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Lesson 18 of 20 Outline

Dealer education / After the sale. Lesson 18 of 20. 11 minutes.

The Report of Sale and the DMV's forms

After this lesson you can

  • Complete a Report of Sale and know which copy goes where.
  • Meet the deadlines for the notice and the DMV submission, and know the late penalties.
  • Order, store and account for Report of Sale books.

What the report does

The Report of Sale is the DMV's record that a car left your lot and whose name goes on it next. Vehicle Code 4456 requires one for every vehicle a dealer sells, and since January 1, 2019 the report is made in the DMV's electronic reporting system before the car is delivered (Vehicle Code 4456(a) and 4456.2). The preprinted books ended that day: the DMV told dealers to destroy their stock and keep a signed record of the form numbers destroyed for four years (OLIN 2019-02).

The DMV's Vehicle Industry Registration Procedures Manual (chapter 8, read 2026-10-22) says a licensed dealer completes a Report of Sale-Used Vehicle, REG 51, for every retail sale of a used vehicle, with two exceptions: registering a used vehicle solely in the dealership's own name, and selling minibikes and similar vehicles built for children and not meant for the highway (8.010). A sale to another dealer goes on the wholesale report, REG 396 (8.000; OLIN 2019-02), a wholesale auction reports electronically under Vehicle Code 4456(b), and new vehicles use the REG 397.

The numbered forms

The system assigns each sale a unique report-of-sale number that prints on every part of the form and on any temporary plate (Vehicle Code 4456.2(a)(3)), and the manual asks that reports be used in numerical sequence (8.010). Each report has four parts, and section 8.020 says where each goes:

  • The application copy goes to the DMV with the fees and documents that transfer the car.
  • The purchaser's temporary identification copy goes in the car's window.
  • The dealer's notice is the five-day notice to the DMV.
  • The dealer's book copy stays with you for four years, the DMV's own retention period.

Completing the report

Fill the report before the buyer drives away, from the documents, not from memory. Section 8.010 walks the form: the date sold; the make, year model, body type and complete VIN as the title shows them; the motive power and the last registration; each buyer's true full name as the license or ID card prints it, that card's number, county of residence and addresses; the dealer's name, number and address; the salesperson's number; a countersignature for the dealership; the buyer's signature; and the odometer reading.

The date sold is a defined term. Vehicle Code 5901(d) says a sale is complete when the buyer has paid the price, or signed a purchase contract or security agreement, and has taken possession or delivery. Every clock in this lesson runs from that day.

Corrections are allowed anywhere on the form; the person who signed for the dealer marks the correction "OK" and initials it (8.015). The odometer section is the exception: an error there voids the disclosure, and the mileage is disclosed again on a Vehicle/Vessel Transfer and Reassignment Form (REG 262) with a Statement of Facts (REG 256) explaining why (8.015, 5.075). A report completed for a sale that never closed is marked void on every part, with a REG 256 saying the car never left your possession, and the voided copies stay with the book copy at your primary location for audit (8.030). A car the buyer drove and brought back, including under the three-day right to cancel in Civil Code 1784.43 since October 1, 2026, is never voided. It is a rollback (11.150): the fees run from the first sale, and the resale carries a second report, a REG 262 from the first buyer to you, and a REG 256 saying who returned the car and why. A completed report lost before submission is replaced by a new one marked "In lieu of report of sale number," filled exactly as the first, with a REG 256 (8.025).

The window copy and the temporary plates

Before delivery, attach the report's temporary identification copy to the car (Vehicle Code 4456(a)(1)). The manual says to fold it so only the report number, make and VIN show, and to place it in the lower rear window, or the lower right corner of the windshield or a side window if the rear window would hide it (8.020). If the car does not already carry California plates, the system also prints temporary license plates, which you attach front and rear where permanent plates go (Vehicle Code 4456(a)(9) and 4456.2(a)(2)). Vehicle Code 5201(a) covers them as it covers permanent plates: fastened so they cannot swing, upright, legible. The DMV said to use all four perforated corners, or another fastening that keeps the plate still when a car lacks four mounting points (VIN 2019-09). Never handwrite a temporary plate. It prints on authorized paper, in black ink, from an approved template (OLIN 2024-07), and the paper comes from your provider, never the DMV, at your cost (OLIN 2019-02).

The window copy and the temporary plate let the car run without plates until the buyer receives the plates and registration card, or until 90 days from the date of sale, whichever comes first (Vehicle Code 4456(c)). The plate prints with that expiration and the DMV does not extend it (OLIN 2019-02). An owner whose application is in and whose permanent plates were issued 14 days ago or less may keep displaying the temporary plate past the 90 days (4456(d)). The temporary plate stays on until it expires or the permanent plates arrive, and then it comes off and is destroyed (Vehicle Code 5202 and 5201(b)). A damaged, lost or stolen temporary plate is reprinted by the dealer who sold the car; no DMV office can do it (OLIN 2018-03).

The five-day dealer notice

Vehicle Code 5901(a) gives you until the end of the fifth calendar day after the sale, not counting the day of sale, to notify the DMV of the transfer, electronically and in the manner the DMV approves. The reporting system is that manner: it notifies the DMV of each sale as you enter it (OLIN 2018-03), and 4456(a)(8) ties the report to 5901. Report the sale before the buyer leaves and the notice is given. The five days are the outside limit. The DMV's outage memo says a sale not electronically reported within the statutory period accrues the administrative service fee (OLIN 2024-07), and the system opens only to a dealer whose license is valid (OLIN 2024-08).

The notice protects you too. Vehicle Code 5602 says a seller who has delivered the car and given the 5901 notice is no longer its owner for civil or criminal liability for how it is parked, abandoned or driven afterward.

Submitting the report and the documents

Within 30 days of the date of sale on a used vehicle, and 20 days on a new one, the application copy goes to the DMV with the fees and penalties due for registration or transfer (Vehicle Code 4456(a)(2) and 9553(c)). With it go the documents chapter 11 of the manual lists for a transfer: the title released by the registered owner and any lienholder and reassigned through each dealer, the REG 262 where a reassignment or odometer disclosure needs it, the smog certificate or proof of exemption, and the fees and tax (11.015, 11.040). On the title the dealer enters the date of sale and report number, the buyer's name and address, the dealer's name, address, number and signature, and the salesperson number (4456(a)(4)). The sales tax on the sale goes to the DMV with the same application, unless the CDTFA has exempted you as a dealer with 1,000 or more retail sales a year (4456(a)(3); Revenue and Taxation Code 6295).

If the DMV returns the application, a corrected one is due within 50 days of the sale or 30 days of the return, whichever is later, when the first was on time, and within 50 days of the sale when it was not (4456(a)(5) and (6)). Two sales change where the paper goes. A buyer of a lien-free car who demands the title gets the title and transfer documents; you mark the report "customer demands title", the buyer confirms receipt on a REG 256, and the application copy goes to the DMV with that statement (8.055). For a car to be registered in another state, every copy but the book copy goes to the DMV's Sacramento mail address with a REG 256 saying how the car will leave (8.050).

Penalties for lateness

Three consequences follow a late report, and they stack. The first is the administrative service fee under Vehicle Code 4456.1, which the dealer pays and may never charge to the buyer (manual, 3.035): $5 for each failure to attach the window copy or to submit the application and fees within 30 days, 20 for a new vehicle, and $25 for each failure to put the required entries on the title or to clear a returned application inside the 50-day window (4456.1(a) and (b)). The DMV's fee list, Appendix 1F of the manual (read 2026-10-22), shows the same figures and puts a missed five-day notice in the $5 column. The second is the registration penalty on the fees themselves once the 30 days pass, which Vehicle Code 4456(a)(2) says the dealer pays and shall not charge the purchaser for. The DMV's registration fee page (read 2026-10-22) starts it at 10 percent of the vehicle license fee plus $10 each on the registration and CHP fees for 1 to 10 days late, rising to 60 percent and $30 each past 30 days; the sales tax paid late with it draws a 10 percent penalty, with no interest (Revenue and Taxation Code 6295(b) and 6591). The third is discipline. Each violation of 4456 is a separate cause for action against the license (4456.1(c)), and Vehicle Code 11705(a)(8) reaches any violation of the registration division; for a late application alone, the DMV may act only when the first application arrives 50 days or more after the sale, 40 for a new vehicle (4456.1(d)). The OL 2000 outline counts not paying the administrative service fee among the unlawful dealer activities, and a check to the DMV that bounces is a ground for suspension or revocation (11705(a)(13)).

Storing the reports securely

Keep the dealer's copy of every report four years (8.020), with any voided reports beside it at your primary location (8.030), where a DMV inspector may read them at any time: the forms, and the books that once held them, remain DMV property (Vehicle Code 11714(e)). The electronic report is a DMV record too: access to the reporting system is restricted to authorized users (4456.2(c)), and the printed report carries a privacy notice you give the buyer (OLIN 2019-02). Permitting anyone else to use your license, supplies or books to buy or sell cars is an unlawful activity in its own right (Vehicle Code 11713(m)).

Ordering reports

The OL 2000 outline speaks of ordering books with an inventory order post card, and the manual still describes mailing an order form, OL 395U, to the Occupational Licensing section for REG 51 forms (8.000, 2.075). Since January 1, 2019 there is nothing to order from the DMV. The forms print from the system on plain paper, and the one supply is the temporary plate paper, bought from your provider (OLIN 2019-02). The state's vendor system is free and meets the reporting requirement (OLIN 2024-07); a first-line service provider's system does the same for a fee, which you may pass to the buyer as an electronic filing charge no higher than what the provider charges you (Vehicle Code 4456.5(a)(2)).

Sources

  • Vehicle Code 4456, the report of sale, and 4456.2, the electronic reporting system and temporary license plates, read 2026-10-22.
  • Vehicle Code 4456.1, administrative service fees; 4456.5, document processing and electronic filing charges.
  • Vehicle Code 5901, the dealer's notice of transfer; 5602, the seller's release from liability; 9553, the 30 days without penalty.
  • Vehicle Code 5201 and 5202, display and removal of temporary license plates.
  • Vehicle Code 11705, suspension and revocation; 11713(m), lending the license, supplies or books; 11714(e), books and forms as DMV property.
  • Civil Code 1784.43, the three-day right to cancel a used vehicle purchase, read 2026-10-22.
  • Revenue and Taxation Code 6295, dealers' sales tax paid to the DMV with the application; 6591, the late payment penalty.
  • DMV, Vehicle Industry Registration Procedures Manual, sections 2.075, 3.035, 5.075, 8.000 to 8.055, 11.015, 11.040, 11.150 and Appendix 1F, read 2026-10-22.
  • DMV, Registration Fees page, the late penalty tables, read 2026-10-22.
  • DMV industry memos OLIN 2018-03 and OLIN 2019-02 (electronic report of sale and temporary plates), VIN 2019-09 (attaching temporary plates), OLIN 2024-07 (system outages) and OLIN 2024-08 (access to the electronic report of sale), read 2026-10-22.
  • DMV, Lesson Plan Guidelines for Used Vehicle Dealer Education Programs, OL 2000 (rev. 12/2007).