How to fill out Arkansas MV 100-03

The form for a sale whose certificate is sitting inside the state itself. When a title is held in the Office of Motor Vehicle's Suspense File - surrendered, undeliverable, or parked mid-process - neither party can endorse an assignment nobody is holding, so this sheet has each of them authorise the Suspense File Unit to do it for them: the seller authorises the unit to assign certificate of title number such-and-such to the transferee below and disclose the mileage of said vehicle exactly as I have stated in my disclosure below, and the buyer authorises the unit to sign certificate of title number such-and-such where my signature is required. A bill of sale and the odometer sentence complete the page, so one sheet carries the whole transfer.

Written against MV 100-03 (no revision printed), issued under Ark. Code Ann. Title 27, Chapter 14 and 49 CFR 580. DFA publishes this form only as a scan of an old typeset original - the footer reads MV 100-03 with a print-authorisation number and no revision date - and its blanks are narrow. Print it at full size and write small: the title number appears twice and the VIN once, and all three must be legible enough for a records unit to match against its own files.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV 100-03 from the dfa.arkansas.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our MV 100-03 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Establish that the title really is in suspense

   A call to the Office of Motor Vehicle before anything is written - this form only works when the certificate is in the Suspense File Unit's hands.

   Watch out: Ask for the certificate of title number while you have them: both authorisations require it, and the unit can read it off the very record you are asking about.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   The vehicle band

   VIN, year, make, model and body across the top.

   Watch out: Copy the VIN from your registration or insurance card if the title is beyond reach - that is precisely the situation this form exists for.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Your authorisation

   Your printed name and the title number inside the seller's sentence: the unit may assign the certificate to the transferee below and disclose the mileage exactly as you state in section C.

   Watch out: Exactly as I have stated is load-bearing. Settle the true reading before writing anything, because the unit will transcribe your figure onto the certificate verbatim.

4. 4
   The buyer fills this in

   The buyer's authorisation

   The buyer's printed name and the same title number, authorising the unit to sign where their signature is required.

   Watch out: Read the buyer their own sentence: their authorisation is conditional on the disclosure matching section C, which is why neither of you amends anything after signing.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   Bill of sale and the odometer sentence

   Full sales price (trade-in lines empty in a private sale), then the reading in whole miles with both certification boxes left alone unless one is true.

   Watch out: The same three-document discipline as every Arkansas sale: this price and this reading must match whatever else the transaction papers say.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   Both closing blocks, then to the unit

   Signature, printed name and address for seller and for buyer, and the sheet goes to the Office of Motor Vehicle for the Suspense File Unit to act on.

   Watch out: Send it the way the unit told you to when you called - and keep copies, because this sheet is simultaneously your assignment, your bill of sale and your odometer statement.

What gets this one rejected

• •Using it when you are holding the certificate. This sheet exists for a title in the Suspense File; a title in your drawer is assigned on its own back, and the unit has nothing to sign for you.
• •No title number. Both authorisations turn on certificate of title number - the record the unit must find. If you do not know it, that is the first phone call, not a blank to skip.
• •The disclosure and the authorisation disagreeing. The buyer's authorisation only operates if the disclosure on the certificate would be exactly as the disclosure completed below - a changed reading voids the arrangement's whole logic.
• •One party's half completed. The unit is being authorised to act for both signatures; a sheet the buyer never touched authorises half an assignment.
• •Trade-in arithmetic in a private sale. As on the 10-313, Less Trade-In is dealer machinery, and the net simply equals the price between two people.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •It is three documents in one. Authorization, bill of sale, odometer statement - the sheet's own title lists them, and it is the complete paperwork for its narrow case: nothing else needs drafting.
• •The unit acts on the paper, not on calls. The authorisations are written instruments naming a specific certificate; the Suspense File Unit assigns and signs exactly what the sheet permits and nothing more.

Every line here was read off MV 100-03 (no revision printed) 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.