How to fill out Georgia MV-1

The application the buyer files at a county tag office to move the title into their name and put a plate on the car. A seller never signs it, but half of section C is about you, and a buyer who cannot fill that half in correctly comes back to ask - so it is worth knowing what it asks before you hand the keys over.

Written against MV-1 (Rev 02/2024), issued under the Motor Vehicle Division, and filed at the county tag office where the applicant resides. This is the form people mean when they say the Georgia tag and title application, and the Department indexes it as the MV-1 Title/Tag Application while the PDF's own heading reads Motor Vehicle Title Application. Same form, two names. Check the revision in the top right against the copy on dor.georgia.gov before filling anything in.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV-1 from the dor.georgia.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank MV-1 — Motor Vehicle Title Application PDF at dor.georgia.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual MV-1, rendered from the PDF the Georgia Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division 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

A Georgia Form MV-1 filled in for one private sale: VIN 5FNYF4H54FB024871, a 2015 Honda Pilot in blue, current title number 40318726 issued in Georgia, DeKalb county of residence, an odometer reading of 118642 with none of the three exception boxes ticked, one owner, buyer Simone A. Okafor of Decatur with a Georgia driver's licence, seller Alvin R. Pettigrew of Macon in Bibb County in section C, and the lienholder and attorney-in-fact blocks greyed out and empty. — The actual MV-1, rendered from the Department's own PDF and completed for a single private sale. Two details worth copying: the three odometer exception boxes are all left empty because the reading is true, and section C carries the seller's name, address and county rather than a dealer's customer identification number.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
The buyer fills this in
Section A, the vehicle
Vehicle ID, current title number and its state of issue, year, make, model, body style, colour, cylinders and fuel type - copied from the assigned certificate rather than from the car.
Watch out: The current title number is on the front of the certificate you handed over. A buyer who cannot find it is looking at the wrong side of the document.
2
The buyer fills this in
Section A, county of residence
The Georgia county the applicant lives in, in the middle column of section A.
Watch out: This is the county that decides where the application is filed and whether an emission inspection certificate is needed with it. District number sits below it and can be left to the tag office if unknown.
3
You fill this in
Section A, odometer exceptions
Three boxes - EXEMPT, Exceeds Mechanical Limits of Odometer, and Not the Actual Mileage - above the reading itself.
Watch out: Whatever was declared on the back of the certificate has to be repeated here. This form has an EXEMPT box; the certificate does not, which is why an exempt vehicle carries the word written into the odometer space there and a tick here.
4
You fill this in
Section A, odometer reading and date purchased
The mileage at handover and the date of the sale.
Watch out: Date purchased is the date the clock runs from for everything that follows, and it has to match the date of sale on the certificate exactly.
5
The buyer fills this in
Section B, number of owners and leasing
How many owners the vehicle is going into, whether it is leased, and whether an out-of-state business purchase was collected out of state.
Watch out: Answering yes to leased means section D has to be completed as well. On an ordinary private purchase all three answers are the simple ones.
6
The buyer fills this in
Section B, owner 1
Full legal name, driver's licence number and issuing state, date of birth, e-mail, phone, address and mailing address.
Watch out: Legal name as the licence has it. A nickname here and a full name on the certificate's purchaser line is a mismatch a clerk has to resolve before anything is issued.
7
The buyer fills this in
Section B, the signature
The applicant signs and dates under their own block. Every owner listed on the title has to sign.
Watch out: The line above it is a felony certification, and it covers the address as well as the name. There is no notary on this form and no substitute for the signature.
8
You fill this in
Section C, seller information
Your full legal name or business name and address, and the Georgia county name if you are a Georgia seller.
Watch out: Three lines and a county, and they come from you. A buyer who has already driven off with the car and no note of your address will be back.
9
The buyer fills this in
Section E, lienholders
Up to two rows of twelve-digit ELT identification number, name and address, with anything further attached.
Watch out: Where the buyer is not financing, the block stays empty. Where they are, the lender's ELT number is something the lender supplies - it is not derivable from anything on the certificate.
10
You fill this in
Section F, attorney-in-fact
Name, mailing address, phone and e-mail, used only where someone is acting under a power of attorney.
Watch out: The instruction is to attach the original power of attorney if the title is to be posted to the attorney-in-fact. A copy is not the original, and the Georgia power of attorney says so on its own face.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
A - vehicle information	Vehicle ID, current title number, current title's state of issue, year, make, model, body style, colour, cylinders, fuel type, the Georgia county of residence and the district number. Then the odometer reading and the date purchased.
A - odometer exceptions	Three tick boxes above the reading: EXEMPT, Exceeds Mechanical Limits of Odometer, and Not the Actual Mileage, Warning Odometer Discrepancy. Unlike the certificate itself, this form does have an exempt box.
Complete for all commercial vehicles	Gross vehicle weight and load, straight truck yes or no, used for hire, type of trailer pulled, product hauled, and whether it is a farm vehicle. A private car leaves the whole band empty.
B - owner information	Number of owners, whether the vehicle is leased, and whether an out-of-state business purchase was picked up out of state. Then one block per owner: full legal name, driver's licence number and state, date of birth, e-mail, phone, business name and name of agent, address, mailing address, signature and date.
B - joint tenant with the right of survivorship	A single tick under the two owner blocks. The instruction page explains what it does: each tenant has equal rights to the assets, and if one tenant dies their share automatically passes to the surviving tenant.
C - seller information	You. Full legal name or business name and address on three lines, the Georgia county name if you are a Georgia seller, a twelve-digit dealer or bank customer identification number and a Georgia sales tax number where those apply, and a directly financed dealer sale tick.
D - lessee information	Driver's licence number, the lessee's full legal name and address, Georgia county name and phone number. Only relevant where section B says the vehicle is leased.
E - security interest or lienholder information	Two rows, each with a twelve-digit ELT identification number, name and address, and a note to attach anything about additional lienholders.
F - attorney-in-fact information	Name, mailing address, phone and e-mail, with the instruction to attach the original power of attorney if the title is to be posted to the attorney-in-fact.
The certification above the signatures	Printed in section B and repeated on the instruction page: a solemn swearing under criminal penalty of a felony for fraudulent use of a false or fictitious name or address, or for a material false statement, punishable by fine up to $5,000 or by imprisonment of up to five years, or both.

What gets this one rejected

•A missing signature. The instruction page says all owners listed on the title must sign this form, and both owner blocks carry their own signature line.
•Filing it in the wrong county. The form has to be submitted to the county tag office in the county where the applicant resides, or to the Department where that applies.
•Leaving the county of residence blank in section A. It is what routes the application and what decides whether the emissions programme applies.
•Guessing the district number. If the applicant does not know which district they live in, the instruction is to check with the county tag office rather than to invent one.
•Treating section C as the dealer's box. On a private sale it is the seller's, and the buyer needs your legal name, address and county to complete it.
•Reading the certification as boilerplate. It is a criminal penalty of a felony, and the address is one of the things being sworn to.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•It can be started online before the visit. The Department publishes a pre-application for title and registration so the form is filled in before anyone stands at a counter. The paper version can also be printed at home or by the county tag office, but either way it needs a wet signature.
•The odometer answer has to match the certificate. Section A repeats the reading and the exception boxes that were already declared on the back of the title. Two documents that disagree about the mileage is the single most common reason a Georgia title application turns into an affidavit.

What it costs

Title fee for a change of ownership	$18
Licence plate registration	$20

Every line here was read off MV-1 (Rev 02/2024) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Georgia Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division 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 Georgia seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Georgia involves.

How to fill out Georgia MV-1

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Section A, the vehicle

Section A, county of residence

Section A, odometer exceptions

Section A, odometer reading and date purchased

Section B, number of owners and leasing

Section B, owner 1

Section B, the signature

Section C, seller information

Section E, lienholders

Section F, attorney-in-fact

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

What it costs

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