How to fill out Alabama MVR 40-12-290

The one Alabama plate that does not belong to you. A vintage vehicle plate is issued to a car over 30 years old that is kept as a collector's item, and the notes on the form say plainly that it is a permanent registration to the vehicle, and must follow the vehicle when sold. That single sentence reverses the state's whole plate rule for one class of car - and it lands on exactly the vehicles that are also too old to be titled.

Written against MVR 40-12-290 (5/09), issued under Code of Ala. 1975, Section 40-12-290. If you are selling a car that wears a vintage plate, do not take it off. This is the one Alabama plate that goes with the vehicle, and removing it leaves the buyer holding a car with a permanent registration attached to a plate sitting in your garage. Everything you have been told about Alabama plates staying with the seller is true except here.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MVR 40-12-290 from the revenue.alabama.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank MVR 40-12-290 — Application For Vintage Vehicle License Plates PDF at revenue.alabama.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual MVR 40-12-290, 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 MVR 40-12-290 Application For Vintage Vehicle License Plates filled in for a 1989 Chevrolet: the owner Odell J. Swearingen of Cullman with his address and county, and the vehicle table showing make, year, date acquired, body type and vehicle identification number, with the county's tag-number column left empty beside it. — A 1989 model, which in 2026 is old enough for a vintage plate and too old to be titled at all - so this application and a bill of sale are the entire paper trail the vehicle has.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
Owner's name and telephone number
The first row of the form, under the six lettered qualifications.
Watch out: Read the qualifications before you write the name. You are certifying all six of them at the foot, including the ones about how the car is used.
2
You fill this in
Street address - physical location
A real Alabama address, with city, county, state and ZIP underneath.
Watch out: County matters here more than usual: qualification A is Alabama residency and the county office issuing the plate is the one where you live.
3
You fill this in
Mailing address
The block to the right, with its own city, state and ZIP, if post goes somewhere else.
Watch out: Leave it empty if it is the same. A half-filled mailing block is how a registration receipt goes to an address nobody checks.
4
You fill this in
Make and year
The first two columns of the vehicle table.
Watch out: The year is what the qualification test runs on: over 30 years old, counted against today rather than against the model year cut-off used for titling.
5
You fill this in
Date acquired
When you bought the vehicle, in the third column.
Watch out: This is what decides whether note 1 applies to you. A first registration by this owner needs proof that Alabama sales tax was paid.
6
You fill this in
Body type
The fourth column, with 2DR Sedan printed as the example.
Watch out: The example is there because the county wants a body style, not a marketing name. Convertible, pickup, coupe - the plain word.
7
You fill this in
Vehicle identification number
The last column of the table. The instruction in brackets is that if there is none, use the motor number.
Watch out: That bracket is the giveaway that this form is built for pre-1981 vehicles. On a car of that age the engine number may be the only identifier stamped anywhere.
8
You fill this in
Signature of owner and date
Sign under the certification that you own the vehicle and meet all the qualifications listed above.
Watch out: The county column beside the table stays empty - the vintage tag number is written there by the licensing office, not by you.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
The qualifications, lettered A to F	Printed above the form rather than beside it. That the registrant is a resident of Alabama; that the vehicle is over 30 years old; that it is owned and operated primarily as a collector's item; that it will not be used as a commercial vehicle, for transporting passengers or property, as a service vehicle or for general transportation such as driving to work, school or shopping; and that it is a private passenger automobile, truck or truck tractor not over 26,000 pounds, motorcycle or fire truck with the original or substantially similar body, chassis, engine and transmission.
Owner's name and telephone number	The first row of the form itself.
Street address - physical location, and mailing address	Two blocks side by side, each with its own city, county, state and ZIP row.
The vehicle table	Make, year, date acquired, body type with 2DR Sedan given as the example, and the vehicle identification number - with a parenthetical instruction that reads if none, use motor number, which is what a car built before VINs were standardised will have.
For county use only	A column at the right-hand end of the vehicle row for the new vintage vehicle tag number.
Certification and signature	That the information listed above is true and correct, that the applicant owns the vehicles described, and that they meet all the qualifications listed above, with a signature and date.
Detach and retain	Three numbered notes below a scissors rule. The first is about proof of payment of Alabama sales tax on a first registration by this owner; the second lists what cannot carry a vintage plate; the third is the sentence about the plate following the vehicle, with a $2.00 replacement fee for a lost, stolen or mutilated one.

What gets this one rejected

•A vehicle that is thirty years old but used for the school run. Qualification D rules out general transportation such as driving to work, school or shopping, and the penalty clause is not theoretical.
•A street rod, a dune or beach buggy, a replica or a kit car. Note 2 lists them, along with buses, travel trailers, utility trailers, semi trailers, taxis and ambulances.
•A first registration by this owner with no proof of tax. Note 1 requires proof of payment of Alabama sales tax by the current owner - a dealer bill of sale, a sales tax receipt from the county, or a previous registration showing the applicant as owner.
•A modified vehicle. Qualification E wants the original or substantially similar vehicle body, chassis, engine and transmission as designed for that make, model, year and age vehicle.
•Keeping the plate after the car stops qualifying. If it is modified or used outside the permitted purposes, the vintage plate must be surrendered to the county license plate issuing official and a standard or other authorized license plate must be obtained.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•This plate is the exception to Alabama's plate rule. Section 40-12-260(a) opens by carving out license plates issued under the provisions of Section 40-12-290, et seq. from the no-transfer rule, and the form's own note three completes the picture: the plate is a permanent registration to the vehicle and must follow the vehicle when sold.
•Thirty years for the plate, thirty-five for the title. Two different ages doing two different jobs. A 1994 car qualifies for a vintage plate in 2026 and still has to be titled; a 1989 car qualifies for the plate and cannot be titled at all, because Section 32-8-31(13) exempts anything more than 35 model years old.
•Misuse costs more than the plate. The penalty clause on the form lists a minimum fine of $100.00, forfeiture of the plate, a requirement to pay regular registration fees and ad valorem taxes, and loss of eligibility for three years.

Every line here was read off MVR 40-12-290 (5/09) 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 MVR 40-12-290

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Owner's name and telephone number

Street address - physical location

Mailing address

Make and year

Date acquired

Body type

Vehicle identification number

Signature of owner and date

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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