What a bill of sale must contain
Every line on this list exists because somebody once had an argument that the line would have prevented. That is the only reason any of them are there, and it is the most useful way to read a checklist — backward, from the dispute to the sentence.
One thing first. Whether a bill of sale is required for your particular transaction, and what the Motor Vehicle Commission will accept at the counter, is a question for the MVC and the answer has changed over the years. What follows is not a statutory form. It is a list of what a bill of sale needs to contain in order to do the job people actually need it to do: settle, in writing, who sold what to whom, for how much, in what condition, and at what moment.
Write it by hand on a legal pad if you like. Content is what matters.
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Date — and the time of day
Write: the calendar date and the clock time the keys changed hands.
Why this line exists Because responsibility for a car moves at a moment, not on a day. A toll, a parking ticket, a camera citation or a collision that happens between noon and six o'clock belongs to whoever held the car at that hour. The date alone leaves a window. The time closes it. -
Full legal names and addresses, both sides
Write: names exactly as they appear on the title and on identification — no nicknames, no initials.
Why this line exists A document identifies people. "Mike from Toms River" does not. And if the printed name on the bill of sale does not match the printed name on the title, you have created your own problem before the MVC creates one for you. -
The VIN, in full
Write: all seventeen characters, copied from the car and checked against the title.
Why this line exists A year, make and model describes a category. The VIN describes one object in the world. Everything downstream — registration, insurance, a future dispute — keys off this string, and a single transposed character makes the document refer to a car that does not exist. -
Year, make, model, body style, color
Write: the description, even though you already wrote the VIN.
Why this line exists Redundancy is the point. When the description and the VIN disagree, someone made a copying error, and you would rather discover that at the table than at a counter. Two ways of saying the same thing is the cheapest error-checking there is. -
Odometer reading at the moment of sale
Write: the figure as the dash shows it, matching the disclosure on the title.
Why this line exists Because two independent documents that agree are enormously more useful later than one document that asserts. If they ever disagree, you want to be the person who wrote both of them down on the day. More on the disclosure itself in the odometer statement. -
The purchase price — in numerals and in words
Write: the figure, then the same figure spelled out.
Why this line exists The words are an anti-tampering device borrowed from checks: a numeral can be altered with a pen stroke and a spelled-out amount cannot. The price also drives the tax you will pay at titling, so the number needs to be the real one — for both of you. -
How it was paid, and an acknowledgment that it was
Write: the payment method, and the words "payment received in full."
Why this line exists A bill of sale proves an agreement. That sentence proves performance. They are different things, and the second one is what you want if a seller later remembers the arrangement differently. -
Condition terms — as-is, or the exact promise
Write: either "sold as-is, where-is, with no warranty," or the specific promise in the seller's own words — what, by when, at whose cost.
Why this line exists This is the single most contested line in any used car sale. A verbal assurance that the seller will "take care of the transmission" is worth the paper it is not written on. And a seller who will say it but will not write it has told you what the promise is worth. See as-is in New Jersey. -
A statement about title and liens
Write: that the seller holds clear title and that any loan against the vehicle is satisfied or will be satisfied from the proceeds.
Why this line exists Because an unreleased lien is the most common way a private sale collapses after the money has moved, and it very often happens with a seller who honestly believed the loan was closed. How that unwinds is a subject of its own. -
Everything included with the car
Write: second key, wheel lock key, cargo cover, roof crossbars, winter tires, owner's manual, service records.
Why this line exists Items that were sitting in a garage during the test drive have a way of staying in that garage. None of this is malice, usually. It is a list nobody made. -
Signatures of every titled owner
Write: signature, printed name and date for each person named on the title.
Why this line exists Because when two owners are joined by "and" on the title, one signature is generally not enough — and because the person who checks that is currently you. Read the joining word before the day of the sale, not during it. -
Two copies, both signed
Write: the whole thing twice, or sign a photocopy.
Why this line exists A document only one party holds is a document the other party can dispute the contents of. Photograph both before you leave, as well. The photograph has a timestamp, and the timestamp has been useful more than once.
What a bill of sale is not
It is not proof of ownership
The title is. A bill of sale records a transaction; the state's record records ownership. A seller offering a bill of sale instead of a title is offering you a receipt for a car you cannot register.
It does not override the title
If the two documents disagree on mileage, names or the vehicle itself, the disagreement is a problem to be solved before money moves — not a conflict your bill of sale wins.
It does not, by itself, create a warranty
But a specific written promise inside it is a term of your agreement, and that is exactly why sellers are reluctant to write specific promises.
At a dealership, this job is done by other paper
A retail sale replaces the handwritten bill of sale with a buyer's order and, if there is financing, a retail installment contract. Those documents carry obligations a private seller does not have — among them the federal Truth in Lending disclosures, which require the annual percentage rate, the finance charge, the amount financed and the total of payments to be stated. Find those four figures on the page before you sign it. Every one of them is a fact about your deal, and the last one is frequently the first time a buyer sees what the arrangement really costs.
General information, not legal advice. This is a practical checklist, not a legal form and not a statement of what New Jersey requires in your transaction. Requirements, accepted documents and procedures are set by the State and change. Confirm with the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission or the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, and consult an attorney licensed in New Jersey if a dispute is already under way.
Why we bother writing this down
Because every argument we have ever watched between two people over a used car was, underneath, an argument about a sentence nobody wrote. Six cars at a time means we cannot afford one of those, so we write everything: the out-the door number, what the inspection found, what we chose not to fix. If you are buying from a neighbor instead, do the same. It takes ten minutes and it is the only part of the transaction that is entirely within your control.
Written for New Jersey buyers in September 2026. No statutory requirement, fee or deadline is quoted here on purpose. Verify current requirements with the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission.