The paper way to end a Connecticut registration. Most sellers should use the online termination instead - it takes about seven minutes and produces the receipt straight away - but the E-159 is what you need when the plates were lost or stolen rather than kept, when you have moved out of state and want the receipt posted somewhere new, or when the registration belonged to somebody who has died. It is one small sheet with three rows of ticks, and the ticks are the whole document.
Written against E-159 (Rev 11-2019), issued under Conn. Gen. Stat. s. 14-16(a), subscribed under penalty of false statement per s. 14-110 and s. 53a-157b.
This form's boxes sit above its own masthead - the registration and plate details are printed at the top of the sheet and the form's title, instructions and address block appear below them. Fill in the top block first; it is not a separate page.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank E-159 from the portal.ct.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual E-159, rendered from the PDF the Connecticut 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
Filled in for an ordinary sale where the plate came off the car and stayed with the seller. The JUNKED and MOVED OUT OF STATE ticks are greyed because neither applies, and so are the LOST and STOLEN boxes. Every name and number here is invented for the sample.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Type of Registration and Class Code
Passenger on an ordinary car, with the class code copied off the registration certificate.
Watch out: Combination is the class for a vehicle used for both private and commercial purposes. Guessing between the two is worse than reading the certificate.
2
You fill this in
Registration Plate Number
The plate characters, which are what the department searches on.
Watch out: This is the only unique identifier on the sheet - there is no VIN box anywhere on the E-159 - so a wrong character means the wrong registration or none at all.
3
You fill this in
Cancel Registration? YES
One tick. There is no alternative box.
Watch out: It looks redundant on a form called a Marker Plate Notice, which is exactly why it gets skipped. Untick nothing and leave it blank and you have posted a notice that cancels nothing.
4
You fill this in
Year, Make, Model
Three boxes describing the vehicle the plates came off.
Watch out: Take them from the registration certificate rather than the title, because it is the registration record you are closing.
5
You fill this in
Number of Plates Returned, and whether they were lost or stolen
ONE or NONE, and then LOST or STOLEN if none are coming back.
Watch out: Ticking NONE without ticking LOST or STOLEN leaves the department to guess. Answer for what is physically in the envelope: the department does not want the metal back on an ordinary sale and will not chase you for it.
6
You fill this in
Vehicle is: SOLD
The reason the registration ends. SOLD on a sale, JUNKED on a scrapping, MOVED OUT OF STATE on a relocation.
Watch out: JUNKED is not a synonym for sold cheap. It describes a vehicle going to a recycler, and it is not the box for a running car you sold to a person.
7
You fill this in
Name and address as registered
Exactly as the department holds it, which is the address on the registration rather than wherever you live now.
Watch out: If you have moved, put the registered address here and enclose a stamped addressed envelope with the new one, because the receipt goes to the address on file.
8
You fill this in
Authorized Signature and Date Signed
The registrant signs. Where a company owns the vehicle, an authorised person signs for it.
Watch out: Date it the day of the sale rather than the day you got round to posting it. That date is what the insurance compliance unit reads if a lapse is ever alleged.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Type of Registration
Passenger, Combination, etc. - the class the plates were issued in. It is on the registration certificate.
Class Code, and Registration Plate Number
The code from the certificate and the plate characters themselves.
Cancel Registration? YES
A single tick. There is no NO box, which tells you what the form is for.
Year, Make, Model Name or No.
Three description boxes identifying the vehicle the plates came off.
Number of Plates Returned: ONE or NONE
Two ticks and no others - the form offers no box for any larger number. It is asking how many are coming back with the notice, not how many the vehicle carried.
Plate(s) were: LOST or STOLEN
The two reasons for returning none of them. Left blank where the plates are simply in your garage.
Vehicle is: SOLD, JUNKED or MOVED OUT OF STATE
The reason the registration is ending. SOLD is the one on this page.
Name of Individual(s)/Company the vehicle is registered to
Exactly as the department holds it, last name first.
Address of the individual(s)/company the vehicle is registered to
Number and street on one line, city or town, state and ZIP on the next.
Authorized Signature, and Date Signed
The registrant's signature under the standard certification: subscribed under penalty of false statement in accordance with the provisions of Section 14-110 and 53a-157b.
What gets this one rejected
•A suspended or revoked registration. The department's online service excludes them by name, and a paper notice does not get round a suspension - the underlying case has to be resolved first.
•No plate number. It is the only thing on the sheet that identifies the registration being terminated.
•Sending it from a new out-of-state address without a stamped addressed envelope. The department's note is that a receipt will be mailed to the address on file with DMV, so if you have moved you enclose an envelope with the new address on it.
•Cancelling a deceased owner's registration with no probate document. The department asks for the plates back by post together with an original probate document naming the administrator or executor.
•Assuming it cancels the insurance too. It does not, and doing them in the wrong order is what produces the uninsured-motorist civil penalty set out on the SR-37 page.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•Online is the faster route and it is free. The department's estimate for terminating a vehicle registration and plates online is seven minutes. It needs your name exactly as it appears on your licence, your licence or ID number, date of birth, plate number, street address and social security number.
•The receipt is the point of the exercise. Your plate disposition receipt will serve as proof that your vehicle or vessel registration has been terminated. It is what the town assessor, the insurance compliance unit and the F-82 all ask for.
•Cancelling is free; the refund is a separate application. Terminating costs nothing. Getting a proportion of the registration fee back is a second form, the F-82, and it has a deadline the cancellation does not.
•Do not bin the plates before you have the receipt. The department's position is that plates can be discarded at your discretion, but the E-159 asks how many are being returned and whether any were lost or stolen - so answer it honestly and keep them until the termination is confirmed.
•Post it to the Registry Records Section. Department of Motor Vehicles, Registry Records Section, 60 State Street, Wethersfield, CT 06161-5057 - printed on the form itself. It is a different unit from the Room 305 title office that handles certificates, so a registration notice sent to the title unit goes nowhere useful.
Every line here was read off E-159 (Rev 11-2019) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Connecticut 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.
