Certified Bill Of Sale: Fill & Download for Free

My wife won this Honda Civic on The Price Is Right, back in 2016.Nothing happens until after the show airs. We were sworn to secrecy until then. She had to sign non-disclosure paperwork stating that we would tell nobody or risk forfeiture of all prizes. We had to keep this secret for ten weeks, until our show finally aired.A few weeks after air date CBS mailed our California non-resident state income tax bill, for 7% of the value of the car. (In our case, 7% of $22k or $1540). Again nothing happens until they receive that payment, in a certified check! A few more weeks passed before Honda of Hollywood, who had provided the car, called to arrange delivery.We assumed they would just have us pick up the car locally rather than ship it, because we were living in Buffalo, New York. But it’s up to the local California dealer, and they chose to ship it to New York. (Probably because they get full credit from Honda on the sale, and get it off their lot. It was late in the year and the new models were coming in.)We waited over a month for them to finalize shipping. The show aired in early November and we didn’t get it until February. They ended up putting it on a private carrier who was bringing miscellaneous cars cross-country. He delivered it to our closest WalMart parking lot on a Sunday night at 11PM! We had to nervously drive it home without license plates in the dead of night!Now the story gets crazy.We went to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) the next day to get the plates and title. They wanted a “Bill of Sale”, which of course we didn’t have. “We won it on Price Is Right,” we explained. Word got around the DMV office and everyone was congratulating us. Finally the “supervisor” had to get involved. They determined we needed a Certificate of Origin. We weren’t given that either. All we had was the tax bill from CBS. We called the dealer; they didn’t have it. They had to call the Honda factory in Ohio for that. So that took the whole week to sort out.We left empty-handed but finally got the plates on our next DMV visit a week later. We still have the car three years later and LOVE IT! The rear plate holder is the one given to all car winners and says, “I won this car on The Price Is Right”. The front plate holder is “HONDA of HOLLYWOOD”. Both make for great conversation pieces! [I filed down the screws on the rear plate to prevent someone the temptation of stealing it!]Fast-forward to the following January and the 1099-MISC arrives from CBS. We were prepared to pay federal tax on the car and had put money aside. What we didn’t anticipate was that the extra $22000 would push us into a higher tax bracket. So we paid more than anticipated. The tax software makes it easy to calculate with car and without car taxes, and the “with car” tax differential amounted to 31% of the car, or an extra $6800. We got all that California pre-paid tax back (filing non-resident form), but ended up paying it (7%) to NY State instead.Total taxes: 38% or $8372.Was it worth it? Hell yes!

Yeah. It wasn’t pretty.I bought a 1971 Lotus Europa Type 74in a partly disassembled state. It was mostly complete, but typical “basket case” kind of thing. Various bits of the Ford engine had been cannibalized, some of the suspension and brake pieces had gone missing, but nothing catastrophic.A couple of years later and it’s all back together, and I go to get it registered.At the time I bought it, the title was missing so it was sold on a bill of sale with an affidavit of lost title, and as it came with a bunch of original paperwork, including the window sticker and original service records, I didn’t think anything about it.Off to the Texas Department of Public Safety to get a vehicle inspection, a form that certifies that the VIN on the frame is the VIN on the paperwork. And then to the DMV, where I discover that what I have is a stolen car.The original owner had taken it to a shop for “restoration”. It had been partly disassembled, there’d been a squabble over payment terms and amount, and in the ensuing chaos, the story diverged.The car disappeared. The shop owner claimed it had been sold on a mechanic’s lien to a disinterested third party for enough to cover the outstanding bill. The owner claimed it had been done without due process and the car was stolen, and had filed charges in the podunk-ish town where all this happened, and nothing further was done.Fast forward about a decade and hey! I’ve stepped in it.In the end, I didn’t get to keep the car. However, enough money changed hands that I felt OK about it. The owner got the restored and fully sorted car he had wanted (at admittedly much, much more than he’d anticipated paying). The shop owner got a stern warning. And I got to own a Europa, without owning a Europa.Everyone won.

My wife won a Honda Civic on The Price is Right. It was a long process, but ended up being a positive experience despite several bumps in the road!Right after the show you sign paperwork that says you’ll agree to pay California State Income Tax on the car. We waited several weeks after the show aired to receive any paperwork from CBS. It was the California state tax bill! 7% of $22033, or $1524. Because she also won ~$600 cash, this was deducted from the bill lowering it to about $900. After they received payment in a Certified Check, it was again weeks later that Hollywood Honda called to arrange delivery. Being in New York, we assumed they would just have us pick up the car locally. But it’s up to the local California dealer who provides the car, and they chose to ship it to New York. (Probably because they get full credit from Honda on the sale, and get it off their lot. It was year-end and the newer models were coming in.)We got choice of color but had to take the exact make and model of car won, no substitutions. We couldn’t even substitute a 4-door Civic for the 2-door Civic that she won on the show. We didn’t necessarily get the exact car won; that may have already been sold once it was returned to the dealer after being displayed on a few PIR episodes.It took a while for them to arrange shipping. The show taped August 30th, aired November 9th, and we didn’t get the car until early February. They ended up putting it on a private carrier who was bringing miscellaneous cars cross-country. He delivered it to our nearby WalMart parking lot at 11PM! Then we had to nervously drive it home without license plates!Now the story gets crazy.We went to the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) the next day to get plates. They wanted a “Bill of Sale”, which of course we didn’t have. “We won it on Price Is Right,” we explained. Word got around the DMV office and everyone was congratulating us. Finally the “supervisor” had to get involved. They determined we needed a Certificate of Origin. We had nothing. We called the dealer; they didn’t have it. They had to call the Honda factory in Ohio for that. So that took the whole week to sort out.We left empty-handed but finally got the plates on our next DMV visit a week later. We still have the car three years later and LOVE IT! The rear plate holder is the one given to all car winners and says, “I won this car on The Price Is Right”. The front plate holder is “HONDA of HOLLYWOOD”. Both make for great conversation pieces! [I filed down the screws on the rear plate to prevent someone the temptation of stealing it!]