Use and create form templates
Use the included standard forms, create your own HTML merge templates, and choose them on a deal so they print as a pack once it is sold.
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Forms are merge templates: HTML with {{variable}} placeholders that fill in from a deal. You get a set of ready-to-use standard forms with every plan, and (on paid plans) you can add your own custom templates. You choose forms on a deal's Paperwork step and marking the deal sold generates them; nothing is generated from the Forms page.
What's on the Forms page
The page has three sections:
- Standard forms: starter templates included with your plan. They're free, available on every plan, and never count against your custom-template limit.
- Your templates: custom templates you create. A counter shows how many you've used against your limit and your plan tier (e.g.
2 / 10 (Pro)). - Packs: bundles of templates you choose for a deal in one tick.
Standard forms included
These ship with every account and can be chosen on any deal:
- Bill of Sale
- FTC Buyers Guide (Draft)
- Federal Odometer Disclosure Statement
- Privacy Notice (GLBA)
- Title & Registration Application (Worksheet)
- Retail Installment Contract (BHPH)
- Risk-Based Pricing Notice (Draft)
- Adverse Action Notice (Draft)
The FTC Buyers Guide (Draft) in this list is a plain starter, and a new dealership's Retail Sale pack no longer includes it. The FTC's own form, the one that goes on the car's window, prints from the car's page, and the buyer's copy is on the deal's Review step: see Print the FTC Buyers Guide for a car.
Every standard form prints on the same letterhead: your logo, your dealership's name, address and phone on the left, and the form's title on the right. The logo is the one you uploaded for your website (see Upload your logo and hero image). A dealership with no logo gets the same letterhead without one.
The standard forms are generic starters, not state-certified documents. Several are labeled (Draft) or (Worksheet). Review them against your state's requirements before using them with a customer. The official, fillable state PDFs are separate: you tick them on the deal's Paperwork step and download them from its Review & print step, not here. See Official state forms.
Use forms on a deal
You don't generate forms from the Forms page. You choose them on the deal, and marking the deal sold generates them.
- Open the deal and go to the Paperwork step.
- In the Forms for this deal card, tick a pack under Your form packs (for example Retail Sale), or single templates under Your individual forms, and click Save selection.
- Click Mark sold on the deal's Review & print step. It generates one pack for each pack you chose, plus one that holds the individual templates.
- Open a generated pack: it opens in a viewer titled Generated pack. Click Print / Save as PDF to print or save it as a PDF (choose Save as PDF as the destination in your browser's print dialog).
To generate a pack before the sale, tick it in Documents to print & download on the Review & print step and click Print / download selected. See Generate the closing paperwork.
Generated packs are listed on the deal's Paperwork step under Already generated, so you can reopen and reprint them anytime. The merge values are captured at generation time. Mark sold generates the chosen packs again, so a price or buyer detail changed before the sale is on the final paperwork.
If a field on the deal is blank, that placeholder can't be filled. The output shows it as {{like-this}}, the section header gets a "N missing" badge, and a yellow "Some variables couldn't be resolved" banner appears at the top. Reprinting the old pack won't fix it, so fill in every customer, vehicle and deal field the forms use before you mark the deal sold.
Lines that are left off
A standard form does not print a line that has nothing to say on this deal. On the Bill of Sale, the phone, driver license, co-buyer and color lines print only when the deal has them, the trade-in lines print only when there is a trade-in, and a fee line prints only when the fee is more than zero. The selling price, the sales tax and the total always print.
Standard forms stay up to date
When we improve a standard form, your copy is brought up to date the next time you generate it, as long as you have not edited it. The new wording becomes a new version, and the old one stays in the form's Version history.
A standard form you have edited is yours, and we never change it. A standard form you renamed is also left alone.
Sentences we add when a form is generated
Two sentences are fixed by law and have to appear on a sale document word for word. We add them when a form is generated, so they print even when your copy of a template has been edited.
- The FTC window form sentence. The federal Used Car Rule requires it on every contract of sale for a used vehicle sold to a consumer. It goes on any form that prints the selling price together with the total or the amount financed, such as the Bill of Sale and the Retail Installment Contract. It is left off wholesale deals, and off deals in Maine and Wisconsin, which use their own window guide.
- The Florida dealer fee sentence. Florida requires it on any document with a line for a dealer fee. It goes on a Florida deal's forms that have a Documentation fee or Other fees line, when that fee is more than zero.
They print in a box above the signature lines, or at the foot of a form that has no signature lines.
If your own template already includes one of these sentences word for word, it is not added a second time. Packs generated before October 10, 2026 are not changed. This covers the HTML forms on this page only. Official state PDFs and PDF forms you uploaded print exactly as their publisher wrote them.
Create a custom template
Custom templates let you tailor wording to your dealership. This requires a paid plan (see limits below).
- Go to Forms and click New template (top right).
- Enter a Name and an optional Description.
- In the Body (HTML) box, paste your form's HTML. Use
{{variable.path}}wherever a deal value should fill in. - Pick merge fields only from the Allowed variables list shown beside the editor (e.g.
{{dealer.name}},{{customer.full_name}},{{vehicle.vin}},{{deal.selling_price}},{{today}}). - Click Save template.
To print your logo on a template of your own, add <img src="{{dealer.logo_url?}}" alt="" style="max-height:54px;"> where you want it. If you have not uploaded a logo, the image is left out. To have a table row left off when its value is empty, add data-drop-when="blank" to its <tr>, or data-drop-when="zero" to leave it off at $0.00 as well. The value has to be in the row's last cell.
The editor pre-fills a starter Bill of Sale so you can see the format. Money fields like {{deal.selling_price}} and {{deal.total}} come out already formatted (e.g. $24,500.00). To leave an often-blank field (co-buyer, trade-in, financing terms) silent when it has no value, add a trailing ?. So {{customer.co_buyer_full_name?}} renders to nothing instead of being flagged as missing.
Every money field also comes without the dollar sign: add _plain to its name. {{deal.selling_price_plain}} prints 24,500.00. Use it where your form already prints a $ before the line, so the page does not read $ $24,500.00.
Three fields answer questions a state form often asks:
{{customer.residence_county}}is the county the buyer lives in. When nobody has typed one, it is worked out from the buyer's ZIP code, as long as that ZIP sits inside a single county. A ZIP that crosses a county line leaves it blank.{{deal.salesperson_name}}is whoever marked the deal sold, and before that whoever opened it.{{dealer.federal_ein}}is the EIN from Settings → Dealer info.
The body is plain HTML; there's no rich-text/visual editor. It renders on screen and through your browser's print dialog. If you reference a variable that isn't on the allowed list, the save is rejected with a message naming the bad variable(s). Use only the paths from the Allowed variables panel.
Edit a template
Open a template's detail page to change it. Click its row on the Forms page, or use Edit template in the row's ⋯ menu. (Saving a new template also lands you here.)
- Rename or re-describe it: edit the Name or Description, then click Save details.
- Change the wording: edit the Body (HTML) using only the paths from the Allowed variables sidebar, then click Publish new version. As when creating, referencing a variable that isn't allowed is rejected with a message naming the bad field.
- Review history: the Version history list shows every published version, with the current one marked Active.
Publishing never overwrites the old wording. It creates a new version and makes it active; previous versions stay in the history. Packs you already generated keep the exact version they were generated with, so reprinting an old pack is unaffected. Only new generations use the latest version.
Plan limits and who can edit
- Custom template limits: Basic = 0 custom templates (standard forms only), Pro = 10, Max = unlimited. The standard forms never count against this limit.
- When you reach your limit, the New template button is disabled and a banner reads "You're at your plan's custom-template limit. Upgrade for more."
- Creating, editing, and deleting templates requires the Owner or Manager role. Sales and Accounting users can still open a template's detail page, but it's read-only for them (no Save / Publish / Delete). They can still choose forms on a deal.
Delete a template
You can remove a custom template you no longer need.
If a template is part of a pack, the delete is blocked. You'll see "This template is part of N form pack(s). Remove it from the pack(s) before deleting." Take it out of the pack first, then delete. This prevents a pack from breaking when it tries to generate a template that no longer exists.
FAQ
Where do I actually generate a form?
On the deal. Choose the forms in the Forms for this deal card on its Paperwork step; Mark sold generates them. The Forms page is only for managing templates and packs.
Why does my generated form show {{customer.phone}} instead of a value?
That field was blank on the deal when the pack was generated. The output also flags it with a "missing" badge on that form's section. Fill every field the forms use before you mark the deal sold. For a pack that was printed early from Review & print, fill the field and ask the assistant to regenerate that pack.
Can I upload a Word doc or PDF as a template?
Not as a merge template: those are HTML with {{merge}} fields, and a Word doc can't be used. A fillable PDF can: an owner or admin manager adds it under Your PDF forms on the Forms page, uploads the blank and maps its fields once. It then fills itself from every deal and is chosen on the Paperwork step like the rest. To put a finished PDF or scan on a deal, upload it as a document on the Paperwork step instead.
My plan says 0 custom templates. Can I still print a Bill of Sale?
Yes. The standard forms (including Bill of Sale) are included on every plan and aren't affected by the custom-template limit. Upgrade to Pro or higher only if you want to author your own.
How do I save a generated form as a PDF?
Open the generated pack and click Print / Save as PDF, then choose Save as PDF as the destination in your browser's print dialog. Page breaks put one form per page.
Are these forms officially filed with the DMV?
No. Generating a pack just produces printable paperwork for the customer. Official state title/registration filing is handled separately in the title workflow, and the official state PDFs are ticked on the deal's Paperwork step and downloaded from its Review & print step.