Washington Vehicle Bill of Sale

The state of Washington requires a document that proves the transaction of a vehicle has taken place and includes relevant information on the parties involved and on the car sold.

That document is the Washington vehicle bill of sale and is an essential part of the purchase and the registration of any vehicle. It’s not mandatory to notarize the WA state vehicle bill of sale.

Still, some people choose to do it nevertheless, to have one extra safety measure and make the document legal and official, or to avoid fraud attempts.

How to Register a Vehicle in Washington?

Once you buy a vehicle in Washington, the state requires that you register it within 15 days from the purchase. An exception is if the buyer is a new resident; in that case, you have 90 days to register the car in Washington, provided that it’s registered in your state of origin.

It’s the buyer’s responsibility to put together all the paperwork and take it to the local DOL office. Here is the list of documents you need to register a vehicle in Washington:

• The title that has been signed over to you.
• The Washington vehicle bill of sale.
• If necessary, an Odometer statement.
• An emissions certificate.
• The Vehicle Certificate of Ownership (Title) Application (form 420-001).
• If you cannot give a title because there is a lien on your vehicle, you will need the lien holder to send a copy of the title, front, and backside.
• You will also have to pay the titling fee and the registration fee.

What Is Included in a Washington Vehicle Bill of Sale?

A car bill of sale WA follows the same rules as most documents that prove the transfer of ownership of a vehicle from one party to another. It’s not a complicated document, but it’s still preferable to create the vehicle bill of sale WA starting from a template.

These are the items the form must include:

• Detailed information of the vehicle: make, model, year, license plate or registration number, hull identification number (HIN) or vehicle identification number (VIN).
• The date of the transaction.
• The price.
• Identifying information of the seller: name and physical address.
• Identifying information of the buyer: name and physical address.
• You must mention if the buyer is a close family member of the seller.
• Names and signatures of all parties involved.

How to Sell a Car in Washington?

If you want to sell a car in Washington state, just like in any other state, it’s preferable to do it without intermediaries; that way, you won’t have to share the price with anyone.

And as long as you get all the essential information and the rules applied in Washington, you should have no problem completing the transaction.

Before you start looking for a buyer, the first thing you need to do is make sure the car is in good condition, so have it go through an inspection. The buyer is probably going to request one anyway, and you don’t have any unwanted surprises.

Also, make sure the vehicle is spotless to make a great first impression. The next step is to get your paperwork in order. These are the documents you need to prepare to sell a vehicle in Washington:

• The title of the vehicle, or the ‘pink slip’; the title has to be signed and dated.
• A Washington vehicle bill of sale, the form number TD-420-065.
• The odometer disclosure statement, if the vehicle is not older than nine years.
• The emissions certificate is required if the car hasn’t been tested during the last two years.
• A notification statement.
• You must remove the license plates. They must never go to the buyer, under no circumstance. If you don’t remove the plates, you risk facing impound costs, traffic citations, and other costs triggered by someone else driving the car with your license plates on.

Once the sale is finalized, you have five days to report it to the DOL. You must fill in all the formal papers with the utmost care because if you make any mistake, you will end up doing more paperwork to clear things out.

The title is particularly important, so you must keep it in a safe place. If for whatever reason, the title is damaged or lost, you have to file for a duplicate.

Conclusion

Finding the right buyer is the most crucial part of selling your car because it means you get the price you ask for. But once that step is over, you must make sure you have all the documents in order, so that you can complete the sale.

If you’re selling the car in Washington, among those documents, you will need to issue a Washington vehicle bill of sale. Since it’s a crucial document, you must make sure it’s well written and accurate.

And the best way to do that is to draft it with a template from CocoSign creating efficient and user-friendly templates for all the documents you may need.