Selling a Car Title and Legal Head Up

Make sure the title is filled out the right way. Fill out the mileage at the time of sale and put in the actual sale price, don't fall for the gift price crap. First it is tax evation and 2nd the state will look up the actual value anyway and just puts you in the middle. I always type and print 2 copies if an agreement on top of the title stating the terms of the sale something like..

I so & so sell one 2000 VW GTI with x miles to so & so for the sum $xx. This is an as is private sale. I make no claims to a warranty expressed or implied. signed and dated. I tell the seller I'm doing this to cover myself even though the car is fine, if they don't want to sign it let them walk. once they leave with the title you need some type of agreement to cover yourself with in case they come back, word of mouth doesn't work.

you could also find out from your state about private sales, but 99% of private sales are as is, even in states that atleast say it must past inpspection which fla doesn't have they give the buyer 7-14 days to it and the repairs must be a % of the cost of the car before they can go back to the seller anyways not jsut because the horn doesn't work. good luck but type up a side agreement and cover yourself.

Green's idea is a good one. Just that little BS document is nice to have.

I try to do the title and cash swap at a bank, and normally you can have your little document notarized (the title has to be notarized for sign-off purposes around here anyhow). Both copies of the BS document are signed by both parties and both are notarized.

The only addition I can think of that I would do is to explicitly say that the vehicle is sold as is (then the rest about no warranty being expressed, implied or otherwise, etc etc).

Good luck. And congrats on the new moneypit, errrrr I mean bundle of joy, on the way.

"as is" means nothing in most states, fyi, unless the vehicle is sold below a certain price ($700 in MA). Regardless of what you write up and both parties sign, you are liable for any safety issues and anything that prevents the vehicle from passing a state inspection.

now, you may have a gentleman's agreement that the car is sold as is, but it will have absolutely no clout in court if it ever got to that point.

mike93lx said:

"as is" means nothing in most states, fyi, unless the vehicle is sold below a certain price ($700 in MA). Regardless of what you write up and both parties sign, you are liable for any safety issues and anything that prevents the vehicle from passing a state inspection.

now, you may have a gentleman's agreement that the car is sold as is, but it will have absolutely no clout in court if it ever got to that point.

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This, too, varies from state to state. Here in Arizona, pretty much all private-party sales are considered "as-is" unless otherwise agreed. Dealerships, however, I believe have to abide by some kind of a 30-day rule, unless they have that little warranty sign in the window with the "as-is" box checked.

Had to deal with this when some stripper chick bought a car from me when I first moved here, then she called me up 2 MONTHS LATER after driving the holy hell out of it, saying she wanted her money back because one of the injectors was sticking open or something and I supposedly did something with the spark plugs to try to hide that.

Here it is lax, sign your name and hand them the title. Let them fill it out how they please. The state thinks i only paid 200 dollars for my car Oh and we abide by the texas warranty, if it breaks you get to keep all the pieces

Yeah in florida, the lemon laws apply to dealers only. Make sure they sign the title in front of you, dont let them have an open title( you sign and print but they dont). A bill of sale is also required in florida. this is what I use.

I _______________ do sell one _________________ vin # ___________________to __________________________ for the sum of ____________. This car is sold with no warranty either expressed or written.

Buyer _________________
Seller__________________
Date ________


You have to record miles here as well if it is less than 10 years old.