How to fill out Alaska Form 851

The form that answers the questions a seller cannot answer from the paperwork in front of them: who does the Division currently show as the owner, is that lien still recorded, what did the last transaction actually say. It is a records request rather than a title transaction, it costs $10 per vehicle, and it takes 8 to 12 weeks - so it is worth filing early, particularly when a certificate has gone missing and you are not certain what the Division holds. Personal information in vehicle records is confidential under federal and state law, so the form makes you say which of eight lawful reasons you are asking under.

Written against Form 851 (Rev 04/2024), issued under AS 28.10.505, the disclosure statute printed in full on the form's own second page, and the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act. This form is how a seller finds out whether the ten-day notice they filed years ago ever landed, and whether the vehicle still sits against their name. It is also, occasionally, how somebody discovers the vehicle was retitled without their signature - in which case the next document is the administrative review affidavit, and the copy of the prior transaction that comes back from this request is the attachment it needs.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank Form 851 from the dmv.alaska.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our Form 851 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank Form 851 — Request for Research or Verification of Motor Vehicle Record PDF at dmv.alaska.gov · new tab Step 2 · how to fill it in Our filled-in Form 851 guide PDF · print and keep beside you

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is all 2 pages of the actual Form 851, 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

A completed Alaska DMV Form 851, Request for Research or Verification of Motor Vehicle Record, page one. The requestor is Talia R. Sturdevant with an Alaska driver licence number and telephone number, and the email delivery option is ticked with an address written beside it. The vehicle block carries identification number 5T7NU4FR7FX208461, plate NHV 725, a 2015 Toyota 4Runner SR5, 4D SUV, silver. Under type of research needed, current motor vehicle registration information including owner and lienholder name and address is ticked, and under request reason, I am the owner of record of this vehicle is ticked. The form is signed and dated 08/26/2026. The other delivery options, research types and reasons are shaded grey. — Page 1 of 2. The request itself, filed by an owner of record: identity, an email delivery address, the vehicle, one research type ticked and one reason ticked, signed and dated.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
Requestor name
Your name at the top of the requestor block, with a business name only where a business is asking.
Watch out: Ask as yourself where you can. The owner-of-record ground is the only one of the eight that needs nothing attached to it.
2
You fill this in
Alaska driver's licence number
Your licence number - or, if you do not hold one, the date of birth and last four digits of the social security number the form asks for instead.
Watch out: The asterisked note explains why: the information is used solely to verify requestor identity, which is what the confidentiality statute requires.
3
You fill this in
Where the record should be sent
One of hand delivered, email or post - with hand delivery available only on an in-person application.
Watch out: Email is the fastest of the three by weeks, and the record arrives as a document you can forward to whoever needs it.
4
You fill this in
The vehicle or hull identification number
The full VIN in the first box of the vehicle block.
Watch out: If you no longer have the vehicle and cannot read the number off it, an old registration or insurance document carries it - the plate number alone will not always find the record.
5
You fill this in
Plate, year, make, model
The description row under the identification number.
Watch out: Fill it in even though the VIN is the key. It is what the research unit checks the returned record against before sending it out.
6
You fill this in
Tick one type of research
Source document, current registration information, a copy of a prior transaction, or Other.
Watch out: For a seller wondering whether a sale ever registered, the second is usually the right one - it returns the current owner and lienholder of record.
7
You fill this in
Tick one reason
The ground you are entitled to the information under, from the eight the form lists.
Watch out: Read them before you tick. Each one carries a different attachment requirement, and six of the eight need a document in the envelope.
8
You fill this in
Sign and date
Your signature, under the certification, and the date - which starts a ninety-day validity.
Watch out: Arrange the fee at the same time. The form is discarded after three days if the payment has not reached the Division.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Requestor Information	Requestor name, business name where one applies, Alaska driver's licence number, and then a conditional pair: date of birth and the last four digits of the social security number, required if the requestor does not have an Alaska driver's licence.
Contact Phone Number	One box, and the form warns beside it that requests will be held for 3 days - if payment information has not been received by that time the request will be discarded.
I want the vehicle record to be sent to	Three delivery choices, one to be selected: hand delivered, which is in-person application only; an email address; or a mailing address with city, state and zip.
Vehicle Information	The vehicle or hull identification number, then plate number if available, year, make, model, body style and colour. Hull, because the Division titles boats on the same certificate as vehicles.
Type of Research Needed	Four choices, one only: a copy of the source document used to originally title or register the vehicle in Alaska, such as a title from a previous state or a manufacturer's certificate of origin; current registration information including owner and lienholder name and address; a copy of a prior DMV transaction, such as a registration application or the documents submitted to obtain a title; or Other, with a space to be specific.
Request reason - the eight grounds	One only, and each carries its own attachment requirement. I am the owner of record. I am the manufacturer, which needs a letter on letterhead. I have the written permission of the owners and lienholder, which needs copies of those permissions. A legitimate business verifying information the owner gave it, for the purpose of preventing fraud or recovering on a debt, which needs a copy of what the owner supplied. Use in a civil, criminal, administrative or arbitration proceeding, which needs the subpoena or other legal document. An insurer or insurance support agency, for claims investigation, anti-fraud, rating or underwriting. Notice to owners of a towed, impounded or abandoned vehicle.
The certification	That you are authorized to receive motor vehicle record information as provided in AS 28.10.505 for the reason checked, and that the information will not be sold or disclosed except as provided by law - over the same $10,000-or-a-year penalty paragraph the Division prints on its affidavits.
Signature and Date	With a note printed beside the date that is easy to miss: valid for 90 days from this date.
Where to send it	DMV Research, 4001 Ingra Street, Suite 101, Anchorage, AK 99503, or by email to the research address printed on the form.
Page two	AS 28.10.505 reproduced in full - eleven permitted uses in subsection (d) - followed by 18 U.S.C. 2724, the federal civil action, whose remedies include actual damages but not less than liquidated damages in the amount of $2,500.

What gets this one rejected

•More than one type of research ticked. Select only one type is printed above the list, and a form asking for two things is a form the research unit has to write back about.
•A reason ticked without its attachment. Six of the eight grounds require something in the envelope, and the form names what each one needs on the line itself.
•No payment following within three days. The form says the request is held for three days and then discarded, which means a form posted without arrangements for the fee simply disappears.
•One form for two vehicles. You must submit a separate form and $10 for each vehicle research request - the instruction is in the first paragraph.
•An old signature. The signature is valid for 90 days from the date beside it, so a form found in a drawer and posted next spring is not a live request.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•Being the owner is a ground in itself. The first of the eight reasons is I am the owner of record of this vehicle, and it needs no attachment. If the vehicle is still in your name, this is your record and you may have it.
•Eight to twelve weeks, and the form says so twice. Once in the instructions and once in the payment warning. This is not a same-day counter service, and there is no expedited route printed on the form.
•It is confidential information, and the law is on the back. Personal information in vehicle records is confidential under federal and state law. The whole of AS 28.10.505 is reprinted on the second page so that you can read the ground you are ticking.
•Misusing what you get has a federal price. 18 U.S.C. 2724, printed under the statute, gives the person whose information it is a civil action with liquidated damages of at least $2,500, punitive damages for willful or reckless disregard, and costs.
•The prior transaction is often the useful one. Where a sale went wrong, the third research type - a copy of a prior DMV transaction, including documents submitted to obtain a title - is what shows you which document the Division actually acted on.

Every line here was read off Form 851 (Rev 04/2024) 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 851

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Requestor name

Alaska driver's licence number

Where the record should be sent

The vehicle or hull identification number

Plate, year, make, model

Tick one type of research

Tick one reason

Sign and date

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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