The Bill-of-Sale goes to the Buyer. It's a receipt. If they don't register the car, how does that protect you? You have to report the transfer as Mike from Fresno wrote below. Otherwise, they always go after the last registered owner. ;-)

BTW, I report my transfers online all the time on California DMV.

BenT
sent from my electronic leash

> On Apr 17, 2015, at 9:59 AM, Kevin Duvernay <kduvey@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> I always thought all you needed was a bill of sale to be covered legally...
> 
>> On Fri, Apr 17, 2015 at 11:55 AM, Mike Miller <mwmiller6@att.net> wrote:
>> 
>> You don't have to do this in California. Just file a Notice of Transfer or Sale [NOTS] and you're covered legally.
>> 
>> I believe you can even do these on line now but haven't done that
>> personally