How to fill out Arkansas 68

The owner's own damage filing, and the sheet that puts the word DAMAGED on an Arkansas title. Its notice paragraph sets the trigger: a completed copy is required to be surrendered with the certificate of title for any motor vehicle that sustains physical damage equal to or exceeding seventy percent of its average retail value, or water damage to the extent that it was submerged or partially submerged to the point that rising water reached over the doorsill and caused damage to the powertrain, primary computer, or electrical system - whereupon the owner shall apply for a new certificate bearing the notation DAMAGED in the remarks section. Failing to surrender it is a Class A misdemeanor, an approved insurance total loss report may be used in lieu of the form, and an out-of-state salvage brand carries forward onto the Arkansas title regardless of the vehicle's age.

Written against 68 (July-19), issued under Ark. Code Ann. § 27-14-2301. For a seller the timing is the trap: the declaration duty attaches when the damage happens, not when you get around to selling. A flooded car quietly dried out and offered as clean is not just a misdescribed sale - it is a misdemeanor sitting in your name, and the buyer's mechanic finding waterlines in the doors is how it surfaces.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank 68 from the dfa.arkansas.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our 68 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank 68 — Declaration of Damage to a Motor Vehicle PDF at dfa.arkansas.gov · new tab Step 2 · how to fill it in Our filled-in 68 guide PDF · print and keep beside you

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual 68, rendered from the PDF the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, Office of Motor Vehicle 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

Arkansas Declaration of Damage to a Motor Vehicle, sheet 68, filled in by owner Rustin V. Baird of Pine Bluff: a 2021 Kia Sorento LX, vehicle identification number 5XYRGDLF4MG193408, water damage with an estimate of $14,900 against an average retail value of $19,400, 77 percent, price guide named with year and month, a description of floodwater over the doorsill reaching the electrical system, signed and dated with the current title number. — Backwater flooding over the doorsill, so the type of damage reads water and the description names what the water reached. The percentage is shown with its working - estimate, guide, edition, retail value - because the form asks for the arithmetic's sources, not just its answer.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
Who is applying
Your name and address in the applicant block - and the current titled owner's, where the applicant is someone else.
Watch out: An owner filing about their own car completes the first block and leaves the second empty. Both filled with the same name reads as confusion, not thoroughness.
2
You fill this in
The vehicle band
VIN, year, make, model, body style.
Watch out: From the title, as always - this filing ends with the current title number anyway, so have the certificate on the table while you write.
3
You fill this in
Type, estimate, percent, and the guide
Physical or water; the damage estimate in dollars; the percent of average retail value; and the price guide with its year, month and figure.
Watch out: Use a real guide edition and write down which. Seventy percent is the statutory line, and a declaration that shows its arithmetic survives scrutiny that a bare percentage would not.
4
You fill this in
Describe the damage like the rebuilder will read it
The nature and extent across the ruled lines, with frame or unibody structural damage specifically noted.
Watch out: Years from now a rebuilt inspection and a buyer's notification both lean on this text. Water over the doorsill, reached wiring harness and seat modules is worth a dozen vague lines.
5
You fill this in
Certify, sign, surrender
The visual-inspection certification, your signature and date, the current title number and state - then the sheet and the certificate of title go to the department together.
Watch out: What comes back is a title branded DAMAGED in the remarks section. That brand is the honest starting point for everything this vehicle does next - rebuild, sale, or the parts-only route.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Damaged Title Applicant Information: Name and Doing Business As	Who is applying for the damaged title - an owner, or a business with its trading name.
Address and City, State, Zip	The applicant's address block.
Current Titled Owner (if other than applicant) with Address and City, State, Zip	A second identity block for when the applicant and the title's owner differ.
Vehicle Information: V.I.N., Year, Make, Model, Body Style	The vehicle band.
Description of Damage: Type of Damage (physical or water)	One word that routes everything - and for water, the doorsill test in the notice is the definition being invoked.
Estimate of Damage $ and Percent of A.R.V.	The dollar estimate and what fraction of average retail value it represents - the seventy-percent arithmetic done in the open.
Price Guide Used, Year, Month, Average Retail Value $	Where the retail value came from: which guide, which edition, what figure.
The description lines	A dozen rules for a thorough description of the nature and extent of damage - with the printed instruction that damage to the frame or unibody structure that would require repair or replacement if rebuilt should be noted.
The certification and Signature of Applicant for Damaged Title, Date, Current Title No. (State)	A printed statement that the information is as complete and accurate as could be determined from a visual inspection, acknowledging that additional undisclosed damage may exist, above the signature, the date and the current title's number and state.

What gets this one rejected

•Skipping the filing because nobody asked. The duty is the owner's own, triggered by the damage itself, and the notice prices the failure: a Class A misdemeanor.
•Percent arithmetic with no source. The form wants the price guide, its year and month, and the average retail value - a percentage conjured without them is an assertion, not a declaration.
•A description that says totaled and stops. The instruction asks for the nature and extent, with frame or unibody damage specifically noted, because the rebuilt inspection years later reads this very text.
•Filing it for a vehicle old enough to be exempt. The companion insurer form states the age rule: vehicles more than seven model years old before the calendar year of the damage are out - the exemption is determined by subtracting eight from the current calendar year.
•Using it to re-brand an out-of-state salvage title as clean. The notice says the incoming brand is carried forward on an Arkansas title with a DAMAGED brand, or PREVIOUS DAMAGE if the vehicle has been rebuilt, regardless of the vehicle's age.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•The insurer has its own version. Where an insurer pays out but does not take title, the Insurer Notification and Declaration of Damage form does this job from the company's side, quoting A.C.A. 27-14-2301's salvage definition - seventy percent, or water above the dashboard - and goes in by email, fax, mail or in person to the Office of Motor Vehicle.
•A total loss report can stand in. The notice allows approved insurance total loss reports to be used in lieu of the form - the insurer's paperwork already contains the description this sheet exists to capture.

Every line here was read off 68 (July-19) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, Office of Motor Vehicle 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 Arkansas seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Arkansas involves.

How to fill out Arkansas 68

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Who is applying

The vehicle band

Type, estimate, percent, and the guide

Describe the damage like the rebuilder will read it

Certify, sign, surrender

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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