conversation at the car to the day it leaves.
- Step 1
Agree the terms
The price, the deposit, the handover date and place, and whether the sale depends on an inspection.
- Step 2
Write down what you know about the car
Every fault you have told the buyer about goes on the agreement, in plain words.
- Step 3
Sign two copies and take the deposit
Both of you sign both copies, and the deposit is paid in a way that clears.
- Step 4
Let the buyer's mechanic look
If the sale depends on an inspection, it happens before the date on the agreement, at the buyer's cost.
- Step 5
Clear the title
If there is a loan, arrange the payoff with the lender so the title can be signed over at the handover.
- Step 6
Hand over the car
Once the balance has cleared: the title signed over with the odometer reading on it, a bill of sale for each of you, and the keys.
A loan on the car changes the order of the last two steps, and selling a car you still owe money on explains how the payoff fits inside the sale.
Read next
The papers for the day of the handover.
The agreement covers the days before. These cover the day itself, and the sale around it.
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.
Vehicle bill of sale
A free bill of sale for a private car sale: fill it in and download a PDF to print and sign, or print a blank one. Made in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Odometer disclosure statement
How to disclose the mileage when you sell a car privately: what goes on the title, which cars are exempt, and a free statement to print and sign. Made in your browser.
How to negotiate when you sell a car privately
How to hold a price without being difficult: what to decide before anybody calls, how to answer the opening lowball, and the point where walking away is the right move.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a written agreement to sell my car privately?
Not for every sale. When the buyer pays and drives away the same day, the signed title and a bill of sale record what happened. An agreement is worth writing when there is time between the deal and the handover: a deposit, an inspection, a loan to pay off, or a buyer arranging the money.
Is a deposit on a car refundable?
It is what the two of you write down. The form asks what happens to the deposit if the buyer does not go ahead, and it is returned in full if the seller is the one who pulls out. Whether a kept deposit holds up in a dispute is a question for your state's law.
What does as is mean in a private car sale?
That the buyer takes the car in the condition it is in, with no promise from you beyond what the agreement says. How far an as-is sale reaches is decided by your state's law, and some states ask for particular words or steps. It does not take back anything you said about the car in your listing or in messages.
Can the buyer back out after signing?
On the terms of this form, the buyer can cancel when the sale depends on an inspection and the mechanic finds a problem that is not on your list, and then the deposit is returned. Otherwise the deposit goes the way you chose on the form. Anything beyond that is a question for your state's law.
Does a car sale agreement need to be notarized?
This agreement has no place for a notary, because it is between the two of you and nothing in it is filed with the state. Whether your state wants the title or the bill of sale notarized is a separate question, and your motor vehicle agency answers it.
Is anything I type here kept?
No. The form runs in your browser and the PDF is made on your device. We count that an agreement was made and which state was picked, and nothing that was typed into it.
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