One page that lets somebody else sign the Illinois paperwork for a named vehicle when you cannot be there. Narrow on purpose: it appoints a lawful attorney in fact to sign all papers and documents required to secure Illinois title and/or registration of, or transfer interest in, one described vehicle.
Written against RT 5 (RT 5.14, February 2026), issued under 625 ILCS 5/3-112.
Fill in the purchaser block if you possibly can. An Illinois power of attorney with the sale details empty is a general authority over a vehicle, and it stays valid until you revoke it.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank RT 5 from the ilsos.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual RT 5, rendered from the PDF the Illinois Secretary of State 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
The actual RT 5, with the optional block filled in rather than left empty - which is the whole difference between a document that authorises one sale and one that authorises anything anybody wants to do with the car. Note there is no notary block: Illinois does not ask for one on this form.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Name of individual appointing power of attorney
Your name, in the wide box under the heading.
Watch out: As it reads on the certificate of title. This form is going to be read next to that one.
2
You fill this in
Whose address is
Three rules of address, running down the right of the page.
Watch out: The three rules are not evenly indented and it looks like a formatting accident. It is not - they are one address block.
3
You fill this in
does hereby make, constitute and appoint
The person acting for you, and their address beneath.
Watch out: Somebody who will be physically present at a Secretary of State facility. The whole value of the form is having a person at the counter.
4
You fill this in
The vehicle
Make and model year on one row, model and body type on the next, then the vehicle identification number.
Watch out: All four, plus the VIN. This is what the authority is bounded by, and a blank here is not flexibility, it is a defect.
5
You fill this in
The optional purchaser block
Purchaser's name, address and date of sale, under complete the following (if applicable).
Watch out: Fill it in. It turns an open power over your car into an authority to complete one identified sale, and Illinois puts it there for exactly that reason.
6
You fill this in
Signed and Date Signed
Two rules at the foot of the page and no notary block.
Watch out: The sentence above ratifies everything the attorney in fact shall lawfully do, under penalties of perjury. Read it before you post the form rather than after.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Name of individual appointing power of attorney
You, in a wide box at the head of the sheet.
Whose address is
Three rules for your address, the second and third indented differently from the first.
does hereby make, constitute and appoint
The person you are appointing, and then their address on its own rule.
Vehicle Make and Model Year
Two boxes on one row.
Vehicle Model and Body Type
Two more on the next.
Vehicle Identification Number
One box, and the sentence above it is what limits the authority to this vehicle.
Complete the following (if applicable)
Purchaser's Name, Address and Date of Sale - three optional boxes that turn a general authority into one tied to a specific sale.
Signed and Date Signed
Two rules at the foot. There is no notary block.
What gets this one rejected
•Leaving the vehicle description blank to keep it flexible. The authority is granted for the following described vehicle - with no vehicle, there is no authority.
•Expecting it to cover the next car too. It names one VIN.
•Assuming it needs a notary because the other affidavits do. This one does not carry a notary block, and adding one does not make it stronger.
•Skipping the date signed. The document dates the grant and the department reads it.
•Using it to sign something that is not an Illinois title or registration paper. The grant is worded to those, and the closing sentence adds that the authority shall in no way reflect upon the State of Illinois, Secretary of State, or the Director of the Vehicle Services Department.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•The optional block is the useful one. Purchaser's name, address and date of sale sit under complete the following (if applicable). Filling them in narrows the power to one transaction with one named buyer on one date, which is a far more comfortable thing to post to somebody than an open authority over a vehicle.
•Signed under penalties of perjury. The ratification sentence ends with those words - it confirms everything the attorney in fact shall lawfully do by virtue of the authority herein given, under penalties of perjury. It is a short form doing a serious thing.
Every line here was read off RT 5 (RT 5.14, February 2026) itself —
the PDF is here — and off the Illinois Secretary of State pages.
This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ,
theirs governs.
