The bond itself, and the half of an ownership-in-doubt application that you do not write. A surety company completes and executes it; you are the principal named on it. It is the instrument that indemnifies every previous owner, secured party and future purchaser against loss caused by the department issuing you a certificate it is not satisfied about - and the whole reason a bonded title is possible at all.
Written against 420-054 (R/9/18), issued under RCW 46.12.680(3).
A bonded certificate is sellable, and a buyer will price the word BONDED into what they offer. If the vehicle is worth less than the cost and trouble of a bond plus three years of a marked title, that arithmetic is worth doing before you start rather than after.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank 420-054 from the dol.wa.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is all 2 pages of the actual 420-054, rendered from the PDF the Washington State Department of Licensing 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
Page 1 of 2. The bond itself: principal, surety, sum, vehicle, execution date and both execution blocks.Page 2 of 2. The department’s bonding procedure - the inspection that has to happen first, the one-and-a-half-times valuation, and how the BONDED designation comes off after three years.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
The principal
Your name exactly as the certificate of ownership is to be issued, and your address.
Watch out: Whatever name goes here is the name the department will print. A discrepancy between the bond and the title application stops both.
2
The lienholder fills this in
The surety
The insurance or bonding company, its address, and the state under whose laws it is organised.
Watch out: It must be authorised to transact surety business in the state of Washington - the sentence is printed on the bond and it is not a formality.
3
The lienholder fills this in
The sum
The amount of the bond, written into the face of the document.
Watch out: One and a half times the department's valuation of the vehicle, and the department's valuation is the one that counts, not a price guide's.
4
You fill this in
The vehicle
Year, make, model and the identification number - or, on a motorcycle, the motor number.
Watch out: These come from the authorised inspector's findings, not from your reading of the vehicle. That inspection has to happen before the bond is issued.
5
The lienholder fills this in
Effective date and bond number
Two boxes filled in by the surety when the bond is executed.
Watch out: The six-month clock runs from the bond issue date. A bond obtained early while you assemble the rest of the paperwork can expire before you file.
6
You fill this in
The principal's signature
Printed name, title of office if signing for a company, and the signature - printed and signed rather than typed.
Watch out: This is the only line on the bond that is yours. Everything to the right of it belongs to the surety.
7
The lienholder fills this in
The surety's execution block
Company name, attorney-in-fact, agency name, resident agent, address and telephone, with the commissioner's stamp or agency seal.
Watch out: A bond arriving without the seal or stamp is incomplete, and the department will not take the application it is attached to.
8
You fill this in
The three copies
Original to the department, copy 1 to the bonding company, copy 2 to you.
Watch out: Keep copy 2 for three years. It is what you will need when you apply to have the BONDED designation taken off the certificate.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Name of person or firm to be shown on the Certificate of Ownership (Title)
The principal - you - named exactly as the certificate is to be issued.
Principal's address
Where the principal is.
Insurance or bonding company, and its address
The surety, and the state under whose laws it is organised.
The sum of the bond
One figure in words on the face of the bond, and it is not negotiable - the department determines it.
Year, Make, Model
Three boxes describing the vehicle the bond covers.
Vehicle Identification Number or Motorcycle Motor Number
Two alternatives on the same line, because a motorcycle may be identified by its motor number.
Effective date of bond and Bond number
Two boxes beside the execution date.
Principal - printed name, title of office if signing for a company, signature
The surety's half, with room for the insurance commissioner's stamp or the agency seal.
Distribution note
Printed at the foot: original to the Department of Licensing, copy 1 to the bonding company, copy 2 to the principal.
Bonding procedure
A whole second page of instructions - what happens before the bond is issued, and what happens once it is.
What gets this one rejected
•A bond that has been sitting in a drawer. The original must be attached to the Title Application and submitted to the Department of Licensing within 6 months from bond issue date.
•A photocopy where the original is required. The form says original to the department, and prints its own distribution list.
•A bond written before the vehicle was inspected. The procedure requires the vehicle to be inspected by an authorised inspector to determine the correct identification number, year and make first.
•A sum the principal chose. The bond shall be in an amount equal to one and one-half times the value of the vehicle as determined by the department.
•A missing surety execution - the attorney-in-fact, the agency and the resident agent all appear on the form for a reason.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•What the bond actually promises. That the principal and the surety will indemnify any prior owner and secured party and any subsequent purchaser of the vehicle, and their successors in interest, against any expense, loss or damage, including reasonable attorney's fees, arising from the issue of the certificate or from a defect or undisclosed security interest.
•Anybody with a claim can sue on it. Any such interested person shall have a right of action to recover on the bond for breach of any of its conditions, though the surety's total liability to everybody cannot exceed the amount of the bond.
•Where they would sue. In the superior court of any Washington county in which jurisdiction of the principal or the surety may be had.
•It cannot simply be cancelled. It is returned at the end of three years if the vehicle is no longer registered in the state and the currently valid certificate is surrendered, unless the department has been notified of a pending action. Otherwise it may only be cancelled at the direction of the director.
•The certificate says BONDED on it, and so does the next one. When the application is approved a title is issued indicating BONDED, and all subsequent titles will be in a like manner - until, at the end of three years, the owner applies for a reissue without the designation.
Every line here was read off 420-054 (R/9/18) 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.
