Vehicle sale agreement, private used car sale

Vehicle sale agreement template

A dual cab ute is changing hands between two people on the Central Coast for $28,500. No dealer, so no statutory warranty and no guarantee of clear title. What the buyer gets instead is five written warranties, a register certificate number, and a mechanic's report obtained before the balance moves.

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Private vehicle sale · rego EJH-47N · both parties keep a signed copyPage 2 of 6
Private vehicle sale · rego EJH-47N · both parties keep a signed copyPage 3 of 6
Private vehicle sale · rego EJH-47N · both parties keep a signed copyPage 4 of 6
Private vehicle sale · rego EJH-47N · both parties keep a signed copyPage 5 of 6
Private vehicle sale · rego EJH-47N · both parties keep a signed copyPage 6 of 6

This agreement is made on 12 October 2026 between Dean Kowalczyk of 18 Tallowood Crescent, Kariong NSW 2250, called the Seller, and Rosa Ferreiro of 7 Bardsley Street, Wyoming NSW 2250, called the Buyer. Neither party is a motor dealer and this is a private sale.

The Buyer paid a deposit of $2,000 by bank transfer on 12 October 2026, which the Seller acknowledges. The deposit holds the vehicle for the Buyer until 19 October 2026 and forms part of the price.
The balance of $26,500 is paid by bank transfer and must be cleared in the Seller account before the keys, the certificate of registration and the service books are handed over. Cash is not accepted for the balance.
If the Buyer does not pay the balance by 19 October 2026 the Seller may keep the deposit and sell the vehicle to someone else. If the Seller sells it to someone else before that date, the deposit is refunded in full within two business days and the Seller pays the Buyer a further $500 towards the wasted inspection cost.
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The Buyer inspected the vehicle on 10 October 2026 and had it independently inspected by a licensed mechanic on 11 October 2026. The vehicle is sold in its present condition, with all faults, whether or not they appear in that report.
The rear bar was replaced after a low speed impact in 2023 and the repair invoice is provided. The tailgate handle sticks in cold weather. The front tyres have about 30 percent tread remaining. The air conditioning was regassed in February 2026.
Two keys, the logbook and stamped service history to 92,000 km, the tow bar and wiring harness, the hard tonneau cover, the cargo barrier and the original owner manual. The roof racks and the aftermarket driving lights are not included and are removed before handover.
Apart from the warranties in this agreement, the Seller gives no warranty about the condition, performance or fitness of the vehicle, and is not responsible for any repair needed after handover.
Risk in the vehicle passes to the Buyer when the balance clears and the keys are handed over. From that moment the Buyer is responsible for insuring it, for fuel, for tolls and for any infringement.
The Seller is responsible for any toll, fine or infringement incurred up to the moment of handover, and the Buyer for any incurred after it, whoever receives the notice.
The registration plates EJH-47N are standard issue and stay with the vehicle. Neither party holds a personalised plate over this vehicle.
This document records everything agreed about the sale. Nothing said in the advertisement, in a text message or during the inspection forms part of it unless it is written above.
The laws of New South Wales apply to this agreement.
Each party keeps a signed copy. A photograph or scan of the signed document has the same effect as the original for the purposes of this sale.
The Buyer pays the transfer fee and the stamp duty. The Seller pays anything needed to clear an outstanding toll, fine or infringement against the vehicle before handover.
A change to this agreement is written on both signed copies and initialled by both parties on the same day. Nothing agreed by phone or text changes what is written here.
If a warranty in this agreement is untrue, the Buyer may recover the resulting loss from the Seller. That right survives handover and is not affected by clause 2.4.

Signed on 12 October 2026. The Buyer confirms having read the disclosures in clause 2.2 and having obtained an independent inspection. The Seller confirms the warranties above are true as at the date of signing and as at handover.

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Completed on 19 October 2026 when the balance has cleared. Odometer at handover, confirmed by both parties, is recorded here and should be within a few hundred kilometres of the reading above.

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Section by section

What each section is for, so you can keep the ones you need and drop the rest.

Cover and parties
A contract cover naming the vehicle, the seller and the buyer, dated, then a paragraph confirming neither party is a motor dealer and this is a private sale.
The vehicle
A seven row identification table: make and model, year, body and colour, registration and expiry, vehicle identification number, engine number and the odometer reading at sale.
Price and payment
A stats row for price, deposit, balance and handover date with a note that no GST applies, then the deposit clause, the cleared funds rule and what happens if either side walks away.
What the seller warrants
Five numbered warranties: sole ownership, no money owing with the certificate number and date, no write off or theft or hire use, a genuine odometer, and no undisclosed structural damage.
No statutory warranty in a private sale
A warning panel comparing a licensed dealer sale with a private one, and naming the three things that protect a private buyer instead.
Condition and disclosure
Both inspection dates including the independent mechanical report, four faults disclosed by name, what is included and what is being removed before handover, and no warranty after that.
Handover and registration
A four step timeline: checks against this agreement on the day, the seller's notice of disposal, the buyer's fourteen day transfer with duty, and what happens to the compulsory third party cover.
Risk, tolls and plates
Risk passing when the balance clears and the keys change hands, who wears a toll or fine on either side of that moment, and confirmation the plates are standard issue.
General
Whole agreement so nothing in the advertisement or a text message survives, New South Wales law, signed copies, who pays what, changes initialled on both copies, and warranties surviving handover.
Execution
A paragraph confirming the disclosures were read and the inspection obtained, then a signature block each with a line for the licence number.
Handover receipt
A block completed on the handover date once the balance has cleared, recording the odometer on the day so it can be compared with the reading in the identification table.

What makes this document work

The certificate number sits inside the warranty

Warranty two does not say the vehicle is free of finance and leave it there. It quotes the register certificate obtained by the buyer on 10 October 2026, number 74102889B, searched against the vehicle identification number, and says it returned no registrations. If that later turns out to be untrue, there is a dated document showing exactly what was relied on.

The deposit clause cuts both ways

If the buyer misses the 19 October deadline the seller keeps the $2,000 and moves on. If the seller sells it to someone else first, the deposit comes back within two business days and the seller pays a further $500 towards the wasted inspection. Most private sale documents only punish one side of that.

The document does not expire at the handover

Clause 2.4 ends any general warranty once the keys change hands, and clause 4.6 keeps the five specific warranties alive and recoverable after it. Underneath, a handover receipt records the odometer on the day, which is the number that proves the reading in the identification table was still true a week later.

Questions people ask

Do you need a written agreement for a private car sale?

Nothing forces one, but a private sale gives the buyer no statutory warranty and no dealer guarantee of clear title. A written agreement is what turns the seller's spoken assurances about finance, write off history and odometer into terms that can be enforced afterwards, and it gives both people a dated record of what the car had and did not have on the day.

Who pays stamp duty on a used car in New South Wales, and how much?

The buyer pays it when the registration is transferred. Duty is worked out on the purchase price or the market value, whichever is higher, at $3 for every $100 up to $44,999, then $1,350 plus $5 for every $100 above $45,000. On the $28,500 in this agreement that comes to $855, which clause 4.4 puts squarely on the buyer.

How long does the buyer have to transfer the registration?

Fourteen days from acquiring the vehicle, after which a late transfer fee applies on top of the transfer fee and duty. The seller has a separate job: lodging a notice of disposal, which is what takes them off the record so later tolls, fines and infringements follow the car rather than the previous owner.

When should a buyer run the register search?

As close to handover as possible. The buyer protection in the personal property securities law is measured against what a search by serial number would have shown between the sale and the start of the previous day, so a search run a fortnight early can miss a registration made since. Note too that a commercial interest may be registered against the owner's name rather than the vehicle identification number, in which case a serial search alone will not reveal it.

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