How Do I Create a Contract to Sell a Car?

Full question:

What do I need to draw up a contract between two people to sell a car?

• Category: Contracts
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: California

Answer:

A contract generally involves an offer, acceptance and something of value (consideration) given in exchange. Contracts are agreements that are legally enforceable. A contract is an agreement between two parties that creates an obligation to do or refrain from doing a particular thing. The purpose of a contract is to establish the terms of the agreement by which the parties have fixed their rights and duties. An oral contract is an agreement made with spoken words and either no writing or only partially written. An oral contract may generally be enforced the same as a written agreement. However, it is much more difficult with an oral contract to prove its existence or the terms. Oral contracts also usually have a shorter time period within which a person seeking to enforce their contract right must sue. A written contract generally provides a longer time to sue than for breach of an oral contract. Contracts are mainly governed by state statutory and common (judge-made) law and private law. Private law generally refers to the terms of the agreement between the parties, as parties have freedom to override many state law requirements regarding formalities of contracts. Each state has developed its own common law of contracts, which consists of a body of jurisprudence developed over time by trial and appellate courts on a case-by-case basis.

The existence of a contract requires:

-an offer;
-an acceptance of that offer which results in a meeting of the minds,
-a promise to perform,
-a valuable consideration,
-a time or event when performance must be made,
-terms and conditions for performance,
-performance, if the contract is "unilateral".

A contract may be express or implied. An express contract is one, whose terms are stated in words. An implied contract is one, the existence and terms of which are manifested by conduct. A unilateral contract is one in which there is a promise to pay or give other consideration in return for actual performance. A bilateral contract is one in which a promise is exchanged for a promise. In most cases contracts can be either written or oral, but oral contracts are more difficult to prove and in most jurisdictions the time to sue on the contract is shorter. To be legally binding as a contract, a promise must be exchanged for adequate consideration. Adequate consideration is a benefit or detriment which a party receives which reasonably and fairly induces them to make the promise/contract. Therefore, gifts are not supported by adequate consideration and the promise to make a gift is generally unenforceable.