How to fill out Idaho 3403

Idaho's identity check on a vehicle it has not seen before. Section 49-504(2) requires it on anything titled in another jurisdiction, and the department explains why in its FAQs: the inspection ensures the buyer has the correct ownership document for the vehicle, that the title issued will carry an accurate description, and that any VIN tampering is caught before it becomes somebody's ownership problem. The form is filled in by somebody else entirely - a law enforcement officer or an authorised agent of the Idaho Transportation Department, working from the vehicle rather than from paperwork - and it says plainly on its own face that it is not an ownership document.

Written against 3403 (Rev 10/23), issued under Idaho Code 49-504(2). This is not a roadworthiness test and it is not an emissions test - Idaho has had no emissions programme anywhere in the state since 1 July 2023. It is an identity check, and its result travels with the title application rather than with the vehicle. If you are selling an Idaho-titled car to an Idaho buyer, neither of you needs one.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank 3403 from the itd.idaho.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our 3403 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank 3403 — Vehicle Identification Number Inspection Certification PDF at itd.idaho.gov · new tab Step 2 · how to fill it in Our filled-in 3403 guide PDF · print and keep beside you

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual 3403, rendered from the PDF the Idaho Transportation Department, Division of Motor Vehicles 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

Idaho form ITD 3403, Vehicle Identification Number Inspection Certification, completed for a 1989 Chevrolet K1500 pickup, vehicle identification number 1GCEK14K9KE162538 entered one character per box, read from the dash, with the applicant shown as Denton R. Broadfoot of Salmon and the odometer status recorded as exempt. — The seventeen VIN boxes are filled one character to a cell, which is the whole reason this form's rectangles are read from its own AcroForm rather than measured. The second VIN row, the trailer and off-highway dimension boxes and the officer's signature block are washed grey - the last of those because it is not the owner's to complete.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
Work out whether you need one at all
Only where the vehicle is coming from another jurisdiction or has never been titled in Idaho.
Watch out: An Idaho-titled car sold to an Idaho buyer needs nothing. The department already checked the number when it first issued the title.
2
You fill this in
Take the vehicle to somebody who can inspect it
A county assessor's motor vehicle office, a law enforcement officer, a DMV employee, a military police officer, or a licensed Idaho dealer.
Watch out: Ring first. Not every county office does inspections at every location or at every hour.
3
You fill this in
Fill in the applicant block, and only that
Your name, address and daytime phone number.
Watch out: Everything else is the inspector's, taken from the vehicle itself and not from your paperwork.
4
The buyer fills this in
Let them read the number off the vehicle
One character per box, with the location - dash, door, headstock, trailer tongue - recorded.
Watch out: If the number they read differs from the number on your title, the discrepancy block is where that gets explained rather than smoothed over.
5
You fill this in
Check the description they wrote
Model year, make, body type, model and colour, spelled out rather than coded.
Watch out: This description becomes the description on the Idaho title. A wrong body type here is a title correction later.
6
You fill this in
Take it in with the title application
The certification travels with the application, the assigned title and the fees.
Watch out: It costs five dollars under section 49-202(2)(k). It is not an ownership document and it does not extend anybody's thirty days.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
1st Vehicle (VIN) Identification Number, as seventeen numbered boxes	One character per box, with the note that VINs typically have 17 numbers. A VIN Discrepancy block sits beside it to be explained if the number does not match.
2nd Vehicle Identification Number, also as seventeen boxes	For a motor home coach, a double-wide manufactured home, or an assembled vehicle.
VIN Location: Dash, Door, Headstock, Trailer Tongue L-R, Other (Describe)	Where the inspector physically read it.
Type of Vehicle: Auto/PU/Van, Truck, Trailer, Motorcycle, RV, Mobile Home, Snowmobile, ATV, UTV	Nine tick boxes, with an OHV engine size box in cubic centimetres and a Motorcycle FMVSS Sticker Yes/No pair beside them.
Wheel base on ATV or UTV, and Number of Wheels on ATV or UTV	Two boxes, with a diagram printed at the foot of the form defining wheelbase as the distance between the centre of the front axle and the centre of the farthest rear axle.
Model Year, Make, Body Type, Model, Color	The description, taken off the vehicle.
Length, Width, Weight, Fuel Type	Four boxes that matter for trailers, ATVs and UTVs.
Motorcycle Is: Off-highway / On-highway, and Comments/Description/Other Pertinent Data	A tick pair and a free block.
Odometer Reading (no tenths) and Odometer Status, if known: Actual, Not Actual - Warning - Odometer Discrepancy, Exempt, Exceeds Mechanical Limits, No Odometer	The mileage as the inspector reads it.
Inspection Officer or Agent's Signature, Agency Name, Badge Number, City/Area, Date Inspected	The inspector's block, above the printed certification I certify I have physically inspected the vehicle described above.
Applicant's Name, Address, City, State, Zip, Daytime Phone Number	Your side of the form - and the only part of it you fill in.

What gets this one rejected

•Anything filled in by the owner beyond the applicant block. The form's instruction is that it must be filled out by a law enforcement officer or an authorised ITD agent with data directly from the vehicle without the use of other documentation.
•Codes copied off a title. Three printed instructions at the top: complete all sections related to vehicle, do not use codes from any title, and spell out makes and models.
•A VIN that does not match, with the discrepancy block empty. That is the one thing the inspection exists to surface, and it has its own box to be explained in.
•Treating it as proof of ownership. The form says it in a note of its own: this form is not an ownership document.
•A missing badge number or agency name. The certification is a personal one by the officer or agent making it.
•A number that has been tampered with. The conditional-title fact sheet says where that goes - a Motor Vehicle Investigator, and possibly a bonded title.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•Who can do one is broader than people expect. ITD's Vehicle Titles page lists an officer of the law, a DMV employee, a military police officer, or an Idaho licensed vehicle dealer.
•The fee is set by statute. Section 49-202(2)(k) charges five dollars for a vehicle identification number inspection, whoever performs it, and the money stays with the agency that did it.
•A dealer doing an appraisal can do both at once. The conditional-title procedure allows the VIN inspection to be completed by the Idaho dealer at the same time as the appraisal, on ITD 3404 instead of this form.

Every line here was read off 3403 (Rev 10/23) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Idaho Transportation Department, 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 Idaho seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Idaho involves.

How to fill out Idaho 3403

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Work out whether you need one at all

Take the vehicle to somebody who can inspect it

Fill in the applicant block, and only that

Let them read the number off the vehicle

Check the description they wrote

Take it in with the title application

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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