How to fill out Virginia VSA 59

The one form in this whole file that exists purely to protect the buyer from the seller, and the one a private seller is most likely to be prosecuted for skipping. Virginia Code 46.2-1602(A)(4) makes it unlawful for any person to sell a rebuilt vehicle without first having disclosed the fact that the vehicle is a rebuilt vehicle to the buyer. This single page is that disclosure, and both parties keep a copy of it.

Written against VSA 59 (07/01/2017), issued under Va. Code 46.2-1602. There is no DMV submission address on this form and no fee, which makes it easy to treat as optional. It is the opposite - it is the only piece of Virginia paperwork in this file whose omission is itself named as unlawful in a statute quoted on the form's own face, and the seller keeping a signed copy is the only evidence that the disclosure ever happened.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank VSA 59 from the dmv.virginia.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   The vehicle

   VIN, year, make and body type, off the branded certificate.

   Watch out: Take them off the title rather than the car. The title is what carries the brand and the title number is asked for beside them.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Title number and state

   The certificate number and the state that issued it.

   Watch out: Where the brand was carried in from another state, that is the state to name - the notice paragraph is written for exactly that case.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Seller name and signature

   Print, sign and date - before the sale, not with the rest of the paperwork afterwards.

   Watch out: Keep your copy. It is the only proof that the disclosure was made first, and the statute is worded around that word.

4. 4
   The buyer fills this in

   Buyer name and signature

   The buyer prints, signs and dates, and takes a copy away.

   Watch out: A buyer who will not sign it has told you something. The form is not the argument - it is the record of a conversation that has to have happened.

What gets this one rejected

• •Handing it over after the money has changed hands. The statutory wording is without first having disclosed - the disclosure comes before the sale, not with the paperwork afterwards.
• •Only one copy. The instruction is that the seller and buyer must sign and each retain a copy.
• •Leaving the state box empty where the brand came in from elsewhere. The notice paragraph specifically contemplates a brand carried forward from another state.
• •Assuming it is DMV's job to tell the buyer. Nothing in the transfer process warns a buyer automatically; the obligation is on the person selling.
• •Skipping it because the repairs were good. The definition turns on the estimated cost of repair against actual cash value, not on how the car drives now.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •Late model is a defined term. The second limb of the definition applies to a late model vehicle, and it excludes the cost of engine, transmission and drive axle repairs from the comparison - so a car with an expensive mechanical rebuild and light body damage is not caught by it.
• •A brand can arrive from another state. The notice paragraph says so, and it means a Virginia certificate can read rebuilt because of something that happened elsewhere and was carried across when the car was titled here.
• •Nobody files it. Unlike everything else in this file, this form is not an application. It goes to the buyer, and the seller keeps the other copy.

Every line here was read off VSA 59 (07/01/2017) 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.