How to fill out Hawaii CS-L(MVR)46

The opposite decision to junking, on a similar-looking sheet. Storage takes a vehicle off the register without killing it: you certify that it has been removed from any public highway or other public property and will be kept in storage on private property, and you surrender the current certificate of registration, license plates and emblem as evidence that it will not be operated. The car stays titled and can come back. What the form makes you acknowledge before you sign is the price of coming back - the statute it quotes lets the Director of Finance dispose of the plates of a vehicle whose registration has expired, and then the owner must buy new plates and a new emblem on removing the vehicle from storage.

Written against CS-L(MVR)46 (01/2026), issued under Section 249-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, quoted on the face of the form, filed with the City and County of Honolulu Division of Motor Vehicles. Storage is the right answer far more often than junking, and it is the one people skip because it feels like admitting the car is dead. It is not: the title survives, the vehicle can be sold later, and the annual weight tax stops accruing while it is off the register. Junking, on the same shelf of the county's forms, cancels the certificate for ever.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank CS-L(MVR)46 from the www4.honolulu.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our CS-L(MVR)46 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

   Your name, as the record holds it

   The opening line names you as the registered owner according to the records of the Director of Finance of the City and County of Honolulu.

   Watch out: Use the name on the certificate of registration. This is a statement about what the county's record says, not about what you call yourself.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   License plate number

   The plate you are about to surrender along with the registration certificate and the emblem.

   Watch out: Take a photograph of the plate before you hand it in. If the vehicle comes out of storage after the registration has expired, the county may not give it back.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Vehicle identification number

   The identifier that survives everything else being surrendered. It is how the vehicle is found again when it comes out of storage.

   Watch out: Check it against the dashboard plate. Once the registration certificate is with the county, this number is your only handle on the record.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   The private property where it will be kept

   The address of the storage location. The certification is that the vehicle has been removed from any public highway or other public property.

   Watch out: A friend's driveway is fine; a side street is not. If the vehicle is on someone else's land, make sure they know it is being certified as stored there.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   The acknowledgements

   Not fields - two printed paragraphs. One quotes section 249-5 on the Director of Finance disposing of plates; the other sets out what is needed to take the vehicle out of storage again.

   Watch out: The second paragraph is the one to read twice. A new inspection, the stamped registration certificate and the taxes and fees are all conditions precedent to getting the car back on the road.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   Dated, and the signature

   The date on the left, the registered owner's signature on the right.

   Watch out: Date it the day the vehicle actually came off the road if you can. That date is the county's reference point for when the storage began.

7. 7
   You fill this in

   Printed name and address block

   Three rules beneath the signature: printed name, address, then city, state and zip code.

   Watch out: Give the address where you can be reached, not the one where the car is stored. They are often different and the county writes to you, not to the vehicle.

What gets this one rejected

• •Storing a vehicle that is still on a public street. The certification is that it has been removed from any public highway or other public property - a car parked on the road is not stored, whatever it is doing.
• •Keeping the plates. The statement is evidence of storage precisely because the certificate of registration, the plates and the emblem are surrendered with it.
• •Assuming the plates will be waiting. Section 249-5 as quoted on the form lets the Director of Finance dispose of the plates of a vehicle whose registration has expired.
• •Expecting to drive it out of storage on the old inspection. The form makes you acknowledge that a new certificate of vehicle inspection, if expired, must be obtained before the vehicle comes out.
• •Using it as a way to sell a car quietly. A stored vehicle still has a certificate of title and still needs current registration and a current safety check before any transfer can be recorded.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •Three things are surrendered, not one. The current certificate of registration, the license plates and the emblem. All three go in together as the evidence.
• •The statute is printed on the form. Section 249-5 is quoted in full inside the acknowledgement, which is unusual - most county forms cite a section without reproducing it.
• •Coming out of storage has its own list. A new certificate of vehicle inspection if the old one expired, the stamped certificate of registration, and payment of the required taxes and fees - the form calls that a condition precedent to removal from storage.
• •The Director of Finance is the record-keeper. The opening sentence names the office the county's whole motor vehicle record sits under, which is the office issuing titles in every Hawaii county.
• •Every county publishes one. Maui describes its statement for storage as used when a vehicle is going to be stored and not driven, and notes the vehicle may later be re-licensed and driven.

Every line here was read off CS-L(MVR)46 (01/2026) itself — the PDF is here — and off the City and County of Honolulu Division of Motor Vehicle, Licensing and Permits pages. This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ, theirs governs.

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