How to fill out Arizona 40-1001

The route to a title for a vehicle whose ownership cannot be proved on paper. It is five numbered steps on one sheet and they happen in order, over weeks rather than an afternoon: an inspection, an affidavit, a records search, a surety bond bought last, and a return trip to MVD. The bond is set at one and a half times the vehicle's average value and it stays live for years.

Written against 40-1001 (R07/25), issued under A.R.S. 28-2057. Read the sentence above the applicant's signature twice before you start. You are certifying that you are fully aware that the vehicle can be awarded back to the original owner or lien holder - a bonded title is a bet backed by a bond, not a clean title with extra paperwork.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank 40-1001 from the apps.azdot.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank 40-1001 — Bond Title Application - Vehicle PDF at apps.azdot.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual 40-1001, rendered from the PDF the Arizona Department of Transportation, 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 Arizona Bond Title Application for a vehicle, form 40-1001, completed for a 1998 Ford F-150 with the vehicle identification number entered one character per box, an odometer reading, the federal VIN label match box ticked, an inspector's name and badge number, an applicant affidavit for Nadine E. Halvorsen of Prescott with the box for not having the title ticked, No Record Found marked in step 3, an average value of 4,600 dollars multiplied to a 6,900 dollar bond, and the applicant's signature and date at the foot. — The order of the numbered steps is the whole form. Everything above the bond line has to be finished before the bond amount exists, which is why the heading on step 4 says Purchase Last in brackets.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
The vehicle verifier fills this in
The VIN comb, twice
The public VIN across the first comb and, where they differ, the federal VIN across the second, one character per box.
Watch out: The 5th, 10th and 17th markers above each comb are there to be used. If your last character does not land in the last box, start again rather than squeezing.
2
The vehicle verifier fills this in
Physical vehicle details
Year, make, model, body style, odometer, and length and width for a trailer.
Watch out: This is the inspector's reading of the car in front of them, not yours of the advert. It becomes the record if a title is eventually issued.
3
The vehicle verifier fills this in
The higher-level inspection boxes
Ticked where the federal VIN appears altered, tampered with, missing or unreadable, or is printed in a language other than English.
Watch out: Either box turns a straightforward application into an enforcement matter. It is better to know before you have paid a surety premium.
4
The vehicle verifier fills this in
Inspector name, agency, signature and badge
Completed by a certified inspector at MVD, an Authorized Third Party or a law enforcement agency.
Watch out: You cannot inspect your own vehicle, and a mechanic's letter is not a substitute here. The form names the three places that can do it.
5
You fill this in
Applicant Affidavit: name, licence number, phone
Your details as the person applying for the title.
Watch out: Give a phone number you answer. Steps 3 and 4 both generate questions, and an unanswered application simply stops.
6
You fill this in
Reason for filing the bond application
One or more of six reasons, including a purchase, a gift, no title, an improperly signed title, or a vehicle you built without receipts for essential parts valued over $1,000.
Watch out: The improperly signed box is the one most private buyers need. A title signed by somebody who was not the recorded owner is not a title, and no amount of goodwill fixes it.
7
You fill this in
Owner & Lienholder Notifications
Which of the four search results applies, and what you did about it.
Watch out: A lien holder on file is the result that most often ends the process. Deal with it before you buy the bond, because the bond will not cure it.
8
You fill this in
The value and the bond amount
Average value, times 1.5, equals the bond you have to buy.
Watch out: The bond document itself has to carry your full name and signature, the VIN, the year and the make. A surety who leaves one of those off has sold you a piece of paper MVD will not take.
9
You fill this in
Applicant Signature and Date
Signed and witnessed at the moment the bond is submitted.
Watch out: The certification covers two things at once: that you understand the bond, and that you tried to find the owner and the lienholder. Both are checkable.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Step 1, Vehicle Inspection	A boxed VIN comb marked at the 5th, 10th and 17th characters, then year, make, model, body style, odometer, trailer dimensions, and a second comb for a federal VIN if it differs. Three findings can be recorded: a federal VIN label match, a VIN that appears to be altered, tampered with, missing or unreadable, and a VIN printed in a language other than English.
Inspector Name & Agency, Signature & RACF / Badge / Employee ID No, Date	Completed by a certified inspector at an MVD office, an Authorized Third Party, or a law enforcement agency - not by you.
Step 2, Applicant Affidavit	Your printed name, driver licence or identification number and phone, then the reason: I purchased the vehicle, Vehicle was a gift, I do not have a title or the most current title, the title was not properly signed, I built the vehicle and do not have receipts for essential parts valued over $1,000, or Other.
Step 3, Owner & Lienholder Notifications	Four findings from the records search: an owner record found, a lien holder on file, an out-of-state record found, or no record found. Each carries its own consequence, printed beside it.
Step 4, Surety Bond	The vehicle's average value, multiplied by 1.5 to give the bond amount, with a note of what the bond document must contain: the applicant's full name and signature, the VIN, the year and the make.
Step 5, Submit Bond	Applicant Signature and Date, under a certification that you understand the vehicle can be awarded back to the original owner or lienholder and that you have made all attempts to contact them.

What gets this one rejected

•Buying the bond first. The form's own heading for step 4 is Surety Bond (Purchase Last), and the amount cannot be set until the inspection and the records search are done.
•Missing the bond deadline. Penalty fees will be charged if the bond is not submitted within 30 days from the purchase date.
•A lienholder who has not been dealt with. Where a lien holder is on file, a lien release is required, or proof the lienholder is out of business if the letter is not returned - and without it the bond process stops and becomes a judicial matter.
•An out-of-state record with no response from the lienholder named on it, which stops the process in exactly the same way.
•Signing step 5 before the bond exists. The certification is made at the time of bond submission, not in advance.
•Using it on a vehicle you cannot produce. Step 1 needs a physical verification, and the inspector certifies that they made one.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•The bond is one and a half times the value. The form does the arithmetic on its face: vehicle or trailer average value, times 1.5, equals bond amount. ADOT verifies the value against AAMVA and NMVITIS records before the figure is set.
•A records search costs $3. Per the motor vehicle record request process the applicant may obtain this information for a $3 fee - and where the record is out of state, proof of the other state's response has to come in with the application.
•The bond covers everybody who might turn up. Under A.R.S. 28-2057 it must cover any prior owner and lien holder and any subsequent purchaser, together with their successors in interest.
•It can be a delay you are not penalised for. ADOT waives the late title transfer penalty for a vehicle owner who has encountered a delay as a result of having to comply with the requirements of obtaining a bonded title.

Every line here was read off 40-1001 (R07/25) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Arizona Department of Transportation, 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 Arizona seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Arizona involves.

How to fill out Arizona 40-1001

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

The VIN comb, twice

Physical vehicle details

The higher-level inspection boxes

Inspector name, agency, signature and badge

Applicant Affidavit: name, licence number, phone

Reason for filing the bond application

Owner & Lienholder Notifications

The value and the bond amount

Applicant Signature and Date

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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