The seller's apology form. When something on the certificate was entered in error - a wrong date of sale, a price that came out of the wrong column, a purchaser's name spelled from memory - this is how it gets corrected without spoiling the title. It is signed by the seller, not the buyer, and it is the form to reach for the moment you notice, because its own instruction warns that illegible titles will not be accepted.
Written against State Form 55582 (R3 / 12-24), issued under IC 9-17.
Do not try to fix a certificate with a pen and an initial. Indiana's correction route is this affidavit and nothing else, and a title that has been written over twice is one the BMV can refuse as illegible - which turns a small mistake into a duplicate title application.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank State Form 55582 from the forms.in.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual State Form 55582, 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 the two mistakes that actually happen - a date written from memory and a price copied out of the advert rather than off the cash. Every other tick on the form is grey, because a correction affidavit that claims five errors is a certificate that should have been replaced instead.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Seller name, in the BMV's order
Last, first, middle initial - or the company name - in the first box of section 1.
Watch out: Your name as the certificate carries it. This affidavit is being matched to a title record, and a nickname in this box makes that harder than it needs to be.
2
You fill this in
Certificate of Title Number and Title Issue Date
The number of the certificate being corrected and the date printed on it.
Watch out: Marked if applicable, which tempts people to skip it. Fill it in anyway - it is the only thing on the page that ties the correction to one specific document.
3
You fill this in
The vehicle
The identification number in the banded box, then Year, Make and Model.
Watch out: Copy the seventeen characters off the certificate. If the identification number itself is what was written wrong, this is not the form - that is a fault in the title record and the branch needs to see the vehicle.
4
You fill this in
Tick only what is actually wrong
Odometer Reading or Brand, Date of Sale, Selling Price, Trade in Price, Total Price Paid, Name of Purchaser, or Other.
Watch out: Each tick has its own correction box beside it and each one is a separate sworn statement. Ticking a line and leaving the figure blank asserts an error without correcting it.
5
You fill this in
If it is the odometer, attach the statement
A separate conforming odometer statement, required by the printed condition inside that tick box.
Watch out: Conforming means it carries the same certification the certificate does - the reading, the two exception statements and your signature. A note on a scrap of paper is not one.
6
You fill this in
Other, and the space beneath it
A tick and a free-text area for anything the six named lines do not cover.
Watch out: Write it plainly and write the correct value out in full. Somebody at a counter is going to key exactly what is in that box.
7
You fill this in
Sign, and get the second owner to sign
Two signature rows with printed names and dates.
Watch out: Both owners signed the certificate, so both owners correct it. One signature on a correction to a jointly-owned car is half an affidavit.
8
You fill this in
Give it to the buyer
It goes to the branch with the certificate when the purchaser applies for their title.
Watch out: Post it or hand it over quickly. The buyer's forty-five days are already running and they cannot file without it once the certificate carries an error.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
SECTION 1. AFFIRMATION OF SELLER(S)
Seller name in the order last, first, middle initial or company name, then the Certificate of Title Number and the Title Issue Date.
Vehicle identification
The identification number in its own banded box, with Year, Make and Model on the row below.
The Odometer Reading or Brand is incorrect
A tick box with a parenthesised condition attached: a separate conforming odometer statement is required to be attached to this form.
The Date of Sale is incorrect
A tick with a date blank beside it for the correct date.
The three price lines
Separate ticks and money boxes for the Selling Price, the Trade in Price and the Total Price Paid, each with the corrected figure written beside it.
The Name of Purchaser is incorrect
A tick and a name box, qualified by a printed condition that no other purchasers have taken possession of the vehicle other than the ones named here.
Other
A tick and a free-text area, with the instruction Explain below.
Two seller signature rows
Signature, printed name and date, twice - and no notary anywhere on the page.
What gets this one rejected
•The buyer signing it. Section 1 is the affirmation of seller(s) and the request is that the BMV correct the information upon application for certificate of title by the purchaser.
•Correcting an odometer reading without attaching a separate conforming odometer statement. The condition is printed inside the tick box itself.
•Using it to change who bought the car after somebody else has taken possession. The purchaser tick carries its own qualification and that is what it qualifies.
•Using it on a title that has already been scribbled over. Instruction 2 covers a certificate that contains errors, erasures or alterations, and adds that illegible ones are refused outright.
•Ticking Other and explaining nothing. The box says explain below and the space beneath it is not optional.
•Sending it without the title number. Section 1 asks for the Certificate of Title Number and the Title Issue Date so the correction attaches to a specific document.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•It corrects on application, not in advance. The request is that the BMV correct the information upon application for certificate of title by the Purchaser - so it travels with the title to the branch rather than being filed on its own.
•Copies may be accepted. Instruction 1 says complete in blue or black ink or print form, and that copies may be accepted - which is more forgiving than most of the set.
•It covers a certificate of origin too. The wording is a certificate of title or certificate of origin, so a dealer's origin document with an error on it uses the same route.
Every line here was read off State Form 55582 (R3 / 12-24) 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.
