How to fill out Alabama MV 40-12-265-1

Because the plate stays with the seller in Alabama, it is the seller who discovers it has gone missing - stolen off the bumper, lost in a house move, or issued and never delivered. This is the one-page application that replaces a licence plate, a validation decal or a current registration receipt, and it is filed with the county licensing office rather than with the Department. The replacement fee is set locally, which is why the form declines to print one.

Written against MV 40-12-265-1 (6/20), issued under Code of Ala. 1975, Section 40-12-265; Ala. Admin. Code r. 810-5-1-.229. This is the form for a plate you still want. A seller who has sold the car and is being chased about insurance on a registration that is still live needs the county office and a surrender, not a replacement - and if the plate genuinely cannot be produced because it went with the car, say so at the counter rather than applying for a new one.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV 40-12-265-1 from the revenue.alabama.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank MV 40-12-265-1 — Application for Replacement Credentials PDF at revenue.alabama.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual MV 40-12-265-1, rendered from the PDF the Alabama Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division publishes and completed end to end: letterhead, every field, and the blocks at the foot.

Amber — you write it
Grey — not yours to fill
Numbered — explained below

The Alabama MV 40-12-265-1 Application for Replacement Credentials filled in: registrant Darnell R. Pettway of Trussville in Jefferson County, a plate number and the vehicle identification number of a 2016 Toyota Tacoma, and a signature at the foot. — Registrant, address, plate and vehicle identification number. The two rows of squares underneath are ticked in ink and are what decide which credential is being replaced and why; the fee line is deliberately blank on the printed form, because every county sets its own.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
Last, first, middle or organisation name
Your name as the registrant, on the top row, with a telephone number and email beside it.
Watch out: The registrant, not the owner, if those are somehow different. This form follows the registration record rather than the title.
2
You fill this in
Physical address and county
A real Alabama street address and the county it is in, with a mailing address to the right only if it differs.
Watch out: The county decides which office this goes to and what it costs. Getting it wrong sends the application to a counter that cannot process it.
3
You fill this in
City, state and ZIP
The row underneath, once for each address you have given.
Watch out: If the mailing side is blank, leave it blank. Half-completing it is how a replacement plate ends up posted to an address you moved out of.
4
You fill this in
Plate number
The number of the plate being replaced, in the vehicle information band.
Watch out: Take it from the registration receipt rather than from memory. If the receipt is the thing that is missing, the licensing office can look it up from the VIN.
5
You fill this in
Vehicle identification number
The full VIN of the vehicle the plate is registered to.
Watch out: In Alabama the plate belongs to you and the registration belongs to a vehicle, so both numbers are needed to identify one record.
6
You fill this in
Replacement credentials requested
Tick licence plate, decal, or registration receipt.
Watch out: More than one can be true - a stolen plate usually takes the decal with it - but the receipt option only covers the current registration period.
7
You fill this in
Reason for replacement
One of four: stolen or lost, mutilated or damaged, incorrect, or never received.
Watch out: Each tick carries a condition printed beside it, and the conditions are not the same. Read the line you are ticking before you tick it.
8
You fill this in
Signature
Sign under the certification that the information provided is true and correct.
Watch out: No notary. What backs it is the perjury certification printed above the line and, on a stolen plate, the police report you are expected to have made.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Registrant information	Last, first, middle or organisation name, a telephone number and an email address across the top row.
Addresses	Physical address and county on the left, mailing address on the right if it is different, then city, state and ZIP for each.
Vehicle information	Plate number and vehicle identification number, with an office use only box beside them.
Replacement credentials requested	Three ticks: License Plate, Decal, or Registration Receipt - the last one qualified in bold as current registration period only.
Reason for replacement	Four ticks, each with its own printed condition. Stolen or lost, and it is the responsibility of the registrant to notify the appropriate law enforcement agency regarding lost or stolen license plates. Mutilated or damaged, and the plate must be surrendered, or a statement as to the certification of the destruction of the license plate may be submitted. Incorrect, with a copy of the original registration receipt reflecting the incorrect information. Never received, for a plate or decal lost in the mail.
The recovery warning	A paragraph: should the lost license plate be recovered or come into the possession of the applicant, the license plate must immediately be delivered to the local licensing authority - and using an old tag or validation stamp is a misdemeanour under Section 40-12-265.
Signature and date	One line, under a certification made under penalty of perjury.
Where it goes	The foot of the form separates the two routes: ordinary registrants return it to the local licensing official's office, while credentials issued by the Department itself - state, county, municipal, public utility, US government loaned, consular, volunteer fire department or IRP - go to the Motor Vehicle Division.

What gets this one rejected

•Sending it to Montgomery when the plate came from a county. The instruction at the top is to return this application with payment to your local licensing official's office, and the Department only handles the specialised classes listed at the foot.
•Ticking mutilated or damaged and keeping the plate. It has to be surrendered, or the destruction certified in a statement.
•Ticking incorrect and enclosing the original receipt. The form asks for a copy and says in the same breath: do not return the original registration receipt.
•Asking for a replacement receipt for a past registration year. The bold qualifier is current registration period only.
•Reporting a plate stolen here and nowhere else. The form makes the police report the registrant's own responsibility, and it is not something the licensing office does for you.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•Replacing is not surrendering. This form gets you a plate back. If the car has been sold and you want the registration to end, what you need is to hand the plate in at the county office - the opposite errand.
•The fee is a local question. Printed on the form beside the request block: replacement fee is determined by local licensing office. Section 40-12-265(b) sets the statutory replacement charge, and counties add their own issuance fees on top.
•Found plates have to come back. The recovery paragraph is not decoration. Two live plates with the same number is exactly the situation the misdemeanour provision exists for.

Every line here was read off MV 40-12-265-1 (6/20) itself — the PDF is here — and off 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.

How to fill out Alabama MV 40-12-265-1

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Last, first, middle or organisation name

Physical address and county

City, state and ZIP

Plate number

Vehicle identification number

Replacement credentials requested

Reason for replacement

Signature

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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