How to fill out Delaware MV73

The one Delaware document that deliberately sends a plate with the car. Low-digit tags are property people argue about in this state, so where a seller means a low number to go to the buyer, the Division wants it sworn rather than assumed. The form says why in its own second sentence: the affidavit is necessary to protect the Division, dealers and buyers from any disputes involving ownership of the license plate.

Written against MV73 (Rev 8/12), issued under the seller of the vehicle, sworn before a notary, and required by the Division to protect itself, dealers and buyers from disputes over ownership of the plate. The threshold is worth reading twice, because it differs by plate class: four digits or lower for pleasure, PC and C plates, but three digits or lower for FT, MC, T, RT and RV. A five-digit pleasure plate is an ordinary tag and comes off the car like any other.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV73 from the dmv.de.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our MV73 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Check your plate is actually low-digit

   Four digits or lower on a pleasure, PC or C plate. Three digits or lower on an FT, MC, T, RT or RV plate.

   Watch out: The prefix changes the threshold. Read the paragraph at the top of the form before you fill anything in.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   The date

   Top right, under the line addressing the affidavit to the Division.

   Watch out: The date you swear it, which may not be the date of sale. Both appear on this form and they are different things.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Print your full name

   Into the affirming sentence, printed rather than signed - the label says print full name.

   Watch out: As the Division holds it. This is an affidavit about who owned a plate, so the name has to match the record of who owned it.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   The plate number

   The tag being transferred, in the middle of the same sentence.

   Watch out: With its prefix. PC 2946 and C 2946 are two different plates.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   The buyer's name

   Who the plate went to, in the second half of the sentence.

   Watch out: The same name you wrote in Section 1 on the back of the certificate and on the Report of Sale. Three documents, one buyer, one spelling.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   Make, Model, Year, VIN

   A single table row identifying the vehicle the plate travelled with.

   Watch out: The plate is being tied to a car here. If the sale falls through, the affidavit ties it to a car that never changed hands.

7. 7
   You fill this in

   Seller's signature and date

   Signed in front of the notary.

   Watch out: Not before. The block at the foot says sworn to and subscribed before me, and a signature already on the page was not.

8. 8
   You fill this in

   2nd seller's signature if joined by AND

   The second line, with its own date, for a plate held in two names joined by AND.

   Watch out: The condition is written into the label. Where it applies, one signature is an incomplete affidavit.

9. 9
   Somebody else fills this in

   The notarial block

   The day, the month and the year go in under the sworn-to-and-subscribed line, then the Notary Public signs, then the commission-expiry line under that.

   Watch out: The commission expiry line is part of what the Division checks. A seal from a lapsed commission is not a seal.

What gets this one rejected

• •A stamped seal that is not raised or stamped, or a copy instead of the original. The instruction is explicit: the Division must have the original with a raised or stamped notary seal.
• •A blank in any box. Please fill in all blocks and have the document notarized - the form's own instruction.
• •Using it for an ordinary tag. The threshold is printed at the top and it is narrow: four digits or lower on a pleasure, PC or C plate, three digits or lower on FT, MC, T, RT or RV.
• •One signature where the plate is joined by AND. The second seller's line names the condition on itself.
• •Filing it after the plate has already gone into retention. This form and retention are opposite decisions about the same number - the plate either goes with the car or comes off it.
• •Treating it as a substitute for the Report of Sale. It transfers a plate. It says nothing to the Division about who now owns the vehicle.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •Why Delaware alone needs this. Low-numbered plates have been transferable property in Delaware for generations and change hands for real money. That is exactly why the Division will not take a seller's word at a counter that a number was meant to go with the car: it wants an affidavit it can produce if the seller later says otherwise.
• •What it does not do. It moves the plate. The registration on the vehicle still expires on transfer under 21 Del. C. s. 2501, the buyer still has thirty days to apply for a certificate of title, and you still owe the Division a Report of Sale.
• •The alternative. If you want to keep the number, this is the wrong form entirely - retain the plate before the sale, and the buyer leaves with a temporary tag instead.
• •Antique plates are the exception that proves it. Where a vehicle carries a special antique plate, the transferor surrenders the plate to the Department on a transfer of ownership. There is no affidavit that sends an antique plate with the car.

Every line here was read off MV73 (Rev 8/12) 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.

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