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Bill of sale · Colorado

Colorado Bill of Sale

Colorado is the state where the bill of sale carries a clock: write the time of sale on it and the buyer gets 36 legal hours to drive the unplated car home. Here's that rule, the Front Range emissions duty, and the county-office process around them.

The Colorado answer

Date, price, VIN — and the hour.

Write the time and date of saleon every Colorado bill of sale. That single habit activates the 36-hour drive-home window, satisfies the price-documentation requirement when the title lacks a price line, and costs nothing. Add the year, make, VIN, both signatures, and keep the buyer’s insurance card in the glovebox for the trip.
Official state form · special case
DR 2116 — Bill of Sale for a Purged Colorado Record
The downloadable state form, used when an older vehicle’s Colorado record has been purged. (The everyday DR 2173 is a counter-issued form.)
Download
For the ordinary sale
Build a Colorado bill of sale — free, with photos
Put the time of sale in the additional-terms box and the 36-hour window is documented.
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Front Range fine print

The seller brings the emissions certificate.

In the Denver-Boulder program counties, an older gasoline vehicle’s emissions test is the seller’s responsibility at sale — furnish a passing certificate to the buyer, or the deal stalls at the county counter. Combine that with Colorado’s other seller moves — plates off (they’re yours), Report of Release of Liability filed on myDMV within 5 days — and the sale closes clean. The buyer’s side: 60 days to title at the county motor vehicle office, tax on the actual price, late fees of $25 a month capped at $100, and temporary plates issued only by the county for private sales.

Not legal advice. Verified against Colorado DMV and county sources in July 2026 — official links in our 50-state requirements table.
Centennial State questions

Colorado specifics, answered.

Why does a Colorado bill of sale need the time of day on it?

Because of the 36-hour rule: a private-sale buyer may legally drive the unplated vehicle for 36 hours from the moment of purchase — seller's driveway to storage — carrying a signed bill of sale showing the year, make, VIN, and the time and date of sale, plus proof of insurance. No time written down, no provable window. Colorado is the only state in our research that makes the clock part of the document.

Which official Colorado forms matter in a private sale?

A bill of sale showing the price is required when the price isn't listed on the title. Colorado's downloadable DR 2116 exists specifically for vehicles whose state record was purged (older vehicles off the system), and the main DR 2173 bill of sale is a counter form. Any complete generic bill of sale — with the time of sale — serves the ordinary case.

Who handles emissions in a Colorado sale?

In the Front Range program area (Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson, and parts of Adams, Arapahoe, Larimer, and Weld counties), the SELLER must furnish a passing emissions certificate to the buyer for gasoline vehicles more than seven model years old. Outside the program counties, no test changes hands.

What are the deadlines, taxes, and the seller's exit move?

The buyer has 60 days to title and register at the county motor vehicle office, with late fees of $25 per month capped at $100; tax is charged on the actual price (2.9% state plus local rates, trade-ins deducted). The seller's exit move is filing the Report of Release of Liability on myDMV within 5 days — and taking the plates, which stay with the seller in Colorado.