How to fill out Louisiana Bill of Sale

One page, and it is written as an authentic act rather than as a receipt: it opens Before me, the undersigned Notary Public, duly commissioned and qualified, and it ends on a notary's line. Louisiana does not always need it. The OMV's own rule is that a separate bill of sale is not required for a private sale where the selling price is included as part of the title assignment - so this form is what you reach for when the price is not on the title, when the certificate has no room for it, or when the buyer wants a document of their own with a warranty of title on it.

Written against Bill of Sale (Rev 04/06/2026), issued under R.S. 32:705, acceptance and delivery of certificate. The version below was revised on 6 April 2026 and the OMV titles it Bill of Sale of a Movable, while listing it on its forms index as Bill of Sale of a Motor Vehicle. Same document, two names. It carries no DPSMV number at all, so there is no code to check it against - the revision date at the foot is the only marker it has.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank Bill of Sale from the public.powerdms.com copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Parish of

   The blank in the second line, after State of Louisiana.

   Watch out: This is the parish where the act is passed - where the notary is commissioned and where you are standing when you sign. It is not necessarily the parish either of you lives in, and it is not the parish the buyer will register the vehicle in.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Seller

   The first long rule, under the words personally came and appeared.

   Watch out: Full legal name, spelled as it is spelled on the certificate of title. The notary is required to insert the full first and last names of the parties, so an initial here is a problem the notary is supposed to catch.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)

   Fourth of the description rules, under Make, Model and Year.

   Watch out: Seventeen characters copied off the face of the certificate. The point of this document is to describe one specific vehicle well enough that the department can match it to the title file, and the VIN is the only line that does that.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Vehicle Sale Price

   Left-hand box of the price row, with Date of Sale to its right.

   Watch out: Write the actual consideration - the money that changed hands. If this figure and the one in the title assignment differ, this document stops proving the price and starts raising a question about it.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   Signed on this day of, year of

   Three short blanks immediately above the signature rules.

   Watch out: Fill them in front of the notary, not before. They are the date the act was passed, which is the date the notary is attesting to, and they should agree with the Date of Sale box above.

What gets this one rejected

• •Signed before the notary was in the room. The whole document is built on appearing before a notary, and a signature that predates the appearance is not what the printed sentence describes.
• •A price here that differs from the price written into the title assignment. The department reads both, and two numbers is a query rather than a proof.
• •An incomplete vehicle description. The full description means year, make, model and VIN together - a make and a model without the VIN will not stand in for the assignment.
• •Only one of two owners signing where the certificate names two joined by AND.
• •A carbon or photocopy where the sale happened in Louisiana. The department wants the original notarised document, and will take a certified true copy only where the original is lost.
• •No notary identification number anywhere on the sheet - see the rule below, because this one is the form's own fault rather than yours.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •The form has nowhere to put the number that gets it rejected. Every document notarised in Louisiana has to carry the notary's identification number assigned by the Secretary of State, or an attorney's bar roll number, and one notarised after 1 January 2005 without it cannot be accepted. This sheet prints a rule for the notary's signature and nothing else. The number has to be written or stamped in beside the name anyway.
• •It is optional right up until it is not. Put the selling price in the title assignment and you need no bill of sale at all. Leave it out - or run out of room, or make a mistake in it - and this becomes the document the department is relying on for the price, which is when a missing notary starts to matter.
• •Two typing errors that have been there a while. The printed text reads herby sells rather than hereby, and nay accessories rather than any. Neither affects the document, and neither is worth correcting by hand on a form where alterations are the enemy.

Every line here was read off Bill of Sale (Rev 04/06/2026) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Louisiana Office 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.

Back to all Louisiana seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Louisiana involves.