Washington Vehicle Title Bond

For most people, it is your choice. Under WAC 308-56A-210, a bond is only mandatory if you hold a Washington vehicle dealer license or the Washington record shows an existing lien on the vehicle. Everyone else can pick either path: post a bond and apply for a bonded certificate of title, or register the vehicle for three years with no bond and no title at all. If you plan to finance the vehicle, get full comprehensive insurance, or sell it to someone who wants a clean-looking title, the bond is usually worth the premium.

Form TD-420-008, the "Bonded Title or Three-Year Registration Without Title Affidavit," is required for both paths under the ownership-in-doubt process. You complete it and every person who will appear as a registered owner must sign it. At your local vehicle licensing office you submit it with the WSP inspection report (unless the vehicle is exempt), an application for certificate of ownership (title), and, for a bonded title, the bond. Other documents may be required (WAC 308-56A-210(3)).

Yes. Washington allows the sale during the ownership-in-doubt period. Under WAC 308-56A-210(7), the new owner needs a release of interest from you (WAC 308-56A-265), submits a title application, and completes the time remaining on the current ownership-in-doubt period — the clock does not restart. The vehicle still will not have a title until that original three-year window closes and someone applies for one.

RCW 46.12.680 sets the bond at one and one-half times the vehicle's value as determined by the Department of Licensing, not a fixed dollar figure or a percentage set by the surety. Subsection (3)(d) requires the bond to offer protection to any previous owner, secured party, future purchaser, or their successors against any expense, loss, or damage, including reasonable attorneys' fees — so a higher-value vehicle carries a proportionally larger bond.

Usually, yes. Most vehicles need a WSP VIN inspection scheduled through a licensing office before you can submit your ownership-in-doubt application. A short exemption list exists — mopeds, trailers under 2,000 pounds, and vehicles like not-eligible-for-road-use (NEFRU) vehicles, travel trailers, park models, and campers that are 10 years old or older. Under WAC 308-56A-210(4), an exempt vehicle needs either a Washington record, or no Washington record but a title or registration certificate issued by Washington or another jurisdiction. Exempt vehicles still submit the exempt-vehicle affidavit and a legible etching or photograph of the VIN in place of the inspection (WAC 308-56A-210(3)(b)).

No, on either path. If you took the bonded title, you still have to apply to DOL at the three-year mark to get a new certificate of title that does not reference the bond. If you took the three-year registration-only option, a title is never issued automatically — you must proactively apply once the period ends, and if you sold the vehicle mid-period, the person holding it at the three-year mark is the one who applies.

In Washington, a bonded title comes through the "ownership in doubt" process with the Department. You file a surety bond for a three-year period, in a department-approved form, equal to one and one-half times the vehicle's value as determined by the department. Ownership in doubt gives three paths: registration without a title for three years, a bonded certificate of title, or a court judgment awarding ownership. It does not apply to unauthorized vehicles, abandoned vehicles, snowmobiles, or Washington vehicle dealer sales. At the end of the three-year period you apply for a certificate of title, and the new title will not reference the bond. If anything's unclear, call. Eric answers the phone and will walk you through it. Se habla español.

Source: RCW 46.12.680

Request a quote with the form on this page. A licensed agent submits your application to a Treasury-listed surety carrier; once the carrier issues your bond, file it as the requiring agency directs.

A licensed agent reviews your request and submits it to the carrier; most quotes come back within one business day. The carrier decides approval and the final premium.