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Do I need a bill of sale to sell my car?
Sometimes your state requires one. More often it does not — and you still want one. Here is the difference, and what the document usually has on it.
The title transfers it. The bill of sale proves what happened.
What it is
A bill of salewe have this one is the receipt for the vehicle.
Who sold it. Who bought it. Which vehicle. For how much. On what date.
Both people sign it and each keeps a copy.
It is not the title. The title is what transfers ownership.
The bill of sale is the evidence of the deal behind that transfer. Two different jobs, and a sale normally involves both.
Do I still need one if I have the title?
In most states, no. The signed title is what transfers the car.
Some states ask for one anyway. Usually it is so the buyer can register the car, to prove the price for tax, or because the title has no space for the price.
Your state page says which applies to you.
Wondering about a notary? Usually not — here is every state.
Can the buyer register it with just a bill of sale?
Not usually. When the car has a title, the buyer registers it with the signed title.
A bill of sale on its own is for the cases where there is no title — a vehicle too old to be titled, or one exempt from titling — and only in the states that allow it.
In Mississippi, the sale cannot go ahead on a missing title at all. A replacement title has to be issued first, and the bill of sale is not required.
In Oklahoma, the notarized title transfers the car, but the buyer also needs proof of the price to title it: a bill of sale, a purchase contract or Form 722-1.
And the other way round: where your state does not require a bill of sale, the buyer can register the car without one.
When your state requires one
This varies by state, and it is worth checking before you meet a buyer.
Some states require one for every private sale.
Some require one only in certain cases — an older vehicle, a vehicle with no title, or a title with nowhere to write the price.
Some do not require one at all.
A few states want the signatures notarized, which means finding a notary before the two of you part company. Which ones, and when.
Why sellers use one anyway
Between handing over the keys and the buyer registering it, the record still points at you.
A bill of sale is what closes that gap:
- It fixes the date and time the vehicle stopped being yours.
- It records the odometer reading you both agreed on.
- It records that the vehicle was sold as-is, if that is what you agreed.
- It gives you something to show if a ticket or a toll arrives afterwards.
What one usually has on it
- Seller’s name and address · buyer’s name and address
- Year, make, model and VIN
- Odometer reading on the day of sale
- Sale price, and how it was paid
- Date of sale
- Signatures from both — and a notary block where the state wants one
Can you sell a car without one?
Usually, yes. Where your state does not require one, the sale works without it, and skipping it usually changes nothing.
The risk is not that the sale fails. It is that you have no record of when it happened.
If the buyer does not register it promptly and something occurs while it still shows in your name, the bill of sale is what establishes you were not the owner.
Several states also have a separate step — a notice of transfer or release of liability filed with the motor vehicle agency. That is what actually takes the vehicle off your record.
A bill of sale does not replace that filing where your state has one.
A blank one, free
Ours prints on one page, has the as-is line and the odometer line on it, and leaves room to write. Free, no account.
What this page is
A plain description of how this generally works in private vehicle sales in the United States. Rules differ by state and change. It is not advice about your sale — for that, your state's motor vehicle agency is the authority, and their current page is what governs.