For the car you bought years ago from somebody whose name you half remember, with no bill of sale, no receipt and no cancelled cheque. It is a sworn statement of how you came by it, notarised, and it is the route Illinois offers before the surety bond.
Written against VSD 895 (VSD 895.1, March 2026), issued under 625 ILCS 5/3-104.
Try this before you look at a surety bond. It goes to the Titles Division in Springfield and it is a page and a notary; the bond route is an insurance product, an appraisal and a wait.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank VSD 895 from the ilsos.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual VSD 895, rendered from the PDF the Illinois Secretary of State 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 actual VSD 895. There are no tick boxes on it at all - the whole form is one sworn narrative of a purchase you cannot otherwise prove. The second owner row is washed out because there is one owner. The notary block at the foot is the part people arrive without; the signature above it is meant to happen in front of the notary, not before.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Date of Purchase
Inside the opening sentence, before your own name.
Watch out: Best recollection is what is being sworn to. If you genuinely do not know the day, a month and a year is a truthful answer where an invented date is not.
2
You fill this in
Owner(s) Name and Address
A single full-width rule with the label printed underneath it.
Watch out: Several boxes on this form label themselves below the line rather than above. Read down before you write.
3
You fill this in
Year, Make and VIN
A short year box, then one long box that carries both the make and the vehicle identification number.
Watch out: Two answers, one rule. Put the make first and leave a clear gap before the VIN or the two run together.
4
You fill this in
Seller(s) Name and Address
Whoever you bought it from.
Watch out: Whatever you have. A name and a town is more use to the department than a blank, and less use than a name and a street.
5
You fill this in
For the sum of
What you paid.
Watch out: In words or figures, but state something. An affirmation of purchase with no consideration on it invites the question of whether it was a purchase.
6
You fill this in
Read the paragraph you are swearing to
Four affirmations in one block: that you have no bill of sale, receipt or cancelled cheque; that the vehicle was not obtained through abandoned vehicle laws, repossession, a mechanic lien or an estate sale; that a salvage or junk history anywhere means only a salvage or junk title will be issued; and that all of it is under the penalties of perjury.
Watch out: Each of those four is a separate way this form gets refused. If any one of them is not true of your car, this is the wrong route and a clerk will say so.
7
You fill this in
Sign in front of the notary
Owner signature and date, then the notary completes state, county, day, month and year and applies a seal.
Watch out: Do not sign at home. Subscribed and sworn to me before this day means the notary is witnessing the act, and a pre-signed form is one they should refuse.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Date of Purchase
One box inside the opening sentence: this is to certify that on ______.
Owner(s) Name and Address
A full-width box; the label sits under the rule rather than in front of it.
Year, Make and Vehicle Identification Number
Two boxes: a short one for the year, then one long one carrying both make and VIN under a shared label.
Seller(s) Name and Address
Whoever you bought it from, as far as you know it.
For the sum of
The price you paid.
Signature of Owner and Date, twice
Two owner rows, each with its own date box.
The notary block
State, county, the day, the month and the year, and then the notary's seal and signature. Four separate boxes inside one printed sentence.
What gets this one rejected
•Signing it before you get to the notary. The block reads subscribed and sworn to me before this ____ day of ____ - the notary watches you sign.
•Using it where a bill of sale exists. The affirmation is that you do not have a bill of sale, receipt, or canceled check to prove the purchase of the vehicle.
•Using it for a car that came from an estate sale, a repossession, a mechanic's lien or the abandoned vehicle laws. The affirmation rules out all four by name.
•Expecting a clean title on a branded car. If the vehicle has a valid salvage or junk title in Illinois or any other state, the form says only a salvage or junk title will be issued.
•Leaving the price blank because it was cash and long ago.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•It is an affirmation about what you do not have. Most Illinois forms ask what you have. This one asks you to swear to an absence - no bill of sale, no receipt, no cancelled cheque - and then to state the purchase anyway. That is why it is notarised and why the penalties of perjury line is on it.
•The salvage carve-out has one exception. A note on the form: the vehicle may be brought out of salvage if the applicant is a licensed rebuilder and provides a UDL number. For anybody who is not a rebuilder, a salvage history stays a salvage title.
Every line here was read off VSD 895 (VSD 895.1, March 2026) itself —
the PDF is here — and off the Illinois Secretary of State pages.
This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ,
theirs governs.
