No matter whether you are buying a motor vehicle or selling one, you definitely want your deal to be safe and secure. History witnessed numerous cases of fraud; that is why more and more people are concerned with taking action in order not to be cheated. In a sense, a bill of sale, regardless of what you are buying or selling, is a warranty that your right will not be violated; that is why we strongly recommend creating one with a form builder.
If you are planning to sell or buy a motor vehicle in Texas, there are some special rules to be followed when creating a bill of sale for this purpose. As you might already know, the law of this State does require creating a Bill of Sale for selling or buying a Motor Vehicle; that is why for each Texas resident who has a driver’s license, it is essential to get acquainted with the details of this document. To make sure that the transaction has a legal character, both parties have to take responsibility for filling the form in an appropriate way.
Now, let us consider some peculiarities of this form in detail.
You can create a personalized Texas Motor Vehicle Bill of Sale Form using a specialized document builder that will get you through the process step by step:
You can also download a free Texas Motor Vehicle Bill of Sale Form template as a PDF file to fill and print it out yourself:
What Are the Components of a Texas Vehicle Bill of Sale?
In Texas, creating and filling a Vehicle Bill of Sale is obligatory. You have to confirm the fact of the transaction with this document. By the law of this state, you have to create three copies of the Bill: for a seller, for a buyer, and for the DMV — a Department of Motor Vehicles.
For Texas residents, there are some concrete points that have to be mentioned in the Vehicle Bill of Sale. Among them are:
- Contact information about both sides of the transaction (with the number of the driver’s license of the purchaser)
- Make, model, and year of the vehicle that is sold/purchased
- Vehicle Identification Number
- The county of the transaction
- The general condition of the vehicle
- The date of the deal
- The purchase sum
- Signatures of both sides
In Texas, the Bill has to be signed with the presence of at least one witness.
However, this is not a complete list of the required points. If you filled the forms, you have to provide a series of additional documents to complete the transaction. The documents required for this purpose vary depending on whether you are selling or buying the vehicle and to whom (or from whom) you are selling (buying) it: a private party or a dealership.
If you are selling your vehicle to a dealership, file a Vehicle Transfer Notification to protect yourself.
If you are selling your vehicle to a private party, you have to prepare two copies of the Form 130-U, sign them, and hand out one of them to the buyer.
If you are buying a vehicle from the dealership, make sure your dealers filed title applications and provided the corresponding receipts.
If you are buying a vehicle from a private party, you have to complete a Motor Vehicle Inspection. If the vehicle contains a pledge, do not forget to use a Form VTR-272.
In this case, you are also responsible for paying all the corresponding fees, including a title fee, registration fee, and a local fee. Do not forget about the sales tax, which goes as 6.25% of the assessed value of the vehicle or the purchase price.
How to Register a Motor Vehicle in Texas?
If you need to register your Motor Vehicle in Texas, you have one month only to do this since you arrive. You will have to perform several steps to complete the process of registration.
These steps include the following:
- Obtain a Certified Vehicle Inspection
- Check the Proof of Insurance
- Check the Proof of Ownership
- Figure out the title of the vehicle
- Collect all the abovementioned forms together and go to a local county tax office
- Pay for the registration here
To renew the registration of a Motor Vehicle in Texas, you can choose either an online or an offline way. To do it online, you have to go to the Texas DMV site and fill the form. Or, you can write an email to the Department and renew the registration of the vehicle this way. Otherwise, you should visit your county tax office and ask for help here.
Texas Vehicle Bill of Sale Laws and Requirements
If any of the sides provides false information about oneself, this act is considered to be a felony case. The penalty for such action goes as one year’s (or less) imprisonment or a fine of up to 4 thousand dollars.
As for the language of a Motor Vehicle Bill of Sale in Texas, it is allowed to fill the form in any other language than English.