How to fill out Nebraska Bill of Sale

The one-page receipt with three jobs. Its own footnote states the duty - individuals transacting a motor vehicle transfer of ownership must complete a Bill of Sale at the time of sale - while adding that they are not required to use this particular form, which the department offers as a courtesy. Job two is the drive home: a private-party buyer in Nebraska legally drives unplated for up to thirty days, and the bill of sale is the proof of ownership the law wants in the car. Job three is the tax counter, where it corroborates the price on Form 6. In it you acknowledge receipt of payment and, in the sentence under the signature lines, warrant that you are the lawful owner and the vehicle is free and clear of all liens, security agreements, encumbrances, claims, demands and charges.

Written against Bill of Sale (Rev 1/2014), issued under Nebraska DMV courtesy form; the duty to complete a bill of sale is printed on the form itself, and Neb. Rev. Stat. s. 60-376 makes it the buyer's proof of ownership in transit. The notary blocks make this form look like it needs a stamp, and that resemblance sends sellers hunting a notary the state never asked for. Read what Nebraska prints where notarisation is actually required - the parts-vehicle version of this form says must be notarized beside the seller's signature; this one does not. Completing the block costs nothing and hardens the document; skipping it voids nothing on an ordinary sale. What you cannot skip is completing a bill of sale at all.

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

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Date of Sale

   Month, day, year, in the box at the top.

   Watch out: Make it identical to the date of sale you recorded in the Seller's section of the certificate. Three documents leave this sale carrying a date, and the county reads all three.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   The operative sentence

   Your printed name after I, the sum after the dollar sign, the buyer's printed name after acknowledge receipt of payment from.

   Watch out: The sentence is written in the past tense - it acknowledges money received. Complete it when you are actually paid, not as a promise that payment is coming.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Vehicle information

   Year, make, model, VIN.

   Watch out: Copy the VIN from the certificate, character by character. This sheet may be the only ownership document a patrol officer sees on the buyer's drive home, and it identifies the car by nothing else.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Transferor information

   Full name, address, city-state-zip and phone number, left column.

   Watch out: A reachable phone number is a kindness to yourself: a buyer stuck at a counter with a question calls you once, or drives back to your house.

5. 5
   The buyer fills this in

   Transferee information

   The buyer's same four entries, right column - in their hand or yours, but from their documents.

   Watch out: Read the address off their license rather than taking dictation. It is the address you would need if the car surfaced somewhere it should not.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   Both signatures

   Transferor's signature on the left line, transferee's on the right, above the warranty sentence.

   Watch out: Before you sign, reread what the sentence beneath warrants - lawful owner, free and clear of all liens, security agreements, encumbrances, claims, demands and charges. If any of that is not yet true, the signing waits.

7. 7
   Somebody else fills this in

   The notary blocks, if you use them

   Each subscribed-and-sworn block is completed by a Notary Public or Designated County Official, with day, month, signature, commission expiry and seal.

   Watch out: If you want the belt-and-braces version, any county treasurer's or clerk's counter can act as the designated official - the same building the buyer is headed to anyway.

8. 8
   You fill this in

   Copies before the car moves

   One copy travels in the vehicle with the buyer, one stays in your file.

   Watch out: The buyer's copy is load-bearing for thirty days - it is the proof of ownership the in-transit rule requires in an unplated car - so hand it over before the goodbyes, not after.

What gets this one rejected

• •Treating it as optional because the title says everything. The certificate transfers the car; this document is the buyer's authority to drive it unplated, the treasurer's cross-check on the price, and your receipt - the transfer page lists providing it, or Form 6, among the seller's duties.
• •A price that drifts from Form 6. The two documents travel to the same counter in the same folder, and the county computes tax from the sworn statement while reading this one beside it.
• •Leaving the VIN off and describing the car in words. The vehicle information block asks for year, make, model and VIN because a bill of sale for a silver Subaru proves ownership of nothing in particular.
• •Warranting a clean title that is not clean. The sentence under the signatures has you warrant the vehicle free and clear of all liens, security agreements, encumbrances, claims, demands and charges - signing it with a loan outstanding is a written misrepresentation you handed to the buyer.
• •Backdating the sale to stretch the buyer's deadlines. The thirty-day clocks for title, tax and the unplated drive all run from the sale date, and the date recorded here has to agree with the one in the Seller's section of the certificate.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •Any bill of sale works; this one is the department's. The footnote is unusually candid: individuals must complete a bill of sale at the time of sale, but they are NOT required to use this form, which the DMV makes available as a courtesy. Using it anyway means never wondering whether your homemade version misses something.
• •It is the passenger on the plateless drive home. The county manual's in-transit rule for private purchases: no decal exists, none may be improvised, and the car may be driven for up to thirty days with no plates as long as proof of ownership and insurance is carried in the vehicle - a bill of sale is first on the list of acceptable proof.
• •The warranty sentence is doing real work. Free and clear of all liens, security agreements, encumbrances, claims, demands and charges is a warranty you sign, not boilerplate. If a lender still holds the title electronically, this form is not ready to sign yet.
• •Two names, two notary blocks. The form prints a subscribed-and-sworn block for each party, each accepting a Notary Public or a Designated County Official - the county clerk and treasurer families the state deputises for oaths. Nothing on the form's face says the blocks are mandatory for an ordinary sale, and nothing on the DMV's transfer page adds such a requirement; where Nebraska does insist on a notarised bill of sale it says so, as the Parts Vehicle Bill of Sale does in print.
• •Keep it with the Form 6 copy. Your signed copy is half of your after-sale file. There is no notice-of-sale filing in Nebraska, so what you retain is what you can later show.

Every line here was read off Bill of Sale (Rev 1/2014) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles, Driver and Vehicle Records Division 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 Nebraska seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Nebraska involves.