Four pages: two of form and two of procedure. It is what a Colorado owner files when the certificate is lost or destroyed, and it doubles as the application for a fresh title once a lien has been released. The opening warning is the one to read twice - sections in bold text represent required information, and if any bolded field is left blank, your application will be rejected.
Written against DR 2539A (06/04/25), issued under C.R.S. 42-6-125, 42-6-126, 42-6-135, 42-6-137.
A duplicate voids everything before it. The certification says the duplicate will be the only valid certificate of title and the original and any previously issued duplicate title(s) will be void - so a certificate that turns up in a drawer afterwards is waste paper, not a spare.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank DR 2539A from the dmv.colorado.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is all 4 pages of the actual DR 2539A, rendered from the PDF the Colorado Department of Revenue, Division 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
Page 1 of 4. Who is applying, what they are swearing to, what identification they showed and who watched them show it - then where the new certificate should be posted.Page 2 of 4. The vehicle, the owner, the lienholder block left empty because there is no lien, and the fee band with its two alternative totals.Page 3 of 4. No fields at all - the first half of the department's six-step procedure, covering who may apply, what a power of attorney needs and what a lien release letter must contain.Page 4 of 4. The rest of the procedure: the four ways to submit it, and the warning that a cheque sent with a rejected application is destroyed rather than returned.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Owner, Agent or Lienholder
One tick inside the printed certification, saying which capacity you are applying in.
Watch out: If a lien is active or recorded on the vehicle, only the lienholder or their agent can apply at all - ticking Owner will not change that.
2
You fill this in
Printed name, signature and date
The name as your identification prints it, then the signature the certification belongs to.
Watch out: Include the firm name where the title is in a business. The bracketed instruction on the field says so and a county will hold the application without it.
3
You fill this in
Identification of individual signing above
Colorado D L, Colorado I D or Other, with a number, an expiry and a date of birth.
Watch out: Secure and verifiable identification is required for any title issued on or after July 1, 2006, which is nearly every certificate still in circulation.
4
Somebody else fills this in
Witness Signature (required)
Printed name, signature and date from whoever saw the identification presented.
Watch out: Marked required on the face of the form. A county clerk can do it across the counter, which is the simplest way to satisfy it.
5
You fill this in
The mailing address block
Where the replacement certificate is to be sent, with a suggestion to enclose a self addressed stamped envelope.
Watch out: If it is going out of state, this has to travel by post - the online route will not accept an out-of-state address.
6
You fill this in
The vehicle on page two
Year, make, body style, title number, issue date and county of issuance, then the vehicle identification number, plate number and state.
Watch out: The title number and issue date come off the old registration card if the certificate itself is gone. If neither exists, the county can look the record up before you file.
7
You fill this in
The fee band
$8.20 for a duplicate title, $7.20 for a lien release title, each with its own total box.
Watch out: Make the cheque payable to the Colorado Department Of Revenue if you are posting it, and to the County Clerk if you are filing it at a county office. The form prints both.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
The certification at the head of page one
A sentence with three tick boxes in it - Owner, Agent or Lienholder - certifying under penalty of perjury in the second degree how the title will be issued, and that the original title has been lost or destroyed, has not been assigned or transferred, and is subject only to lien(s) shown on State Motor Vehicle records.
Printed Name as it Appears on Identification of Owner, Agent, or Lienholder
With a note in brackets to include the firm name if applicable.
Signature of Owner, Agent, or Lienholder and Date (MM/DD/YY)
The signature that the certification above belongs to.
Identification of individual signing above
Colorado D L, Colorado I D or Other, then an I D Number, an expiry and a date of birth.
Witness Signature (required)
A printed name, signature and date, under the same affirmation the application carries: that the named owner presented the identification described above.
Please Provide Mailing Address Below
Name, street address, city, state and ZIP, with a line suggesting a self addressed stamped envelope to expedite it.
Page two, the vehicle
Year of Vehicle, Make, Body Style, Title Number, Issue Date and County of Issuance on one rule; vehicle identification number, License Plate Number and State of Issuance on the next.
Owner and Lienholder blocks
Name and full address for each, the second used only where a lien is on the record.
The fee band
Account Number M1525571, then Duplicate Title: $8.20 and Lien Release Title: $7.20, with a total box under each.
Pages three and four
A six-step procedure: who may apply, what a power of attorney needs, what a lien release letter must contain, the identification requirement for titles issued on or after July 1, 2006, the lienholder-not-filed-in-Colorado case, and the four ways to submit it.
What gets this one rejected
•A bolded field left blank. The instruction at the top says so in terms, and it is the only warning of its kind in the Colorado set.
•An unwitnessed signature. The witness affirms that identification was actually presented, and the form marks that block required.
•Applying as somebody other than the owner, agent or lienholder. Where a lien is recorded, only the lienholder or their agent may apply at all.
•A power of attorney without identification behind it. If the power of attorney used has no place for the grantor's identification information, a DR 2842 has to go with it.
•A photocopy of a driver licence in the envelope. The procedure says not to send photocopies of identification or original identification cards.
•A cheque with a rejected application. Cheques submitted with rejected applications are not returned and are destroyed by the department.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•The fee depends on which job it is doing. $8.20 to replace a lost certificate, $7.20 where the application is a lien release title. There are two total boxes on the form for exactly that reason.
•A ten-year-old lien releases itself. A lien release is required before a duplicate is issued unless the lien has reached its maturity date, which is ten years from the date filed on a motor vehicle.
•Out-of-state addresses can only go by post. The online route is closed to an out-of-state address, and if the duplicate is to be sent out of state the mail option is the only one.
