How to fill out Montana MV24

Montana asks a seller to file nothing after a sale, which puts the whole weight of proving what happened on whatever you kept. This is the form the division offers for that job: it names both parties, the vehicle, the price and the date, and the division's selling page suggests it in as many words - for your convenience, you can use Bill of Sale (MV24). It is not the transfer. The manual is flat about that: a bill of sale cannot be used to transfer ownership of a Montana title, and all registered owners must still sign off on the title itself. What it does instead is carry the record you will want if the buyer never registers the car, and travel with the buyer as proof of ownership on a drive home with no plates on the vehicle.

Written against MV24 (8/26), issued under prescribed by the Motor Vehicle Division; sworn under MCA 45-7-203, unsworn falsification to authorities. Read the odometer question on page one before you tick anything. It is phrased as an instruction rather than a question - if the vehicle being sold is 20 years old and newer, you must disclose the odometer on form MV90A - and a seller who ticks yes and then hands over nothing has told the county in writing that a document is missing from the envelope.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV24 from the mvdmt.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our MV24 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank MV24 — Bill of Sale PDF at mvdmt.gov · new tab Step 2 · how to fill it in Our filled-in MV24 guide PDF · print and keep beside you

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is all 2 pages of the actual MV24, rendered from the PDF the Montana Department of Justice, Motor Vehicle Division, Vehicle Services Bureau 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

A completed Montana MV24 Bill of Sale. Section 1 describes a 2013 Toyota 4Runner SR5 by year, make, model and vehicle identification number, with the odometer disclosure question answered Yes, Sold for Parts Only answered No and Title Available answered Yes. Section 2 records the sum of $14,750.00, purchaser Wendell A. Hochstetler and seller Delphine R. Kowalchuk of Lewistown, Montana. On the second page the purchaser's address in Miles City, printed name, signature and the date 08/18/2026 are completed. The Not Mechanically Functional tick and value, the alternative answers to each yes/no pair, and the notary block are shaded grey. — Page 1 of 2. The vehicle, the three yes/no pairs, the price and both parties. The notary block is shaded because an ordinary paper sale does not use it.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
Section 1: the vehicle, in full
Year, make, model and the VIN exactly as the title prints it.
Watch out: Copy the VIN from the title, then check it against the dash. The buyer is told to compare the two before handing over money, and finding a mismatch at that moment ends the sale.
2
You fill this in
The odometer question
Yes for a vehicle from model year 2011 that is not yet twenty years old; no for anything older.
Watch out: Yes means an MV90A goes with this form unless the title itself has the certification printed in the assignment. Ticking yes and supplying nothing is worse than the question being unanswered.
3
You fill this in
Sold for Parts Only, and Title Available
Two straightforward yes/no pairs that tell the counter what kind of transaction this is.
Watch out: Sold for parts is not a way of describing a rough car. It marks a vehicle going to be dismantled, and it changes what the buyer can do with the paperwork afterwards.
4
You fill this in
The sum received
The price, in the sentence that transfers your right, title and interest to the purchaser named in section 4.
Watch out: Whatever figure goes here should match the title assignment and the buyer's application. Montana takes no sales tax on the sale, so there is no tax reason to understate it and every reason not to.
5
You fill this in
Both parties, named and identified
The purchaser's name and identification number, then yours, your identification number and your address.
Watch out: The buyer's driver licence number is on the division's own list of what a record of sale must contain. It is the field people skip, and it is the one that identifies your buyer if the car turns up somewhere it should not.
6
The buyer fills this in
The purchaser's address
Completed on page two, above the buyer's own certification.
Watch out: An address the buyer is reluctant to write down is worth a pause. This document is the only place the transaction is recorded until they reach a treasurer's counter.
7
The buyer fills this in
The purchaser signs and dates
Printed name, legal signature and date, acknowledging the odometer disclosure you made.
Watch out: Get this signature before the car leaves. An unsigned buyer half turns your record of sale back into a piece of paper you wrote by yourself.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Section 1, Vehicle Information	Year, make, model and the VIN or hull number across two rows. The form insists on completeness in its own header: this form must be completed in its entirety.
The odometer question	A yes/no box under the printed rule - if the vehicle being sold is 20 years old and newer, you must disclose the odometer on form MV90A, model years before 2011 are exempt. Ticking yes is the form telling you an MV90A belongs in the same envelope.
Sold for Parts Only, and Title Available	Two more yes/no pairs. Together they tell the counter whether this bill of sale accompanies a title, a break/bond application, or a car going to a wrecking yard.
Not in mechanically functional condition, with a value	A tick and a dollar figure, defined on the form itself: mechanically functional means needing only minor reconditioning. The manual requires an MV24 specifically when applying for a break in ownership and the vehicle is not mechanically functional.
Section 2, Seller Statement	The sum received, then the purchaser's name and identification number, then yours and your address. The sentence you are signing is the certificate's own: I certify that I have received the sum of, and other valuable considerations, to sell, transfer and deliver to the purchaser named in Section 4 my right, title and interest of the vehicle.
The warranty of title	Printed above the signature: I, seller, certify that I have the right to sell the vehicle and will warrant and defend the title against the claims and demands of all persons except the secured party noted on the Montana title application.
The electronic title acknowledgement	A separate certification for the paperless route under MCA 61-3-220: if electronic record transfer is required, I certify that I am not in possession of the title, I am the owner of this vehicle, I authorize the transfer to the above-named purchaser, and I have not previously transferred to another person for sale.
Seller and Co-Seller legal signature lines	Marked all owners must sign, with a date beside each. Neither line carries a fill-in box in the PDF - they are printed rules for pen.
Section 3, Notary Use Only	On page one, but used only where page two says it is: if this Bill of Sale is used in conjunction with a MV10 Break/Bond Title Application or an Electronic Records Transfer, a Notary is required. An ordinary paper sale leaves it blank.
Section 4, Purchaser Information and Certification	The buyer's address, printed name and signature on page two, over the line that ties the two forms together - I, purchaser, am aware of the odometer disclosure statement made by the seller on form MV90A.

What gets this one rejected

•A bill of sale offered instead of a signed title. The manual will not take it: a BOS cannot be used to transfer ownership of a Montana title, and a bill of sale is not acceptable to transfer a Montana resident's interest to a buyer.
•Half the form completed. Its own header requires it in its entirety, and the counter reads the parts you left empty as facts you declined to state.
•A missing co-seller signature. The line says all owners must sign, and the manual's rule that each owner signs individually applies here exactly as it applies on the title.
•No notary where the form demands one. A break/bond application or an electronic record transfer both need the acknowledgement, and it is section 3 on the first page that the notary completes.
•A price that contradicts the rest of the folder. The bill of sale, the title assignment and the buyer's application all show the same transaction, and a figure that does not match invites the counter to stop and ask which document is wrong.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•It is a record, not a transfer. The distinction runs through the whole manual. Only a registered owner or a dealer can sell a motor vehicle, and the interest moves on the certificate. This form proves the sale happened; the title moves it.
•The division's own list of what a record must contain. From the selling page: the year, make, VIN, name, address, driver license number, purchase price and date of sale. Every one of those has a box on this form, which is why it is the one to use.
•A generic bill of sale is accepted. The manual says a BOS should be completed on form MV24, however a generic BOS will be accepted, provided it carries the complete vehicle description, the purchaser, the seller and the date of sale.
•It becomes the ownership document out of state. The manual allows a BOS to transfer first and subsequent interest in an out-of-state title where the seller is not a Montana resident or a licensed Montana dealer - and then the out-of-state title must accompany it, showing the complete chain of ownership.
•It is not a plate transfer. Handing the buyer a bill of sale does nothing about the plates. MCA 61-3-334 makes you remove them, and only a classic-car or personalized plate moves to the buyer, on an MV100.

Every line here was read off MV24 (8/26) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Montana Department of Justice, Motor Vehicle Division, Vehicle Services Bureau 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 Montana seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Montana involves.

How to fill out Montana MV24

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Section 1: the vehicle, in full

The odometer question

Sold for Parts Only, and Title Available

The sum received

Both parties, named and identified

The purchaser's address

The purchaser signs and dates

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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