How to fill out Alaska Form 824

The route for a vehicle you own and cannot prove you own - bought from someone who never had the title, inherited out of a shed, paid for in cash with a handshake. It is one PDF containing three documents: the Division's instructions, a three-year non-cancelable Vehicle Title Surety Bond executed by an insurance company, and an Affidavit of Ownership you swear yourself. None of the three works without the other two, and two more forms travel with them. Read the exclusions on the first page before you spend anything, because four categories of vehicle are shut out of this process altogether.

Written against Form 824 (Rev 04/2025), issued under AS 28.10.216, the bonded-title statute, and 2 AAC 92.010(b), which sets the bond at one and one-half times the appraised value. The commonest way this packet fails is the order it is done in. The appraisal has a ninety-day life, the bond is written for one and one-half times whatever that appraisal says, and the inspection has to happen with the vehicle in Alaska - so do the inspection and the appraisal first, get the bond written against the appraised figure, and only then swear the affidavit and post the lot. Doing the affidavit first, as people tend to, means swearing to a bond amount that does not exist yet.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank Form 824 from the dmv.alaska.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our Form 824 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank Form 824 — No Proof or Inadequate Proof of Ownership PDF at dmv.alaska.gov · new tab Step 2 · how to fill it in Our filled-in Form 824 guide PDF · print and keep beside you

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is all 3 pages of the actual Form 824, rendered from the PDF the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles, Department of Administration 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 three pages of a completed Alaska DMV Form 824 packet. Page one is the Division's unmarked instruction sheet. Page two is the Vehicle Title Surety Bond, bond number APS-2026-40817, principal Talia R. Sturdevant, surety Aurora Pacific Surety Company, in the sum of 14,700.00 being one and one-half times the appraised value of a 1994 Toyota Land Cruiser, vehicle identification number 6B4TLD8H2RK105372, executed by the surety's attorney-in-fact and by the principal. Page three is the Affidavit of Ownership in the same name and for the same vehicle, describing a cash purchase at an estate clear-out in Sutton in May 2026 from a seller with no title, two letters to the former owner returned undelivered, and the appraisal and inspection attached, signed and dated 09/04/2026 with the notary block left empty. — Page 1 of 3. The instruction page, shown whole and unmarked because there is nothing on it to complete - it is the list of exclusions and the five numbered steps the rest of the packet carries out.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
Somebody else fills this in
Bond number
Assigned by the surety company when it underwrites the bond, at the top of page two.
Watch out: You do not choose this. If a broker asks you what number to put, they have not written a title bond before.
2
You fill this in
The principal
Your name, as the person the bond is written for and the person applying for the title.
Watch out: It must be identical to the name on the affidavit and on the application. Three documents in one envelope, one name across all of them.
3
Somebody else fills this in
The surety company
The name of the company issuing the bond, which the form requires to be duly authorized to transact surety business in the State of Alaska.
Watch out: Check that authorisation before you pay a premium. A bond from a company not licensed here is not a bond the Division can accept.
4
Somebody else fills this in
The sum
The amount of the bond - one and one-half times the fair market retail value the appraisal established.
Watch out: Work it out yourself before the surety does. If the figure on the bond is not exactly one and one-half times the appraisal in the same envelope, the packet is inconsistent on its face.
5
Somebody else fills this in
The bond's vehicle block
Plate number and state, serial number, year, make, model, body style and colour, repeated on the instrument.
Watch out: A vehicle with no paperwork usually has no plate either, and None is the honest entry. Leaving it blank is not.
6
Somebody else fills this in
Year, make, model on the bond
The description row of the same block, which has to match the appraisal and the inspection exactly.
Watch out: Three documents will describe this vehicle. Agree the wording once - Land Cruiser or LandCruiser, 4D SUV or Wagon - and use it everywhere.
7
Somebody else fills this in
The surety executes
Signed, sealed and dated by the surety, by an attorney-in-fact, with a valid power of attorney authorizing that attorney-in-fact to bind the surety attached.
Watch out: That attached power of attorney is part of the packet. A bond arriving without it is missing a document the bond itself says must be there.
8
You fill this in
You execute
The principal's signature and seal in the second block, over the printed name and title.
Watch out: This is signed in front of a notary or a DMV representative like everything else in the packet - the block has its own commission expiry line under it.
9
You fill this in
Your full legal name, on the affidavit
Page three opens with it: I, (print your full legal name), am the sole owner of the following vehicle.
Watch out: Sole owner is a claim. If two of you bought the vehicle together, this packet needs rethinking before it is signed.
10
You fill this in
The affidavit's vehicle block
Plate number, state, serial number, year, make, model, body style and colour again.
Watch out: Copy it from the inspection report rather than from memory. Form 811 is the document a DMV inspector signed after physically reading the numbers off the vehicle.
11
You fill this in
Year, make, model on the affidavit
The description row, matching the bond page and the appraisal.
Watch out: The counter compares the three. A year that differs by one across two pages of the same packet is the kind of thing that sends it back.
12
You fill this in
How you acquired it
Four ruled lines: briefly describe how you acquired the vehicle.
Watch out: Dates, places, names and what you have already tried. This is where the conscientious effort to contact the former owner is evidenced, and a one-line answer reads like an absence of one.
13
You fill this in
The amount deposited
The bond figure written into the indemnity sentence: I have deposited a $____ surety bond with the Division of Motor Vehicles.
Watch out: The same number as page two. Two different figures inside one packet is a contradiction you have sworn to.
14
You fill this in
Sign the affidavit
Your signature, with the instruction printed beside it - sign in front of DMV Representative or Notary - and the date.
Watch out: Everything above it is a statement of fact you are swearing to, including the sentence about there being no liens or encumbrances on the vehicle.
15
Somebody else fills this in
The notary block, left for the officer
Subscribed and sworn to before me this day of, 20 __, with a seal, the officer's signature and login ID, and a commission expiry.
Watch out: Blank until you are standing in front of them. A pre-filled notary block on a sworn affidavit is the one thing that guarantees the packet comes back.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Who this is not for	Four exclusions, printed before anything else: abandoned vehicles, vehicles obtained through a work or storage lien (a mechanic's lien), vehicles obtained through a towing and storage lien, and foreign vehicles without the proper documentation from customs.
The five numbered steps	The instruction page's own list: obtain a bona fide appraisal of the current fair market value using Form 825; secure a three-year non-cancelable surety bond for one and one-half times the appraised value, or deposit a cash bond of the same value; complete the attached Affidavit of Ownership, which must be notarized; complete and sign a Vehicle Transaction Application; and have the vehicle physically inspected on Form 811.
The two appraisal traps, stated in the instructions	Appraisals that are significantly less than the fair market retail value of the vehicle will be rejected, and appraisals older than 90 days will be rejected. The clock starts on the day the appraiser looks at the vehicle.
The vehicle must be here	2 AAC 92.010(b) as the form quotes it: the vehicle must be physically present in the State of Alaska to be titled under these procedures. The instruction adds what to do otherwise - obtain an ownership document in the state where the vehicle is located.
Bond Number and the parties	Page two opens with a bond number, then the principal - you - and the name of the surety company, a company duly authorized to transact surety business in the State of Alaska.
The sum	One line carrying the amount of the bond, described on the form as one and one-half times the fair market retail value of the vehicle described below.
The bond's vehicle block	License plate number, state, serial number, year, make, model, body style and colour - repeated on the bond itself so the instrument names the vehicle it protects.
The three warranties	What the principal is warranting: that they are the true owner of the vehicle; that there is no defect in or undisclosed security interest on the title; and that if any former owners, second parties or subsequent purchasers suffer loss from such a defect, they may sue on the bond, with the surety's liability capped at the amount of the bond.
Two executions, two notaries	The surety signs and seals first, by an attorney-in-fact whose own power of attorney must be attached; then the principal signs and seals. Each block has its own notary or DMV representative line and its own commission expiry.
Affidavit of Ownership - the sworn half	Page three. Your printed full legal name, a second vehicle block, the statement that there are no liens or encumbrances on this vehicle, and the sentence that carries the weight: I have made a conscientious effort to contact the former owner(s) and/or lienholder(s) of the vehicle in order to obtain title in the prescribed manner.
Briefly describe how you acquired the vehicle	Four ruled lines. This is the only place in the packet where the story is told, and the counter reads it against everything else in the envelope.
The indemnity	You hold the State of Alaska harmless and free from blame in any and all suits concerning questions of title and ownership, and promise to indemnify the State and the Division for any judgments arising out of them.
Where it goes	The application, affidavit, bond and appraisal go with the fees to the nearest motor vehicle office, or by post to ATTN: DMV Correspondence, 4001 Ingra Street, Suite 101, Anchorage. The instruction adds two cautions: use certified mail with a tracking number, and do not send cash - a check or money order payable to the State of Alaska.

What gets this one rejected

•An appraisal that has gone stale. Ninety days, from the appraisal, and the packet has five moving parts - a bond that takes a fortnight to underwrite can outlive the valuation it was written against.
•A low appraisal to keep the bond cheap. The instruction anticipates it exactly: an appraisal significantly less than the fair market retail value will be rejected, and the whole packet goes back.
•A cancelable bond, or one written for less than three years. The heading on the bond page says three-year non-cancelable twice, and the Division repeats it in bold in the instructions.
•An affidavit sworn without any effort to find the previous owner. The conscientious-effort sentence is a statement of fact you are swearing to, and letters returned undelivered are what makes it true.
•A vehicle sitting in another state. The regulation requires it to be physically present in Alaska, and the appraisal has to be done in person here as well - photographs of a vehicle in Washington satisfy neither.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•The bond protects the state and everybody who lost the vehicle. The form explains what it is for in plain words: an insurance policy purchased from an insurance company licensed to do business in Alaska, guaranteeing payment to people who have sued and won in the Alaska courts because a title was wrongly issued.
•A cash bond is allowed, and it does not come back on its own. The Division's note is easy to miss and expensive: cash deposits are not automatically returned, and you must apply with the Division to obtain your deposit at the end of the three years.
•Nothing attached can change the bond. Printed on the instrument: no attached documents shall modify the provisions of this bond or conditions thereto or rights of action arising under AS 28.10.216. A surety's own rider does not soften it.
•Incomplete vehicles are outside this entirely. The instructions cite AS 28.10.221(2) for the proposition that the state does not title disassembled or incomplete vehicles. A pile of parts needs to be reconstructed first, which is a different form and a different inspection.
•Three years, and then the title is ordinary. The bond stays in force for three years from its date unless extended under AS 28.10.216(c). After that the certificate stands on its own, and the vehicle sells like any other.

Every line here was read off Form 824 (Rev 04/2025) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles, Department of Administration 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 Alaska seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Alaska involves.

How to fill out Alaska Form 824

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Bond number

The principal

The surety company

The sum

The bond's vehicle block

Year, make, model on the bond

The surety executes

You execute

Your full legal name, on the affidavit

The affidavit's vehicle block

Year, make, model on the affidavit

How you acquired it

The amount deposited

Sign the affidavit

The notary block, left for the officer

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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