Bill Of Sale
Quickly, easily and very affordably create
a customed legal bill of sale document

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Why should I put my vehicle sale deal in writing?
Answer: To help prevent a lawsuit against you. Most lawsuits for breach of an oral agreement result from a misunderstanding between the parties. A good written contract prevents such misunderstandings because the terms are in black and white. This is why dealers use contracts every time they sell a vehicle. Regardless of any good feelings of trust surrounding the transaction, people can forget the precise terms of their agreement or regret having purchased or sold the vehicle. Don't be one of the unfortunate people wishing you had followed the conventional wisdom to "put it in writing."

Question: I've never used a contract to sell a vehicle before. Why should I do it now?
Answer: Because now there's an easy, cheap and fast way to get an excellent contract that protects your rights! Before Bill-of-sale.com, the only way you could get a custom-tailored contract for the sale of a vehicle was to pay an attorney hundreds of dollars and wait for the attorney to get around to drafting the contract. By the time that happened, you could lose the deal!

Question: What's my real risk of a lawsuit?
Answer: Your risk of a lawsuit is extremely high. A vehicle is a big-ticket item involving the exchange of thousands of dollars between people who don't know each other at all. The courts are open to anybody on either side of a vehicle sale agreement who feels he or she was cheated in some way. If you do end up in court without a written contract, it's up to the judge or jury to decide whom to believe about the terms of the deal.

1. prevent the other party from "remembering" a higher or lower purchase price
2. prevent the other party from "remembering" that the vehicle did or did not come with a warranty
3. establish whether the vehicle was sold "as is"
4. require that your attorney's fees are paid by the other party if he or she loses the lawsuit;
5. force the other party to settle the dispute through arbitration rather than the courts
6. prevent the other party from alleging there were verbal "side" deals not written in the contract;
7. prevent the other party from backing out of the deal or, at your option, allowing you to back out if you want to.

Question: Shouldn't I use a lawyer to draft my contract?
Answer: Maybe. A good lawyer might be necessary if your agreement contains highly unusual terms. But if your deal is like 95% of vehicle purchase agreements between private parties, paying an attorney to draft the contract can be extreme overkill. It's like using a nuclear missile on a roach. We have found that nearly all agreements between private parties for the sale of a vehicle involve some variation of seven or eight basic contract provisions. All of these basic provisions and several others are available options in the contract you create at Bill-of-sale.com.

Question: Why not use one of those fill-in-the-blank "Bill of Sale" forms?
Answer: It simply states the parties' names and has a description of the vehicle being sold. While this extremely basic document may be enough to prove the car was sold, it does very little to protect the buyer and seller from the real legal risks of a vehicle transaction. Specifically, a Bill of Sale doesn't even touch on the issues of warranty, attorney's fees, remedies for breach of contract, contingencies, choice of law, arbitration and closing date, just to name a few issues that will arise in virtually every legal dispute. It is for this reason that car dealers don't use Bills of Sale; they know a contract is better suited for a transaction as important as a vehicle sale. The simple truth is, the more you have on paper the less there is to argue about.

Question: Will a Bill-of-sale.com contract be legal in my state?
Answer: Yes. Under a principal known as "freedom of contract", private parties are free to enter into a contract with any provisions they choose so long as the contract doesn't violate the law (e.g., contracts for slavery or illicit drug sales). Nothing in any provision of a Bill-of-sale.com contract violates state laws.