Two identical bills of sale printed on one sheet, which is the whole point of it: one goes with the car and one stays in your drawer. Connecticut does not require you to use it - the department says so in as many words - but it requires the same six things to appear on whatever you do use, and this sheet is those six things with the boxes already drawn. On a car more than twenty model years old it stops being a receipt and becomes part of the proof of ownership.
Written against H-31 (Rev 1-2017), issued under Conn. Gen. Stat. s. 14-16 and s. 14-171, declared under penalty of false statement per s. 53a-157b.
This form is 1-2017 and predates the department's current bill-of-sale guidance, which asks for a buyer signature the sheet has no line for. Where you need the buyer's signature - and on a private sale to a stranger you do - write it in beneath the certification rather than assuming the printed form is complete.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank H-31 from the portal.ct.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual H-31, rendered from the PDF the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles publishes and completed end to end: letterhead, every field, and the blocks at the foot.
Amber — you write it
Grey — not yours to fill
Numbered — explained below
The upper of the two identical bills of sale on the sheet, filled in. The vessel block below the vehicle description is greyed because nothing in it applies to a car - and the empty half of the sheet underneath is the copy the department expects you to keep. Nobody in this sample exists and no vehicle matches this VIN.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Sale of - tick MOTOR VEHICLE
The first tick on the sheet. VESSEL and OTHER are for boats and everything else the department registers.
Watch out: Leaving it blank is the commonest thing wrong with a returned H-31, because the form then does not say what has been sold.
2
You fill this in
Seller name
Your name, matching the face of the certificate you are assigning.
Watch out: Use the name on the title, not a shortened version. A bill of sale from "Meg Oberlander" against a certificate issued to "Marguerite T. Oberlander" invites a question at the counter.
3
You fill this in
Seller address
Number and street, city or town, state and ZIP on the line beneath your name.
Watch out: Your address at the time of sale, not where you are moving to. This sheet may be produced months later to settle a property tax argument about that date.
4
You fill this in
Selling Price
The figure you were actually paid, in the dollar box. The sentence beside it acknowledges receipt.
Watch out: The words "receipt hereby acknowledged" are doing work. Do not fill this in and hand it over before the money has cleared.
5
You fill this in
Purchaser Information
The buyer's name and address, which you write rather than they do.
Watch out: Take it off their licence rather than from what they tell you, and check it against the name they want on the title. A mismatch here is how a car ends up registered to somebody who was never in the room.
6
You fill this in
Make, Year, Colour(s), Model, Body Style
Five description boxes across one row, all copied from the certificate rather than from memory.
Watch out: Colour is the one people improvise. Use the word printed on the certificate; the manufacturer's marketing name for the paint is not what the department recorded.
7
You fill this in
Odometer Reading
Whole miles, the same figure that goes on the reverse of the title and on the buyer's H-13B.
Watch out: Three documents, one number. Reading the odometer once and writing it three times beats reading it three times.
8
You fill this in
Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)
Seventeen characters, copied from the certificate. Below it the certification and the signature of seller close the sheet.
Watch out: On a car with no title - anything more than twenty model years old - this box is doing the work the certificate would otherwise do, so a transposed character here is a real problem rather than a typo. Sign and date underneath it with the same date you put on the title assignment.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Sale of, one of three ticks
MOTOR VEHICLE, VESSEL or OTHER with a line to specify. The same sheet serves boats, which is why half the boxes below it are about hulls.
Seller, Name and Address
Yours, with number and street, city or town, state and ZIP on the line beneath.
Selling Price
A dollar box, with the operative sentence printed beside it: the owner (seller) of this motor vehicle or vessel described below hereby transfers to the purchaser the described motor vehicle or vessel in consideration of the amount (selling price) entered at left, receipt hereby acknowledged.
Purchaser Information, Name and Address
The buyer, in the same shape as the seller block above it.
Description of Motor Vehicle, Make, Year, Colour(s), Model Name or Number, Body Style
Five boxes across one row, with body style given the form's own example - 4-Dr. Sedan, etc.
Odometer Reading, and Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)
The second row of the description block. The mileage sits on the bill of sale as well as on the title, which is why the two have to agree.
Description of Vessel
Model year, hull identification number, make, colour, model, length and out-of-state vessel number. Eight boxes that stay empty on a car.
Certification and Signature
One line: I declare under penalty of false statement that the information furnished above is true and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. Then the signature of seller and the date. There is no buyer signature on this form at all.
What gets this one rejected
•A missing VIN. The department's list of what a bill of sale must contain names the vehicle identification number, and without it the sheet identifies no particular car.
•A missing odometer reading. The DMV's own bill-of-sale page lists it among the vehicle information the document has to carry.
•No seller signature. It is the only signature on the form and the certification above it is what gives the sheet its weight.
•A price that contradicts the one written on the certificate or the H-13B. All three are read together at the counter.
•Using it as the assignment of ownership on a titled vehicle. The department prints the warning on the index itself - not to be used as an assignment of ownership for a titled vehicle - because on a titled car the assignment is on the certificate and nowhere else.
•Only filling in the top half of the sheet. It prints twice for a reason, and the copy you keep is the one that answers a property tax bill in six months.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•You do not have to use this form. The department's words: you may draft your own bill of sale, because there is no special form required. What it must carry is the buyer's name and address, the seller's name and address, the make, model, year, colour and VIN, the sales price, the date of sale and the seller's signature.
•The DMV's own list adds two things the H-31 already has. The bill-of-sale page asks for an odometer reading and a buyer signature as well. The H-31 carries the odometer box; it has no buyer signature line, so add one to your own sheet if you write one.
•Keep the second copy. Instruction 1 on the form is addressed to you: seller of motor vehicle or vessel must complete, sign and give this form to the purchaser. Seller should maintain copy for records.
•On a non-titled vehicle it is load-bearing. For a car more than twenty model years old the department's registration requirement is the registration from the last owner plus a Q-1 and/or a bill of sale. Here the H-31 is not a receipt, it is part of the chain of ownership.
•A copy can be ordered years later. If yours is lost, a J-23T with the bill of sale box ticked and $20 retrieves the one the buyer filed - which takes four to six weeks, so it is a fallback rather than a plan.
Every line here was read off H-31 (Rev 1-2017) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles pages.
This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ,
theirs governs.
