How to fill out Virginia SUT 1A

The newer car's version of the same problem, and the one that costs an appointment. Where the vehicle is five years old or less, a bill of sale is not enough on its own - DMV wants the purchase price sworn, and the instruction line says so in seven words: complete the form, have it notarized and submit it with other titling paperwork. It is one of only two forms in the whole Virginia seller's set that a notary ever touches.

Written against SUT 1A (08/10/2017), issued under Va. Code 58.1-2402. Nothing on this form asks the seller for anything, which is exactly why sellers get caught by it. A buyer who discovers at the counter that the price needs swearing has to leave, find a notary and come back - and if the price was low because the two of you agreed it was low, the seller is the person they will telephone from the queue.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank SUT 1A from the dmv.virginia.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank SUT 1A — Affidavit of Vehicle Purchase Price (vehicle must be 5 years old or less) PDF at dmv.virginia.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual SUT 1A, rendered from the PDF the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles 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 Virginia DMV SUT 1A filled in for a 2023 Kia Telluride: vehicle information, a purchase price of 22,000.00 certified by the applicant Rashad K. Pettigrew, and a completed notarisation block naming a notary public with a registration number and commission expiry date. — A newer car than the sale the rest of this section follows, because this form cannot be used on anything older. The whole lower third is the notary's - the applicant fills in nothing below their own date.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
The buyer fills this in
The vehicle row
Year, make, model and body type, with the year box carrying its own five-year limit.
Watch out: Model year, not the date it was bought. A 2021 car bought new in 2022 is still a 2021.
2
The buyer fills this in
The purchase price
The figure paid, written into the blank in the certification sentence.
Watch out: Accessories and attachments are in; a trade-in allowance is not deducted. The sentence around the blank says both.
3
The buyer fills this in
Applicant name and signature
Printed name, signature and date - made in front of the notary, not at the kitchen table.
Watch out: A co-signer going onto the title signs the row underneath, and has to be standing there too.
4
The buyer fills this in
The notarization block
The notary completes state, city or county, the day, month and year, the name of the person who appeared, their own registration number, commission expiry, name and signature.
Watch out: Check the commission expiry before you leave. A notarisation dated after the commission ran out is worth nothing, and nobody at the counter will notice until the file is opened.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Vehicle information	Year - the box is labelled 5 years old or less - make, model and body type; then the vehicle identification number, colour and the sale date.
Certification	One sentence with a blank in it, certifying that the purchase price of the above-described motor vehicle was a stated figure, which included all accessories and/or attachments with no trade-in allowance or any other transaction.
Applicant name, signature and date	The buyer prints, signs and dates. This is an applicant's affidavit, not a joint one - the seller has no block on this form at all.
Co-signer name, signature and date	A second row for a co-purchaser going onto the title.
Notarization	A block headed must be completed by notary public: state or commonwealth, city or county, the day, month and year, and the name of the person who appeared. Then registration number, commission expiry date, notary public name and notary public signature, with a seal panel beside them.

What gets this one rejected

•Signing it before you get to the notary. The whole point of the block is that the signature was made in front of somebody with a commission.
•Using it on an older car. The subtitle is a limit and the purpose paragraph repeats it - do not use this form for vehicles more than 5 years old, use a Vehicle Price Certification or a bill of sale.
•A missing commission expiry date or registration number. The notarisation block has four boxes and an incomplete one is not a notarisation.
•Expecting the seller to sign. There is no seller line. If a seller's word about the price is what is needed, that is the other form.
•Submitting it on its own. The instruction is to submit it with other titling paperwork - by itself it applies for nothing.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•Why the newer car is treated differently. DMV compares a recent sale against the trade-in value in the NADA Official Used Car Guide. A price that falls outside the variance the department allows against that figure is what pulls this affidavit in, so the further under the guide the price sits, the more certain the appointment becomes.
•A notary is easy to find and not free. Virginia commissions notaries widely - banks, shipping shops, some libraries - and most charge per signature. Two buyers on a title means two signatures.
•It says affidavit for a reason. A certification under penalty of perjury and a sworn affidavit are different instruments. This one is sworn, and the seal at the foot is the difference.

Every line here was read off SUT 1A (08/10/2017) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Virginia Department 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 Virginia seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Virginia involves.

How to fill out Virginia SUT 1A

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

The vehicle row

The purchase price

Applicant name and signature

The notarization block

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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