Money back, for a Delaware resident who sells a car privately and buys another. The document fee is what Delaware levies on a vehicle transfer in place of a sales tax, and if you sold one Delaware-titled vehicle within sixty days either side of buying a replacement, the fee on the one you sold can be credited or refunded. The form carries its own deadline in the first paragraph, and it is short.
Written against MV347 (Rev 9/12/2025), issued under 30 Del. C. s. 3001(5), named on the form as the provision the credit is claimed under.
This is the form that turns Delaware's document fee into something a private seller can actually recover, and almost nobody who sells a car in a driveway knows it exists. It is also the only place in the Delaware set where a missed deadline costs you real money rather than a rejected page - and both of its clocks start from events you control.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV347 from the dmv.de.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our MV347 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is all 2 pages of the actual MV347, rendered from the PDF the Delaware 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 2. The application. Two identical blocks - the car you bought at the top, the car you got rid of underneath - and one signature.Page 2 of 2. The reverse, which is instructions rather than boxes: eligibility criteria a to j, and the documents each kind of claim has to carry.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
The car you bought: tag, make/model and year
The top block is the replacement vehicle, the one already titled in your name.
Watch out: It has to be Delaware-titled and it has to be titled in your name already. This is a claim about a completed purchase, not a planned one.
2
You fill this in
Its VIN or serial number
The seventeen characters from its title.
Watch out: The Division verifies all of this against its own records - the form says so - so a transposed character costs you the twelve-to-fifteen-week wait twice over.
3
You fill this in
Your name as it appears on the title
Exactly as printed, both names if there are two.
Watch out: The credit vehicle has to be in the same name. If one car is in a joint name and the other is not, at least one name has to appear on both.
4
You fill this in
Address, phone and email
Street, city, ZIP, a daytime phone and an email address.
Watch out: The email matters here: the form gives [email protected] for questions about completing it, and the Division will use yours if something is missing.
5
You fill this in
The car you got rid of: tag, make/model and year
The second block, headed with the certification that you sold it, turned in a lease or had it written off.
Watch out: Three different situations, one block. If it was a total loss, the amount you write is the actual cash value the insurer paid, before the deductible.
6
You fill this in
Its VIN or serial number
From the certificate you signed over.
Watch out: Photograph the back of the certificate before you hand it across. This is one of the places you will need to read it again.
7
You fill this in
Buyer's name or insurance company, and their address
Who took the car - a private buyer with a full address, or the insurer that settled it.
Watch out: The same name and address you put on the Seller's Report of Sale. The Division checks one against the other.
8
You fill this in
Selling price, ACV amount or residual value, and date of sale
One number and one date, whichever of the three kinds of transaction applies.
Watch out: The date is what both deadlines are measured from. Write it before you write anything else on the form and count forward from it.
9
You fill this in
Sign and date it
Owner/Applicant's Signature, with the date beside it. One signature is enough.
Watch out: Post it or email it to the Vehicle Services Helpdesk at the address printed on the reverse, and keep a copy - the audit block at the foot is where a denial gets written, and you will want to know what you sent.
10
Somebody else fills this in
For Audit Use Only
Date titled, document fee paid, postmark date, refund amount, reason for denial, comments.
Watch out: Postmark date is in that list for a reason. If you are close to a deadline, get proof of posting rather than trusting the envelope.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
The purchased vehicle
Tag number, make/model and year, VIN or serial number, your name or names as they appear on the title, street address, city, ZIP, daytime phone and email. You certify under penalty of perjury that you purchased it and that it has been titled in your name within the sixty-day limit.
The vehicle you disposed of
A second block with the same identifying lines, headed with a certification that you sold, turned in a lease or suffered a total loss on it. Buyer's name or the insurance company's, their address, and the selling price, actual cash value or residual value with the date of sale.
Owner/Applicant's Signature and date
One signature. No notary, no witness.
For Audit Use Only
Date titled, document fee paid, postmark date, refund amount, reason for denial and comments - all of it completed by the Division.
The reverse
Not a form at all: eligibility criteria a to j and a required-documentation list covering insurance settlements, lease turn-ins and vehicles sold out of state. It is where the rules live.
What gets this one rejected
•Filing it late. Where the sale came after the purchase, this form must be submitted or post-marked within thirty days after the sale date; where the sale came first, no later than thirty days after titling of the new vehicle.
•Two vehicles on one application. Credit shall be given for only one motor vehicle or trailer per application.
•Names that do not match. The vehicle you are claiming for must be in the same name as the applicant titling the new one, and the refund will only be issued to the vehicle owner.
•One of the two vehicles not being Delaware-titled. Both have to be.
•An incomplete form. The instruction is printed across the top - this form must be completed in its entirety or the application will be denied - and repeated at the foot: late or incomplete submissions will be denied.
•Claiming a total loss without the letter. An insurance settlement needs a signed letter on the company's own letterhead giving the owner's name, the make, model and year, the VIN, and the amount paid as the actual cash value before the deductible.
•Claiming for a lease turn-in without proof of the residual. A copy of the original lease, or a letter from the leasing company stating the residual value at turn-in.
•Not telling the Division the car has gone. The title has to be transferred into the new owner's name, or you have to notify the Division that it was sold - and the way to do that is the Seller's Report of Sale, with the selling price on the title or a signed bill of sale attached.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•The sixty days run both ways. Sell first and buy afterwards, or buy first and sell afterwards - either works, as long as the two events are within sixty days of each other. Read the timing carefully: the sixty days govern the gap between the transactions, and the thirty days govern how long you then have to file.
•Ask for it at the counter instead. In most cases credit should be given at time of titling. If the sale came before you titled the replacement, take this form along with the new vehicle's title work and the credit comes off the bill immediately, rather than as a cheque months later.
•A total loss buys you a year. Where the credit vehicle was written off, the form gives you a year to obtain a new vehicle, and lets the application go in as soon as a temporary tag is issued - but no later than thirty days after titling.
•How long the money takes. Processing time is twelve to fifteen weeks from receipt of the form or the title date. That is the form's own figure, and it is the reason to claim the credit at the counter if you possibly can.
Every line here was read off MV347 (Rev 9/12/2025) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Delaware Division 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.
