When the seventeen characters are gone. A rusted-away plate, a defaced number, a vehicle somebody built out of parts, or two vehicles carrying the same number - Indiana issues a special identification number and the car can then be titled. Three sections, a photograph, a police inspection and a fee, and until it is done there is no way to sell the vehicle at all.
Written against State Form 12907 (R8 / 11-24), issued under IC 9-17-4.
This is the slowest thing in the Indiana title system and it cannot be started at a counter. If the plan is to sell the car, start the application before you advertise it, because a buyer will not wait out a Central Office process for a vehicle they cannot yet register.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank State Form 12907 from the forms.in.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual State Form 12907, rendered from the PDF the Indiana Bureau 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
Filled in for a plate that corroded away rather than a vehicle built from parts, so section three is entirely grey. The Original Identification Number box carries the word none, because the printed instruction inside it asks for exactly that rather than a blank.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Section 1, who you are and when you got it
Applicant name, address of residence, and the Date Purchased or Otherwise Acquired.
Watch out: Or otherwise acquired covers a vehicle inherited, given or found in an outbuilding. The date matters because it is the start of the ownership story the BMV is being asked to accept.
2
You fill this in
Seller Information
The name and address of whoever you got it from.
Watch out: Fill it in even if the sale was years ago and informal. A blank seller block on an application about an unidentifiable vehicle invites exactly the question you do not want asked.
3
You fill this in
Reason for Request
One tick from four, and then the explanation line beside it.
Watch out: Altered or defaced asks you to explain the cause. Write what actually happened - corrosion, a collision, a repair panel - because a one-word answer reads as evasion.
4
You fill this in
Original Identification Number
Any characters that are still legible, or the word none.
Watch out: Partial is useful. Six readable characters out of seventeen is far better evidence than nothing, and the instruction explicitly asks for any numbers that remain.
5
You fill this in
Distinguishing marks
Marks on the engine or body that would identify this particular vehicle.
Watch out: Casting numbers, a body tag, a repair, a colour change. This box is doing the work the missing plate used to do.
6
You fill this in
Section 3, only for an assembled vehicle
Ticks for Engine/Motor, Transmission, Body Chassis, Front Assembly, Rear Clip and Frame, plus an Other line.
Watch out: Leave it entirely alone unless you ticked Privately Assembled above. A part-built vehicle needs proof of ownership for the parts as well as the whole.
7
You fill this in
The photograph and the inspection
A side view colour photograph of the whole vehicle, and a physical inspection completed by a law enforcement officer.
Watch out: Arrange the inspection first. An officer who finds the number is readable after all saves you the entire application.
8
You fill this in
Sign and post it
Signature, printed name and date under the conformity certification, then the whole packet and the fee to Central Office.
Watch out: You are certifying that the vehicle conforms to applicable state and federal equipment and safety standards. On a decades-old vehicle rebuilt from parts, that is a sentence worth reading twice.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
SECTION 1 - APPLICATION INFORMATION
Applicant name, an optional Social Security or Federal Identification Number, the address of residence, and the Date Purchased or Otherwise Acquired.
Seller Information
Inside section 1: the seller's name and full address, because the BMV wants to know where the vehicle came from.
Reason for Request
Four ticks, each with its own explanation line - Identification Number not installed, Identification Number altered or defaced, Privately Assembled Vehicle or Watercraft, and Duplicate VIN.
SECTION 2 - VEHICLE OR WATERCRAFT INFORMATION
Original Identification Number, with the instruction to include any numbers that remain or "none", then Year, Make, Model, Vehicle Type, plate or registration number if known, and a length box for watercraft.
Distinguishing marks
A free-text area: list any distinguishing marks on the engine or body of the vehicle.
SECTION 3 - PRIVATELY ASSEMBLED VEHICLE OR WATERCRAFT
Six component ticks - Engine/Motor, Transmission, Body Chassis, Front Assembly, Rear Clip, Frame - and an Other line.
The certification
That the vehicle conforms to applicable state and federal equipment and safety standards, above a signature, printed name and date.
What gets this one rejected
•No photograph. Instruction 4 asks for a side view, color photograph of the entire vehicle or watercraft, and for a manufactured home the front and the back.
•A branch inspection instead of a police one. Instruction 3 wants a Physical Inspection of a Vehicle or Watercraft completed by a law enforcement officer.
•No proof of ownership. Instruction 2 asks for proof of ownership for vehicle or watercraft and/or parts along with the application - parts included, which matters for an assembled vehicle.
•An empty Original Identification Number box. The instruction inside it asks for any numbers that remain, or the word none, and a blank is neither.
•Ticking Privately Assembled and leaving section 3 empty. The component list is what the tick refers to.
•Taking it to a branch. Instruction 5 says to mail the completed application, supporting documentation and the fee to the address at the top right of the form.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•The identification number is optional here. Unusually for a BMV form, the starred note says disclosure is voluntary, and you will not be penalized for refusal.
•Each reason has its own explanation line. Three of the four ticks are followed by a prompt - explain reason not installed, or explain cause of alteration or defacement. The explanation is part of the answer.
•The fee is set by statute. Instruction 5 says the application fee is charged in accordance with Indiana Code, and the BMV's fee chart carries the current figure rather than the form.
Every line here was read off State Form 12907 (R8 / 11-24) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Indiana Bureau 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.
