The document that closes the loop Alabama leaves open. There is no notice of sale here, so a registration stays live in the seller's name until the plate is handed in - and when the Department's insurance verification system finds a registered vehicle it cannot confirm insurance on, the letter comes to you. Where the plate went with the car, was thrown away or cannot be found, this is the request the licensing official uses in its place.
Written against MV 32-7A-5 (not published online), issued under Code of Ala. 1975, Section 32-7A-12; Ala. Admin. Code r. 810-5-8-.06. The cheapest version of this problem is the one you never have. Take the plate off the car at the sale, hand it in at the county office if you are not moving it onto another vehicle, and get a bill of sale with a date on it. Every part of the machinery described on this page starts running only because a registration stayed live after the car had gone.
There is no download link for the MV 32-7A-5 here because there is not one anywhere - the Motor Vehicle Division does not publish it. The card below explains where it does come from.
There is no completed MV 32-7A-5 on this page because the Alabama Department of Revenue does not publish the form. It is not among the twenty-five motor vehicle forms in the Department's forms collection; the Mandatory Liability Insurance page links only an instructions and appeal rights sheet and two insurer code spreadsheets; and the Department's own notice of 13 February 2020 announcing a revised version says it is available on our website in the MLI FORMS section - a section inside the officials' portal rather than on the public site. What the field list above describes is what the Department says the form does, taken from its own FAQ answers, rather than a layout invented for a document we have not been given. Ask the county licensing office for a copy.
| On the form | What to put in it |
|---|---|
| The registrant | You, as the person the registration is in the name of, rather than the person who now has the car. |
| The vehicle and the plate | Identified so the licensing official can find the one registration record being revoked. |
| What is being asked for | Revocation of the registration, which is what ends the Department's expectation that the vehicle is insured in your name. |
| What has to go with it | The Department's answer names it: the registrant will need to provide documentation (bill of sale, etc.) and surrender the license plate to the local licensing official to complete the revocation process. This form is what stands in when the plate cannot be surrendered. |
There is no MV 32-7A-5 to read: the Motor Vehicle Division does not publish it, so nothing on this page describes its contents beyond what the agency itself says about it — that is here — and what is on the Alabama Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division pages. This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ, theirs governs.
Back to all Alabama seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Alabama involves.