Colorado Bill of Sale Word Template: Fields, Layout, and Signatures

A Colorado bill of sale Word template needs to capture the fields the state’s Division of Motor Vehicles requires for a vehicle transfer, plus a handful of extras county offices expect to see. Build it once, save it, and you can reuse it for any private sale. The sections below walk through every field that belongs in the template, give you clause language you can paste in, and flag the few situations where the standard layout needs a tweak.

Fields the Template Must Include

Colorado’s DMV sets a short legal floor for a vehicle bill of sale: the year, make, and VIN of the vehicle, the time and date of sale, and signatures from both buyer and seller.1Department of Revenue – Motor Vehicle. Buyer’s and Seller’s Responsibilities A workable template goes a few fields further so the paperwork passes the county’s eye on the first visit.

  • Full legal names and addresses of buyer and seller, printed exactly as they appear on each person’s ID.
  • Vehicle year, make, model, body style, and color.
  • The full seventeen-character VIN. One transposed digit holds up the whole transfer.
  • Purchase price in dollars. The county uses this figure to calculate sales tax. For a gift, write “gift” or “$0.”
  • Date and time of sale. Both matter: a buyer who purchases after business hours can drive the vehicle home without plates for up to 36 hours, but only if the bill of sale shows the exact time.1Department of Revenue – Motor Vehicle. Buyer’s and Seller’s Responsibilities
  • Odometer reading. Federal law requires a written mileage disclosure when a motor vehicle changes hands; it can live on the bill of sale or on the title, but it has to appear somewhere.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 USC 32705 – Disclosure Requirements on Odometers
  • Lien disclosure. If any money is still owed on the vehicle, note it so the buyer isn’t surprised after paying.
  • Handwritten signatures from both parties. County motor vehicle offices will not process a title transfer if either signature is missing.1Department of Revenue – Motor Vehicle. Buyer’s and Seller’s Responsibilities

Colorado’s official Motor Vehicle Bill of Sale is Form DR 2173, a secure form distributed through approved vendors such as the Colorado Auto Dealers Association.3Department of Revenue – Motor Vehicle. Forms in Number Order You are not required to use DR 2173 for a private sale, but mirroring its layout in your Word document is the easiest way to confirm you haven’t missed a field.

A Layout You Can Drop Into Word

A clean Word template usually opens with a title line (“Colorado Bill of Sale”) and then runs top to bottom in labeled blocks. Keep the labels on their own lines with a blank field underneath so the printed form has room to write. A workable order:

  • Date and time of sale
  • Seller block: full legal name, street address, city, state, ZIP, phone
  • Buyer block: same fields
  • Vehicle block: year, make, model, body style, color, VIN, odometer reading
  • Purchase price (and a line for “gift” or lien details if applicable)
  • As-is or warranty clause
  • Seller signature and printed name
  • Buyer signature and printed name
  • Notary block (optional, used only when a notarization is required)

Save the file as a .dotx template so each sale starts from a clean copy and the master stays blank.

As-Is Clause Language

Colorado’s lemon law protects buyers of new vehicles with manufacturer warranties. It does not cover used vehicles and does not apply to private party sales. Private vehicle transactions in Colorado are effectively as-is already, but writing it on the bill of sale removes any ambiguity.

A short clause does the job: “The seller makes no warranties, express or implied, regarding the condition of this vehicle. The buyer accepts the vehicle in its present condition.” If you are offering a specific guarantee instead, replace that language with the exact terms of your promise so there is a written record of what was agreed.

Signatures and When a Notary Is Needed

Both parties sign by hand. The seller’s printed name on the title assignment must match exactly how the name appears on the front of the title, so copy it character for character.4Larimer County. How to Complete a Title Assignment

Notarization is not required for a standard private vehicle sale in Colorado. It can come into play when the title is missing or damaged beyond use, when a power of attorney is involved, or when a bonded title process is underway. When notarization does apply, Colorado caps the fee at $15 per document for in-person notarization and $25 for electronic or remote notarization.5Colorado Secretary of State. Notary Public FAQs – Fees If you want the template to cover both cases, add a notary acknowledgment block at the bottom and leave it blank when it isn’t needed.

Adjusting the Template for a Gift

When a vehicle changes hands as a gift with no payment, the transaction is exempt from Colorado sales tax.6Boulder County. Gifted and Inherited Vehicles If the recipient takes over loan payments or any other debt as part of the deal, the county treats the assumed debt as the purchase price and charges tax on that amount.

In the template, enter “$0” or “gift” in the purchase price field. If the giver and recipient have different last names, the county may still require a bill of sale even though no money changed hands.6Boulder County. Gifted and Inherited Vehicles The odometer field still gets filled in on a relatively new vehicle.

Adapting the Template for Non-Vehicle Property

Colorado has no specific statute dictating the format of a bill of sale for general personal property such as furniture, electronics, livestock, or equipment. The same fields carry over: names and addresses, a detailed description of the item with any serial numbers, purchase price, date, and signatures from both sides. Firearms carry additional federal and state transfer requirements that a bill of sale does not satisfy on its own.

Without a title to assign and no registration office to visit, the bill of sale is the entire paper trail, so the item description should be specific. “Used riding mower” is weak. “John Deere X350, serial number GX350A012345, purchased new in 2022” gives you something to point to if a dispute surfaces later.

What To Do With the Finished Document

The bill of sale supplements the Certificate of Title, which is the primary document that transfers ownership. The seller signs the assignment on the back of the title, including fields for the odometer reading, purchase price, date of sale, and the buyer’s name, signature, and address.4Larimer County. How to Complete a Title Assignment The buyer takes the signed title, the bill of sale, proof of insurance, and a valid ID to the local county motor vehicle office to complete the transfer.7Department of Revenue – Motor Vehicle. County Motor Vehicle Offices That is the county motor vehicle office, not the County Clerk and Recorder, which in most Colorado counties will not process vehicle title work.

Both parties should keep a copy of the signed bill of sale, printed or digital. For the seller, it is the clearest evidence that the vehicle is no longer theirs if the buyer gets into an accident, collects toll violations, or abandons the car soon after the sale. Two more steps tighten the loose ends: pull your license plates at the time of sale, since Colorado plates follow the owner rather than the vehicle, and report the sale to the DMV within five days through myDMV.colorado.gov under “Report Release of Liability” or in person at the county office.1Department of Revenue – Motor Vehicle. Buyer’s and Seller’s Responsibilities Once that report is on file, state records show you are no longer responsible for the vehicle.