Replaces the pieces of a registration that have gone missing - plates, stickers, the registration card, a disabled person placard. A seller reaches for it when a plate has been lost or stolen and the car cannot be handed over legally plated.
Written against REG 156 (Rev 11/2024), issued under California Vehicle Code 4457 and 9265.
Replacement plates arrive by post. If a buyer is waiting, agree in writing who is responsible for the car between handover and the plates turning up.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank REG 156 from the dmv.ca.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our REG 156 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is the actual REG 156, rendered from the PDF the California Department of Motor Vehicles 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 actual REG 156, completed for a single lost plate. Only the items actually missing are ticked - the long lists of stickers, cards and certificates stay empty. There is a fee to replace most items, and replacement plates are $28 under VC 9265.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Vehicle strip
Plate or CF number, make and VIN.
Watch out: The placard number, birth date and engine number boxes beside them are for other kinds of replacement and stay empty on a car.
2
You fill this in
Section 1, registered owner of record
True full name or business name with a driver licence number, plus a co-owner if the registration names one.
Watch out: The instruction at the top is to complete all sections of this form. A half-completed application comes back.
3
You fill this in
Address and county
Physical residence or business address, county, and a mailing address only if it differs.
Watch out: If your address has changed, this needs the appropriate change of address form with it - the note at the top of the page says so.
4
You fill this in
What you are replacing
Tick boxes for licence plates, stickers, registration card, certificates and the rest.
Watch out: Tick only what is actually gone. Every item on that list carries its own fee.
5
You fill this in
Why it is being replaced
Lost, stolen, destroyed, not received from the DMV, not received from a prior owner, surrendered, and how many plates are involved.
Watch out: One plate or two is a separate tick, and it changes what you owe. Replacement plates are $28 under VC 9265.
6
You fill this in
Explanation
A free-text line for anything the tick boxes do not explain.
Watch out: Left empty where Lost says everything there is to say. Filled in where the circumstances are unusual enough that a clerk would ask.
7
You fill this in
Certification
Print your name, sign, date, and give a daytime telephone number.
Watch out: Under penalty of perjury, as with everything else on the DMV's paperwork. Then expect the plates by post, not over the counter.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Vehicle strip
Plate or CF number, make, VIN. Plus a motorcycle engine number, and a placard number and birth date if that is what you are replacing.
Section 1, registered owner of record
True full name or business name with licence number, co-owner if there is one, physical address, county, and a mailing address if it differs.
What you are replacing
Tick boxes for licence plates, stickers, registration card, certificate and the rest. Tick only what is actually gone.
Number of plates surrendered
A DMV-use box on the right, and the reason to bring whichever plate you still have with you.
Signature
Under penalty of perjury, with the date.
What gets this one rejected
•Filing it when your address has changed. The note at the top says to submit the appropriate change of address form as well.
•Assuming it is free. The form says there is a fee to replace most items and points at dmv.ca.gov or 1-800-777-0133 for the current figure - replacement plates are $28 under VC 9265.
•Leaving a section blank. The instruction is to complete all sections of the form.
•Using it for a personalised plate you want moved rather than replaced. That is the REG 17.
Every line here was read off REG 156 (Rev 11/2024) itself —
the PDF is here — and off the California Department of Motor Vehicles pages.
This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ,
theirs governs.
