REG 135 — the California DMV Bill of Sale form.

REG 135 is the California DMV's one-page Bill of Sale form. If you searched for it by name you are already ahead of most private sellers — plenty of CA sales happen with nothing more than a scribble on the back of the pink slip and a prayer that no parking tickets hit before the buyer gets to the DMV.

What REG 135 actually is

REG 135 is titled "Bill of Sale"in California DMV's form catalog. One page. It captures VIN, year, make, license plate, both parties' printed names and signatures, sale price, date of sale, and an odometer disclosure block. That is the whole document.

It is the DMV's blessed format — the form a county clerk will recognize without squinting — but it is deliberately minimal. No warranty language, no defect disclosure, no payment-method details. That is why most sellers pair REG 135 with an as-is condition addendum (which we add automatically).

When you actually need it

Here is the part that confuses people: California does not legally require a bill of sale to transfer a vehicle. That is different from Florida, where HSMV 82050 is mandatory. In California, the signed title (the pink slip) is the primary legal instrument of transfer. REG 135 is strongly recommended, and in practice it is what the buyer hands to the county when they want to prove the sale price for use tax purposes.

Recommended becomes effectively mandatory when:

• The title is missing or in the wrong name.
• You are gifting the vehicle — REG 135 documents a declared value and heads off a use-tax dispute.
• The buyer plans to register out of state — their home DMV will want it on paper.

REG 135 is not REG 138 — file both

This is the #1 mistake California private sellers make. REG 135 is the bill of sale. REG 138 — the Notice of Transfer and Release of Liability — is a completely different form that the seller must file with the DMV within 5 calendar days of sale.

If you skip REG 138, you are still the registered owner in DMV records until the buyer finishes their end. Which means: parking tickets, toll violations, red-light camera tickets, and civil suits arising from how the buyer drives your former car all come to you. File REG 138 online at DMV.ca.gov the same day as the sale. It is free and takes three minutes. Full walkthrough: REG 138 explained.

Smog certificate — the seller's problem in California

Unlike most states, California makes the seller responsible for providing a valid smog certificate dated within 90 days of the sale. Exemptions:

• Gasoline vehicles from 1975 or older
• Diesel vehicles from 1997 or older or over 14,000 lbs GVWR
• Electric vehicles
• Motorcycles and trailers
• Transfers between immediate family members (spouse, parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling), with exemption claimed on REG 256

REG 135 does not collect smog information directly, but the buyer will need the smog certificate at the county tax office. If you sell without one and the vehicle is not exempt, the buyer cannot register and will typically come back asking for a refund.

Use tax — no sales tax, but the buyer still pays

California does not charge a sales tax on private-party vehicle transfers. It charges a use taxat the same rate as the buyer's county sales tax — typically 7.25%–10.75% depending on county and city surcharges.

The price you write on REG 135 is what the county will use to calculate that tax. Writing a lower number to help the buyer save money is tax fraud, and California does audit low-reported transfers. Don't do it — and if a buyer asks you to, that is the moment to walk away.

The buyer's 10-day clock

California gives the buyer 10 days from the date of sale to transfer title and registration at the DMV. Past that, the buyer pays a late transfer penalty that escalates quickly. That is another reason to fill out REG 135 carefully and legibly — if anything is unreadable, the buyer waits in line twice.

Where to get the REG 135 form (the blank PDF is free)

The official REG 135 PDF is published by the California DMV and it costs nothing. Download it straight from the source — dmv.ca.gov REG 135 — and ignore any site charging you for the blank form. There is nothing to buy. It is one page.

The catch is what happens next. The DMV ships REG 135 as a flat PDF with tight, unlabelled boxes. Preview on a Mac will let you type into some of them and silently drop others. Phone PDF apps reflow the layout and push text out of its box. And the form has room for two sellers but no field at allfor the buyer's driver licence number, which most California sellers want recorded. So the usual outcome is a printed sheet filled in by hand in a parking lot, with the odometer line left blank because the federal disclosure wording is not on the form.

That is the gap we fill: same official form, typed, positioned correctly, with the odometer disclosure and buyer licence captured on an addendum. Free blank PDF above if you would rather do it yourself — genuinely, no hard feelings.

What goes in each field on REG 135

The form is one page, printed twice on the same sheet — the DMV expects you to cut along the line and keep the bottom copy. Top to bottom:

• Vehicle identification — VIN, year, make, licence plate, and engine number for motorcycles. The VIN is the one field people get wrong; copy it off the dashboard plate or door jamb, not off the registration card, which sometimes truncates it.
• Selling price— the actual number that changed hands. This drives the buyer's use tax, and writing a lower figure to “help” them is tax fraud that exposes both of you.
• Date of sale — split across month, day and year boxes. This is the date your 5-day REG 138 clock starts.
• Buyer's printed name — two lines, for co-buyers. Note there is no signature line for the buyer on REG 135; California only requires the seller to sign.
• Gift or family transfer — relationship and gift value, only if money did not change hands.
• Seller block— printed name, signature, date, and driver licence or dealer number, with a second row for a co-owner. If the title lists two owners joined by “and”, both must sign.
• Seller mailing address — plus city, state, ZIP and daytime phone.
• Buyer mailing address — city, state and ZIP.

What REG 135 does nothave: an odometer disclosure, an as-is clause, or a place for the buyer's licence number. Those matter, which is why our version appends them rather than leaving you to write them in the margin.

How our wizard handles REG 135

Our California wizard is four steps on your phone. It:

• Auto-decodes the VIN via the free NHTSA vPIC API — year, make, model, body class fill automatically.
• Fills the official REG 135 using the DMV template, positioned correctly so the county clerk recognizes it.
• Adds the federal odometer disclosure required by 49 CFR § 580 for any vehicle model year 2011 or newer.
• Appends an as-is condition addendum — the part REG 135 leaves out, where the seller lists known defects and the buyer acknowledges them.
• Captures both signatures on the phone (E-SIGN Act valid) and emails the PDF to both parties.

$9.99 one-time. No subscription. No account. Start the California wizard.

Frequently asked

Related reading

• REG 138 — the release of liability you must file within 5 days
• How to sell a car privately in California — full guide
• Florida bill of sale (HSMV 82050)
• Texas bill of sale
• FAQ — subscription-free, one-time $9.99

Ready to fill REG 135?

Four minutes in the wizard beats forty minutes fighting a PDF in Preview. Start the California Bill of Sale wizard — $9.99 one-time, emailed to both parties. And don't forget REG 138 within 5 days.