The one document a Vermont private seller signs in every sale, whatever else is going on. It is two forms printed back to back: a bill of sale on the front, and the federal odometer disclosure on the back. On a titled car it travels with the assigned certificate; on a 2009-or-older car that Vermont never titled it travels with the registration certificate and it is the only thing carrying your signature. It also carries two things nobody expects on a bill of sale - a question about an emissions time-extension waiver, and the salvage disclosure that 23 V.S.A. s. 2093 makes a condition of keeping the buyer's money.
Written against VT-005 (01/2022), issued under 23 V.S.A. s. 202, s. 203, s. 2082 and s. 3829(4), with the salvage disclosure at s. 2093(b) and (c) reprinted on the face of the form. The odometer footnote and the emissions waiver question are both recent additions; a VT-005 saved from before January 2022 has neither. Take a fresh copy from the department rather than reusing a downloaded one.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank VT-005 from the dmv.vermont.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our VT-005 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is all 2 pages of the actual VT-005, rendered from the PDF the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, Agency of Transportation publishes and completed end to end: letterhead, every field, and the blocks at the foot.
Every owner named on the front of the certificate, written out in full.
Watch out: If the certificate carries a co-owner you had forgotten about - a parent who cosigned a loan in 2016 - this is the box where you find out, and it is better than finding out at the counter.
Five descriptive boxes, copied from the certificate character for character.
Watch out: Colour is not decoration here. It is a required field on the buyer's VD-119 and a mismatch between the two sheets is a query rather than a rejection, but it is still a query.
Seventeen characters, from the certificate rather than the door jamb.
Watch out: Read it back to the buyer once, out loud, before you write anything else. It is the only box on this sheet that cannot be fixed with a second bill of sale.
Whole miles, with the Miles box ticked. The same figure goes in the comb on the back page.
Watch out: Where the two pages disagree the department has to decide which is right, and the way it records the decision is a permanent brand on the next certificate.
The buyer's name, and a second buyer's if there is one.
Watch out: Two buyers here means they will have to choose one of Vermont's five ownership legends on their application. It is worth ten seconds of warning.
The date the car changed hands, and the price you were paid.
Watch out: This date is the one that matters afterwards. It is the date your registration expired under s. 321 and the date you write on the back of the registration certificate when you send it in.
Yes or No. The note beside it explains the point: a vehicle may not have two consecutive time extension waivers.
Watch out: Answer it honestly even if the car passed its last inspection cleanly. A No that turns out to be a Yes is a false statement on a document signed under s. 202.
Three boxes and, if any of them is ticked, a purchaser's signature. Untouched on a clean car.
Watch out: Section 2093(b) requires the disclosure both orally and in writing before the sale is made. Getting the words right afterwards does not cure it.
Signed under a certification that the vehicle is free of all liens and encumbrances.
Watch out: That certification is the reason not to sign this form on the morning of a payoff. Sign it after the lender's release exists, not before.
The reading in the comb, and one of the three boxes ticked.
Watch out: One box, not two. Ticking both actual mileage and mechanical limits is the most common way this page comes back.
Printed names, addresses, phone numbers and both signatures, buyer and seller.
Watch out: The heading says signatures from both the buyer and seller are required, in bold, and it means it. This is the half of the sheet that most often goes home unfinished.
| On the form | What to put in it |
|---|---|
| I / We (Seller(s)) (If a company, give company name) | Every owner named on the front of the certificate, not just the one who is standing there. The instruction lower down the page is explicit: if the vehicle is jointly owned, both owners must sign. |
| Year, Make, Model, Body/Hull Type, Color | Copied off the certificate rather than off the dashboard. Body type is the department's own vocabulary - wagon, sedan, pickup - and colour is a required field on the buyer's application too. |
| Vessel Length, ft. and in. | Blank on a car. It is here because one form covers vehicles and vessels, and a boat under sixteen feet is not titled in Vermont at all. |
| Vehicle/Vessel Identification Number (VIN/HIN) | Seventeen characters on a modern car, copied from the certificate. VD-119i names it as one of the six things a Vermont bill of sale must contain. |
| Odometer Reading (Vehicles only, no tenths), with Miles, Kilometers or Hours | Whole numbers. The three unit boxes are one choice, and hours belongs to a tractor rather than a car. |
| New Owner, and New Co-Owner | The buyer, and a second buyer if there is one. Two names here means the buyer will have to pick one of the five ownership legends on their own application. |
| on: Date, and for: $ | The date of sale and the price you were actually paid. Both are on VD-119i's list of what the sheet has to carry. |
| Has this vehicle failed an emissions test and been granted a time extension waiver in the past 12 months? Yes / No | A question about Vermont's inspection programme, sitting on a bill of sale, answered by the seller. The note under it explains why it matters to the buyer: a vehicle may not have two consecutive time extension waivers. |
| If Vehicle is Salvage, Salvage and Rebuilt or Totaled this Section Must be Completed | Three boxes - salvage, salvage and rebuilt, or declared a total loss by insurer - above a reprint of s. 2093(b) and (c). If the section is completed at least one new owner must sign it. |
| Purchaser signature, and Date | The buyer's acknowledgement of the salvage disclosure, and the only signature on the front page that is not a party's ordinary signature. |
| Seller #1 and Seller #2, with Date | Under a certification that the vehicle is free of all liens and encumbrances. Signing that on a car with a live lien printed on its title is a false statement under s. 202. |
| Seller Address, City, State, Zip, Phone Number, email | Four boxes and two contact lines. The address is the one the department holds for you, not a forwarding one. |
| Buyer #1 and Buyer #2, Date, Address, Phone Number, email | The mirror image, filled in by the buyer at the same table. An unsigned buyer block is an unfinished bill of sale. |
| Back page, Section 1 - Vehicle Information | Make, model, year, body type, colour and the identification number again, because the odometer statement is a free-standing federal document that has to identify its own vehicle. |
| Back page, Section 2 - Odometer Disclosure | A seven-cell comb for the reading and three certifications: reflects the actual mileage, reflects the mileage in excess of the odometer's mechanical limits, or is not the actual mileage - warning, odometer discrepancy. |
| Back page, Sections 3 and 4 - Seller/Transferor and Buyer Information | Printed names, addresses, phone numbers and both signatures. The heading above them is unambiguous: signatures from both the buyer and seller are required. |
Every line here was read off VT-005 (01/2022) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, Agency of Transportation 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 Vermont seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Vermont involves.