How to fill out California REG 481

Your insurer files this when you settle a total loss and keep the car. It is on this list because of what it starts: a ten-day clock that runs against you, not against them.

Top of the blank California REG 481, Salvage Vehicle Notice of Retention by Owner, as the agency publishes it

Step 1 · the form itself Blank REG 481 — Salvage Vehicle Notice of Retention by Owner PDF at dmv.ca.gov · new tab View the blank REG 481

Top of our filled-in example of California REG 481, Salvage Vehicle Notice of Retention by Owner

Step 2 · how to fill it in Our filled-in REG 481 guide PDF · 2 pages · 410 KB · new tab See our filled-in example

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank REG 481 from the dmv.ca.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our REG 481 guide and keep it beside you when you read theirs.

Written against REG 481 (Rev 8/2010), issued under California Vehicle Code 11515(b). Ten days from the settlement of loss date - not from when the cheque clears, and not from when you get round to it.

Last updated August 22, 2026.

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual REG 481, 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 — the fields that get filled in
Grey — not yours to fill
Numbered — explained below

The California REG 481 filled in by an insurer: a 2013 Subaru Outback, Priya N. Raman named as the owner on the date of loss, Sierra Mutual Insurance Company certifying the retention with a claim number and a date of loss of 29 July 2026. — The actual REG 481 - and note whose signature is on it. The insurer files this, not you. What it does to you is start a ten-day clock from the settlement of loss date, inside which the title and plates have to be surrendered and a salvage certificate applied for.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
The insurance agent fills this in
Vehicle strip
VIN, make and California licence plate, filled in by the insurer.
Watch out: The line at the top warns that inaccurate or incomplete information may simply result in the record not being updated. Read what your insurer wrote.
2
The insurance agent fills this in
Vehicle owner or owners on date of loss
Your name - last, first, middle - as the owner when the car was written off.
Watch out: A second owner row with AND / OR tick boxes sits beneath it, for a car titled in two names.
3
The insurance agent fills this in
Address, city, state, zip
Where you live.
Watch out: This is how the DMV finds you if the salvage certificate does not arrive when it should.
4
The insurance agent fills this in
Date, signature and printed name
The insurer's authorised signature, not yours.
Watch out: You do not sign this form at all. What it does is certify that you have been notified - which starts the clock in the paragraph above it.
5
The insurance agent fills this in
Insurance company name and address
Who is reporting the retention.
Watch out: The certification cites CVC 11515(b): within 10 days of the settlement of loss date you must surrender the certificate of title and the licence plates and apply for a salvage certificate.
6
The insurance agent fills this in
Date of loss, claim number and phone
The settlement details.
Watch out: The date of loss is the one that matters to you - it is what the ten days run from, not the day the cheque cleared. The DMV record will also carry a Salvaged brand from here on.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Vehicle strip	VIN, motorcycle engine number, make, California licence plate.
Vehicle owner or owners on date of loss	Your name, a co-owner with the AND / OR selection, and the address.
The insurance company's certification	This is the part to read. The insurer certifies that the salvage vehicle has been retained by the owner and that, as required by CVC 11515(b), the owner has been notified that within 10 days of the settlement of loss date they must surrender the vehicle's certificate of title and licence plates, and apply for a salvage certificate.
The brand notice	The same certification records that you have been told the DMV's database record for the vehicle will carry a Salvaged notation. That brand follows the car for the rest of its life.
Date, authorised signature, printed name	The insurer's, not yours. You do not sign this form.

What gets this one rejected

•Treating it as something the insurer handles for you. They file the notice; surrendering the title and plates and applying for the salvage certificate is yours to do, inside ten days.
•Inaccurate or incomplete details. The line at the top of the form warns the information may simply not be updated.
•Selling the car before the salvage certificate is issued. Until it is, the paperwork and the vehicle's actual status disagree.

Every line here was read off REG 481 (Rev 8/2010) 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.

Forms that go with this one

Keeping a totalled car means it has to sit somewhere, and the Sacramento City Code rules on wrecked or inoperable cars cover both yards and city streets.

Back to all California seller paperwork, or what selling a car in California involves.

How to fill out California REG 481

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Vehicle strip

Vehicle owner or owners on date of loss

Address, city, state, zip

Date, signature and printed name

Insurance company name and address

Date of loss, claim number and phone

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Forms that go with this one

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