Selling a car privately in Ontario: bill of sale and the UVIP

A private vehicle sale in Ontario needs three things: a bill of sale recording the parties, the vehicle and the price; the Used Vehicle Information Package (UVIP), which the seller must buy and give to the buyer; and the vehicle portion of the ownership permit, signed over at the sale. The UVIP already contains a bill-of-sale section, but a separate signed bill of sale is what records the terms — payment, condition, and the date responsibility passes.

What the bill of sale should contain

1. Seller and buyer — full legal names, addresses, and the date of sale.
2. The vehicle — year, make, model, colour, and the VIN, copied character by character from the ownership.
3. Odometer reading at the time of transfer, and a statement that it is accurate to the seller's knowledge.
4. Price and payment terms — paid in full at signing, or the balance and dates if not.
5. Condition — sold as is, or with a stated limited warranty.
6. A lien declaration — that the vehicle is free of liens, or the details of any lien being discharged.
7. Signatures and a witness block.

What Ontario adds on top

The UVIP is mandatory for the seller. It sets out the vehicle's registration history, lien information and the wholesale/retail value range used to calculate tax. Buy it from ServiceOntario before you advertise — buyers increasingly ask for it up front, and its absence reads as a red flag.

Plates stay with the seller. Ontario plates belong to the person, not the vehicle. Remove them before the buyer drives away, and keep the plate portion of the permit.

Safety Standards Certificate. A buyer needs a valid SSC to register the vehicle with plates. A seller can sell without one — the vehicle is then sold "as is" and the buyer registers it unfit and cannot drive it until certified. Say plainly in the ad and in the bill of sale which of the two you are doing.

Tax on transfer. The buyer pays retail sales tax at registration, calculated on the greater of the purchase price and the wholesale value shown in the UVIP, unless a sworn appraisal shows a lower value. This is why an artificially low price on the bill of sale saves the buyer nothing and creates a paper trail nobody wants.

Family transfers. A transfer between qualifying family members can be exempt from the tax, but it requires a sworn statement — it is not automatic because you wrote "gift" on the form.

The order of operations at the sale

1. Confirm payment has cleared before releasing the vehicle. Certified cheque or a completed transfer, not a promise.
2. Both parties sign two copies of the bill of sale; each keeps one.
3. Seller hands over: the signed vehicle portion of the ownership permit, the UVIP, the SSC if provided, and the keys.
4. Seller removes the plates and keeps the plate portion.
5. Buyer registers the transfer at ServiceOntario within six days and pays the tax.
6. Seller notifies their insurer and cancels or transfers coverage.

Buying rather than selling

Ask for the UVIP and compare the VIN on the document to the one on the dash and door frame. Check the lien section — a lien registered against the vehicle follows the vehicle, not the seller, so buying a car with an undischarged lien can mean losing it to the lender. Confirm the seller's name matches the ownership, and consider a pre-purchase inspection: "as is" means exactly that.

Other provinces

Registration, tax and disclosure rules differ across provinces, and Quebec is a civil-law jurisdiction with its own rules and French-language documents. The bill of sale itself travels well; the registration steps do not.

Generate the bill of sale

Our template covers buyer and seller, full vehicle identification including VIN and odometer, price and payment terms, as-is or limited-warranty language, odometer and lien declarations, and a witness block — drafted for private sales in Canadian common-law provinces.

→ Vehicle Bill of Sale