The other side of the same coin: the form that puts a lien onto an Arizona title. A private seller meets it in one situation - when they are financing the buyer themselves and want the record to show it. It is signed by the registered owner rather than by the lender, which is the opposite of what most people expect.
Written against 48-9902 (R07/25), issued under A.R.S. 28-2132.
Financing a private sale yourself is not the same as writing an IOU. Unless the lien is actually recorded on this form and the record shows it, the buyer owns the car outright the moment the title transfers, and there is nothing to repossess.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank 48-9902 from the apps.azdot.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual 48-9902, 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 name in the lienholder box is the seller's and the signature at the bottom is the buyer's. That reversal is the whole point of the form: a lien is something the owner agrees to have recorded against their own vehicle.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
The buyer fills this in
Vehicle Identification Number, Year, Make, Model
The vehicle the lien is being recorded against.
Watch out: It has to be the same vehicle as the title transaction this form travels with. A lien filed against a VIN that is not being transferred goes nowhere.
2
You fill this in
Lienholder Name
Whoever is owed the money - on a seller-financed sale, you.
Watch out: Use your full legal name as it appears on your Arizona licence. A nickname on a lien record is a lien you may have trouble enforcing.
3
You fill this in
Lienholder Driver License or EIN
A driver licence number for an individual, a federal EIN for a business.
Watch out: This is not optional for a private lienholder. It is the only thing distinguishing you from every other person with your name.
4
You fill this in
Lienholder Address and Lien Date
Where notices should reach you, and the date the lien takes effect.
Watch out: The lien date is normally the sale date. If it is later, there is a window in which the buyer owns the car free of any recorded claim.
5
The lienholder fills this in
The joint lienholder block
A second lender, with its own licence or EIN, address, lien date and legal status.
Watch out: Leave it empty on an ordinary seller-financed sale. Filling it in with the buyer's details is a common and expensive misreading.
6
The lienholder fills this in
Joint Lienholders Legal Status
Or, And or And/Or, only where there are two lienholders.
Watch out: Or lets either of them release the lien alone. And means the buyer will need both signatures before they can ever sell the car.
7
The buyer fills this in
Registered Owner Name (printed) and Signature
The owner - after the sale, the buyer - printing and signing to have the lien recorded.
Watch out: Two owners means two signatures here, whatever the legal status on the title says. This is a claim being recorded against both of them.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Vehicle Identification Number, Year, Make, Model
The vehicle the lien will attach to.
Lienholder Name and Lienholder Driver License or EIN
Who is being recorded. A private individual uses their driver licence number; a company uses an EIN.
Lienholder Address and Lien Date
Where the lienholder is, and the date the lien takes effect.
Joint Lienholder name, licence or EIN, address and lien date
A second block for a co-lender, with its own legal status.
Joint Lienholders Legal Status
Or, And, And/Or - the same three words that govern owners, applied to lenders.
Registered Owner Name (printed) and Registered Owner Signature
Two rows, so a jointly owned vehicle can carry two owner signatures.
MVD Use: Date and Hour of Receipt
A department block at the foot. The hour matters because priority between competing liens runs from it.
What gets this one rejected
•A lienholder signature. The signatures on this form are the registered owner's - the person agreeing to have the lien recorded against their vehicle.
•Two liens on one form. The note is printed in the middle of the sheet: when recording multiple liens, a complete application is required for each lien.
•A missing licence number or EIN for the lienholder. It is how MVD identifies a lienholder who is not an established institution.
•No legal status where two joint lienholders are named. The box decides which of them can later release the lien alone.
•Filing it without the title work it belongs to. Adding a lien creates a new title record, and ADOT charges its title fee for it.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•It is the buyer's document on a seller-financed sale. The registered owner signs, and after a sale the registered owner is the buyer. A seller lending the money is the lienholder, not the applicant.
•Adding a lien creates a new title record. ADOT's fee table lists adding a lien after the initial title, with no ownership change, as a chargeable title event.
•The certificate follows the lien. Where a lien is recorded the title is delivered to the lienholder, and where more than one has been recorded, to the first one listed.
