Vehicles: templates and forms

Signatures on a contract for the sale of a registered vehicle are certified by a notary, and the notary draws up the contract on a form of their own — this text does not replace it. Its use is beforehand: to settle the price, the date and exactly what is handed over, and to see what the seller is declaring, before you sit down in front of the notary.

The record made when a car changes hands — on a sale, at the start of a rental, or on collection after a repair. The odometer reading and the description of the visible damage at that moment are the only things that later tell existing damage apart from damage caused since. The record also lists what was handed over: keys, registration document, insurance policies, tyres, jack, first-aid kit.

The contract for letting out a passenger car between private individuals. The terms that are usually missing, and that later cause the argument, are separate clauses here: who is allowed to drive the car, how far it may be taken, whose account the fuel is on, and who pays the fines for offences committed during the term — including the ones that arrive months later.

Written, dated notification of a loss. Insurers work with claim forms of their own, but filing those often drags — with this notice the date of notification is on record from the day you gave it. It describes the event and the property damaged, lists the documents drawn up, and says when an inspection can be carried out.

For when the settlement offered falls short of what the repair actually costs. The objection identifies the claim, the figure you are objecting to, and the ground — a garage quotation, an independent valuation, items left out of the schedule. It also asks for a copy of the expert assessment the insurer relied on, since without it there is no way to contest a particular item.