How to fill out Washington 420-001

The buyer's form, and the one a seller most needs to understand without ever signing. It is what turns your signed certificate into their certificate, it carries the notarisation Washington actually requires, and it has to reach a vehicle licensing office within fifteen days of delivery. If the buyer gets it wrong the transfer stalls - and until it completes, your Report of Sale is doing all the work.

Written against 420-001 (R/5/19), issued under RCW 46.12.530 and RCW 46.12.650(6). Nothing on this form is the seller's to sign, and a seller who helpfully fills it in has created a document the buyer then has to swear to in front of a notary. Hand over the certificate, keep your copy of the bill of sale, and let them complete this at the counter.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank 420-001 from the dol.wa.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   The buyer fills this in

   The identification number band

   Vehicle identification number, condition, vehicle type, primary use and fuel type across the top of the page.

   Watch out: The identification number is checked against a national database while the application is processed. A vehicle that comes back reported stolen is sent to the state patrol and no certificate is issued.

2. 2
   The buyer fills this in

   Model year, make, model and body style

   Copied from the certificate the seller signed over.

   Watch out: If the department finds the model year or make on the certificate is wrong it corrects the record and sends a written explanation of what it changed and why.

3. 3
   The buyer fills this in

   Weights, seats and colours

   Gross vehicle weight rating, scale weight, seats, and up to two colours chosen from the department's list rather than described in words.

   Watch out: Scale weight is the empty weight of the vehicle. Where the certificate does not show it, the vehicle has to be weighed and the weight documentation goes in with the application. And the colour is a menu: a car most people would call champagne is beige, gold or cream/ivory on this form, and the one you pick is the one that goes on the record.

4. 4
   The buyer fills this in

   Quick title, and the two donations

   Three yes-or-no ticks at the end of the vehicle band.

   Watch out: Quick title is the only one of the three that changes when the certificate arrives. The other two are a park donation and an annual pass, and both can be declined.

5. 5
   The buyer fills this in

   The registered owner block

   Owner type, identification type and number, expiry, phone and the full legal name.

   Watch out: Every registered owner has to show an unexpired Washington driver licence at the counter unless they are exempt, and the exemption is its own form.

6. 6
   The buyer fills this in

   The Washington residence address

   A Washington primary residence street address, or a principal place of business address for a company.

   Watch out: The mailing address line underneath is where a post office box goes. Putting one in the residence line means either an exception form or a rejected application.

7. 7
   The buyer fills this in

   Survivorship, where there are two buyers

   A yes-or-no tick beside the second registered owner.

   Watch out: Two people buying a car together and leaving this blank get tenants in common. The tick is the only thing that gives the survivor the vehicle outright.

8. 8
   The lienholder fills this in

   Legal owner or lienholder

   The lender's name, identification and whether it takes electronic titles.

   Watch out: Where a lender is recorded, the certificate goes to them rather than to the buyer - and if they are in the electronic programme, no paper certificate is printed at all until the loan is cleared.

9. 9
   Dealers only

   The dealer band

   Dealer type, number, name, sale and delivery dates and the dealer's own certification.

   Watch out: On a private sale this whole band stays empty. A buyer who fills it in because they think it means the previous owner has created a false statement on a form signed under penalty of perjury.

10. 10
    The buyer fills this in

    Sign it, and where

    Signature, title if signing for a business, and the date and place - city or county - the signature was made.

    Watch out: The place-signed line is not decoration. It has to agree with the county the notary or agent enters in the block below it.

11. 11
    The buyer fills this in

    The notarisation block

    The witness fills this one in: where in Washington the signing happened, on what day, whose signature was watched, and then their own name twice - once written and once stamped - with a commission date or a county office number.

    Watch out: This is the block a licensing agent completes for free while you stand there. Paying a notary first is a choice, not a requirement.

What gets this one rejected

• •A signature made before the buyer got there. All registered owners must sign the completed form in front of a licensed notary public or in person at a vehicle licensing office.
• •One signature where the vehicle is going into two names. Each registered owner signs, each in front of the notary or agent.
• •A post office box in the residence line. A Washington primary residence street address or principal place of business street address is required on the vehicle record, and the exception has its own form.
• •An expired Washington driver licence, or none at all, without the exemption form attached.
• •A blank mileage entry on a vehicle of model year 2011 or newer. The odometer disclosure is not optional under the federal rule.
• •Arriving on the sixteenth day. The department charges a penalty that starts then and grows daily until it caps.
• •A scale weight left empty because it was not on the certificate. The vehicle then has to be weighed at a vehicle scale and the documentation submitted with the application.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •Only a handful of boxes are compulsory. The department's own instructions narrow it: plate or title-purpose-only number, colour, identification number, model year, fuel, use, make, body type, scale weight, mileage, the new registered owner, and a lienholder only where there is one.
• •Certification is the cheap alternative to a notary. The form prints it above the seal box: you don't need your signature notarized if you sign in front of a WA vehicle licensing agent, who can certify your signature.
• •Survivorship is a tick, not an assumption. Two owners who want the survivor to take the vehicle have to say so in the joint tenants with right of survivorship box. Nothing happens by default.
• •The quick title tick has a price and a set of exclusions. It prints the certificate at the counter instead of posting it in six to eight weeks, and it is not available for a vehicle reported stolen, one destroyed by an insurer or a wrecker, or one carrying a WA rebuilt brand.
• •A trim or a body style you cannot find is not a reason to guess. The lists on this form are the department's own drop-downs. Where a vehicle does not fit one, the licensing agent picks the code, not the applicant.

Every line here was read off 420-001 (R/5/19) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Washington State Department of Licensing 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 Washington seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Washington involves.