How to fill out Florida HSMV 82994

How a private sale happens in Florida when there is no paper certificate to sign. Where the department's record shows the title status as electronic, this is the document you and the buyer complete together at the counter - it carries the reassignment and the odometer disclosure that would otherwise sit on the face of the title.

Written against HSMV 82994 (Rev 04/14), issued under section 319.225(7), Florida Statutes. Arrange the counter visit before you agree a price. An electronic title means the transfer can only happen when you and the buyer are in the same building during opening hours, with identification - which is a very different sale from handing over a signed certificate.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank HSMV 82994 from the flhsmv.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   What this reassignment is supplement to

   Tick Title No. and write the number and the state that issued it, or tick the manufacturer's statement of origin line if the vehicle has never been titled.

   Watch out: The number goes here even though there is no paper certificate to copy it off. Ask the clerk to read it out of the record, or find it on the registration renewal notice, before you start writing.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Is the title electronic?

   Yes, if the department holds the record and there is nothing in your hand to sign.

   Watch out: This is the question that decides whether you needed this form at all. If the answer is no and you are holding the certificate, the transfer belongs on the face of that certificate and this sheet is the wrong document.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   The vehicle description row

   VIN, year, make, model and body, across one row.

   Watch out: Florida wants the model here as well as the make, which the certificate's own transfer block does not. Take it from the record rather than from memory - trim levels are not model names.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Seller's name, licence number and address

   Printed name, the driver licence or FEID number, then street, city, state and zip.

   Watch out: The dealer and auction licence boxes on the same rows stay empty for a private sale. They are on this form because the same sheet is used by dealers, and an entry in them is a claim to be one.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   Selling price

   The price actually paid, in the box on the left of that row.

   Watch out: The sales tax boxes beside it are for a dealer who has collected the tax. A private buyer pays their tax at the counter when they apply, so leave those two alone.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   Purchaser's printed name and address

   The buyer, and where they live, in the rows below the price.

   Watch out: There is a co-purchaser row underneath. Use it only if two people are going on the new title, and mind the word between their names - it decides whether both of them have to be present next time.

7. 7
   You fill this in

   Date of sale

   The day the car changes hands, top right of the reassignment block.

   Watch out: On an electronic title everything happens in one visit, so this is usually the day you are both standing at the counter. If it is not, say so - the clerk will ask why the dates do not line up.

8. 8
   You fill this in

   The odometer disclosure

   Tick 5 or 6 digit, one figure per box, and the date read underneath.

   Watch out: This is why HSMV 82994 exists rather than the shorter electronic reassignment form. If the vehicle is old enough to be exempt from disclosure, the department points you at HSMV 82092 instead.

9. 9
   You fill this in

   One of the three mileage statements

   Reflects actual mileage, is in excess of its mechanical limits, or is not the actual mileage - with a caution printed beside them telling you to read carefully before you check a box.

   Watch out: The third option carries its own warning on this form: odometer discrepancy. Ticking it is not an admission of anything except that the number on the dash is not the mileage the car has done.

10. 10
    You fill this in

    Printed names and signatures at the foot

    Seller printed and signed on the left and right of the top row; the purchaser prints and signs on the rows below.

    Watch out: Nothing here is notarised. What matters instead is that nothing is altered: the form says an alteration or erasure may void this assignment and every assignment after it, which means a slip of the pen here can follow the car for years.

What gets this one rejected

• •Using it when your title is on paper. The form says so directly - if the certificate of title is not electronic, the Transfer of Title by Seller section must be completed by the seller instead.
• •Signing it at home. The department's transfer procedure has the buyer and seller completing the reassignment and the odometer disclosure at the tax collector's office or licence plate agency, both present, both with photo identification.
• •Sending somebody in your place. On the electronic-title route the procedure states that a power of attorney cannot be used.
• •Any alteration. The notice across the foot reads that an alteration or erasure may void this assignment and all assignments that follow.
• •Leaving a printed name off. Every signature line here has one beside it and the department rejects a blank one.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •Electronic is the department's default, not an oddity. Florida's published fee schedule prices every title as an electronic one and adds a charge to print it on paper. Where your record shows electronic, nothing arrives in the post, nothing gets signed on a kitchen table, and the sale cannot be completed without the buyer physically present.
• •The exempt version is a different form. Where the vehicle is exempt from odometer disclosure the parties may use the shorter electronic reassignment document instead. This one is what a car still inside its disclosure window needs.
• •It also covers a title that has run out of room. The other use is a conforming certificate whose dealer reassignment spaces on the reverse have all been filled. That is a dealer's problem rather than a seller's, but it is why the form is titled a supplement.

Every line here was read off HSMV 82994 (Rev 04/14) 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.