How to fill out Florida HSMV 82091

Not your form, and the reason it is on this site is that people find it while searching for a way to reassign a Florida title and assume it is the general-purpose one. It is not. Its own notice says individuals or non-licensed dealers cannot use this form or reassign a certificate of title, and the department restricts it further still - to odometer exempt vehicles moving between licensed dealers.

Written against HSMV 82091 (Rev 8/09), issued under section 319.33, Florida Statutes. If you have been handed one of these to sign as a private individual, stop. The form says who may use it in its second paragraph, and a document signed by the wrong person is worse than no document.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank HSMV 82091 from the flhsmv.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   Dealers only

   What the supplement is attached to

   Florida certificate of title number, a foreign state certificate number, or a manufacturer's statement of origin - one of the three, with the number written in.

   Watch out: The line at the foot of the form is worth knowing as a buyer: this form is not valid unless attached to the title it supplements, originals only, copies are not acceptable. A photocopied supplement is not a chain of ownership.

2. 2
   Dealers only

   The purchaser and their details

   Name, date of birth, driver licence number and residential address - and the same again for a co-purchaser if there is one.

   Watch out: If you are the purchaser named in one of these blocks, read your own details before you drive away. An error the dealer makes here becomes an error on your certificate, and correcting it later is your problem rather than theirs.

3. 3
   Dealers only

   Dealer licence number and the state that issued it

   The licence number, and the state the dealer is licensed in.

   Watch out: The notice at the head of the form says the name of the dealer must be listed as it appears on the dealer licence. A trading name that does not match the licence is the kind of mismatch that unravels a reassignment months later.

4. 4
   Dealers only

   Odometer reading and date read

   The reading and the day it was taken, on the same row as the licence details.

   Watch out: This form is restricted to odometer exempt vehicles, so the reading is recorded rather than disclosed. That is a real difference: an exempt vehicle's reading is information, not a federal statement, and it is not warranted by anybody.

5. 5
   Dealers only

   Sales tax collected, registration number, dealership and address

   The tax the dealer has collected, their Florida sales tax registration number, the name of the dealership, its address and the date of signature.

   Watch out: The notice at the head says sales tax amount and sales tax number do not need to be completed on dealer to dealer sales. On a sale to a retail customer they do.

6. 6
   Dealers only

   The second reassignment block

   An identical block underneath, for the next dealer in the chain.

   Watch out: The form says each reassignment shall be in successive order and is not valid until completed in full, and that it is to be used in order from top to bottom. A sheet with the second block filled in and the first one blank is not a shortcut - it is void.

What gets this one rejected

• •A private seller's signature anywhere on it. Paragraph B of the notice rules it out in one sentence.
• •Using it on a vehicle that is not exempt from odometer disclosure. The department's odometer procedure says this form can only be used for motor vehicles exempt from the federal and state disclosure laws.
• •Out of order. Each reassignment shall be in successive order and is not valid until completed in full.
• •Any correction at all. An alteration or erasure voids the assignment - and paragraph E quotes the felony provision, section 319.33, which covers altering or forging an assignment of a certificate of title or keeping an altered one for use.
• •A photocopy, or a copy detached from the title it supplements.
• •Late. The final note says a penalty fee is required by law if it is not submitted for transfer within 30 days after date of delivery by dealer to retail customer.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •What to do instead, as a private seller. If your title is paper, complete the Transfer of Title by Seller block on the face of it. If it is electronic, the reassignment happens on the supplement the department names for individuals, at the counter, with the buyer present.
• •Why a dealership might hand you one. If you traded a car in and the dealership's own reassignment spaces on the back of the certificate have run out, this is what they attach. Reading it does not make it yours to sign.

Every line here was read off HSMV 82091 (Rev 8/09) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Florida Department of Highway Safety and 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 Florida seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Florida involves.