How to fill out Alabama MVT 5-7

The one repair Alabama allows. Rule 810-5-75-.39 refuses any document that has been altered - correction fluid and strike-throughs are named - so a wrong digit in the assignment on the back of your title cannot be crossed out and initialled. What it can be is replaced, by this one-page affidavit, which reprints the whole assignment block and carries the corrected version. Get the distinction right: it fixes the assignment, never the face of the certificate.

Written against MVT 5-7 (Rev 8/19), issued under Ala. Admin. Code r. 810-5-75-.39. The moment you realise the assignment is wrong, stop writing. Every further attempt to fix it in place makes the certificate worse, and the Department will not take a title with correction fluid on it at any price. One clean affidavit fixes one spoiled block; a certificate that has been scribbled on twice ends in an application for a new one.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MVT 5-7 from the revenue.alabama.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank MVT 5-7 — Affidavit to Correct an Assignment on a Certificate of Title PDF at revenue.alabama.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual MVT 5-7, 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 MVT 5-7 affidavit to correct an assignment, filled in: the assignment of title by registered owner box ticked, an Alabama certificate of title number, a 2016 Toyota Tacoma, a written reason for the correction, a corrected buyer and address, an odometer reading of 71528, a date of sale, and both printed names under the empty signature rules. — The lower two thirds of this page is the assignment block reprinted, which makes it the clearest published picture of what is on the back of an Alabama certificate. The amber above it is the part that explains why a second version exists.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
Type of correction
Tick assignment of title by registered owner. The box above it is marked motor vehicle dealer only and the one to its right is for a licensed dealer's re-assignment.
Watch out: Mark one only. The three are alternatives and a sheet with two ticked describes no transaction the Department can process.
2
You fill this in
Corrected assignment supplement to
Tick Alabama Certificate of Title No. and write the number off the face of your certificate.
Watch out: The title number, not the VIN. They sit next to each other on the front of an Alabama title and get swapped constantly.
3
You fill this in
Vehicle identification number, year, make, model
The row that identifies the vehicle, copied from the certificate.
Watch out: This form will be read side by side with the certificate and the application. Three documents, one VIN, character for character.
4
You fill this in
Seller's reason for correction
Plain sentences on the ruled lines: what was written, what it should say, and why.
Watch out: Be specific and be brief. Odometer entered as 17528 in error, correct reading 71528 does the job; a paragraph of apology does not.
5
You fill this in
Buyer(s) and address
The buyer's printed name and address, correctly this time, in the reprinted assignment block.
Watch out: The warranty sentence above it is live again - I/we warrant this Title. You are re-making the promise, not annotating the old one.
6
You fill this in
Odometer reading and the two statements
The whole-mile reading, with statement 1 and statement 2 left empty unless one genuinely applies.
Watch out: If the mileage is what you are correcting, this is the figure the Department will treat as true. The one on the certificate is now the mistake.
7
You fill this in
Date of sale
Month, day and year, in the three small fields at the right of the odometer row.
Watch out: The date of the original sale, not the date you noticed the error. A corrected assignment describes the same transaction.
8
You fill this in
Signatures and printed names
Buyer signs and prints on the left, seller signs and prints on the right, in ink.
Watch out: Both parties, again. This is the practical cost of a spoiled block, and it is why the advice about not correcting anything in place is worth taking.
9
The buyer fills this in
Name of 1st lienholder
The buyer's lender and its address, or nothing at all.
Watch out: The Department's rule is that lienholder information is not required in the assignment, but if it is provided it must agree with the application. On a cash sale, leave it.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Type of correction	Three ticks, and only one: assignment on Manufacturer's Statement of Origin, which is marked motor vehicle dealer only; assignment of title by registered owner, which is yours; or re-assignment of title by licensed motor vehicle dealer.
Assignment number being corrected	Which block on the certificate went wrong, described in the form's own example as first re-assignment by licensed dealer, etc. On an ordinary private sale there is only one and this line is left alone.
Corrected assignment supplement to	A tick and a number: Alabama Certificate of Title No., or a foreign state and its certificate number, or an M.C.O. or M.S.O. with the name and address of the original first dealer.
Vehicle identification number, year, make, model	One row identifying the vehicle the assignment belongs to.
Seller's reason for correction	Five ruled lines. It is a free-text explanation and the Department reads it - this is where you say the odometer digit was transposed, or the buyer's middle name was wrong.
The legal notice	Printed down the middle of the sheet: any alteration or erasure voids the assignment, followed by Section 32-8-12 in full - a person is guilty of a class C felony who, with fraudulent intent, alters or forges an assignment of a certificate of title.
The corrected assignment	The block itself, reprinted: selling dealer's state licence number if any, the warranty sentence, Buyer(s) and Address, the odometer reading with its NO TENTHS marker and the two exception statements, and a date of sale in three parts.
Signatures and printed names	Signature(s) of buyer(s) and of seller(s) on one row, printed name(s) of each on the next, with ORIGINAL SIGNATURES REQUIRED ON FORM printed at the foot.
Lienholder to be recorded	Name and address of the first lienholder, or nothing, exactly as on the certificate's own block.

What gets this one rejected

•Using it to fix the front of the certificate. The Department's answer is blunt: an MVT 5-7 cannot be used to correct information recorded on the face of the AL title. That needs an application for a corrected title through a designated agent instead.
•Sending it without the title application. The rule requires it to be completed and submitted with the title application, as a supporting document.
•Correcting the correction. Alterations void this form the same way they void the assignment it is replacing.
•A photocopied or stamped signature. ORIGINAL SIGNATURES REQUIRED ON FORM is printed on the sheet.
•Ticking the MSO box on a used car. That option is labelled motor vehicle dealer only and belongs to a new vehicle that has never been titled.
•Leaving the reason blank. The five lines under SELLER'S REASON FOR CORRECTION are why the Department will accept a second version of a block it has already been shown.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•It only ever replaces one block. The heading is specific: this form may ONLY be used to make corrections to information incorrectly stated in the title assignment. Everything printed on the front of the certificate is out of its reach.
•Both of you sign it again. The reprinted block carries buyer and seller lanes because it is a fresh assignment, not a note about an old one. That means finding the buyer again.
•A name variance may need a different affidavit. Where the problem is that the owner's name is written two ways rather than written wrongly, the Department's answer is that an affidavit attesting to the variance in the name may be provided - a separate statement, not this form.

Every line here was read off MVT 5-7 (Rev 8/19) 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 MVT 5-7

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Type of correction

Corrected assignment supplement to

Vehicle identification number, year, make, model

Seller's reason for correction

Buyer(s) and address

Odometer reading and the two statements

Date of sale

Signatures and printed names

Name of 1st lienholder

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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