New in July 2025 and the reason an Indiana seller with no paper title can still trade a car in. It transfers an electronic title from the owner to a licensed Indiana dealer without anybody printing anything, and it works only where the buying dealer uses a BMV authorized Partial Service Provider. Four sections, and the seller's part is section two and a signature in section four.
Written against State Form 57738 (07-25), issued under IC 9-17-5-6.
Check the title number and issue date in section one against your own record before you sign. This form is the only paper trail for a transfer that otherwise happens entirely inside a dealer's software, and the seller's copy is the seller's whole copy.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank State Form 57738 from the forms.in.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual State Form 57738, 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 trade-in of an electronic title, and deliberately about a different car from the private sale elsewhere on this site - the same person cannot both sell to a named buyer and hand the vehicle to a dealership. Amber is the seller's contribution: three seller lines and the dealer signature row are grey, because one owner is selling and the dealership signs its own row at its own desk.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Check section one before anything else
Vehicle Identification Number, Year, Make, Model, Title Number and Issue Date.
Watch out: The dealer fills this from their title inquiry. If the issue date is not the one you remember, the record may already have moved - ask before you sign anything under it.
2
You fill this in
The seller lines
Printed names of every owner as they appear on the title record, on the four lines in section two.
Watch out: As they appear on the title record is the operative phrase. A married name that never reached the BMV needs a One and the Same Person Affidavit alongside, not a hopeful signature.
3
You fill this in
Position
The box beside each seller name, for an officer, trustee or agent signing on behalf of an entity.
Watch out: An individual leaves it blank. A company that writes nothing there is asking a branch associate to guess whether the signer had authority.
4
You fill this in
The transfer date
Three blanks in the certification sentence at the foot of section two - month, day and year of the transfer to the dealer.
Watch out: It is the day the dealership takes the car, and it should be the same day as the odometer statement. A trade agreed on Friday and collected on Monday has a Monday date.
5
Dealers only
Read section three, do not write in it
Name of Dealer, Dealer Number, and the dealership's address.
Watch out: The Dealer Number is worth a glance. It is how the BMV identifies the dealership, and a blank one on a form you have signed is a form that goes nowhere.
6
You fill this in
The odometer statement is separate
Nothing to fill in here - the band simply tells you that a separate Odometer Disclosure Statement must be completed by the seller and the dealer.
Watch out: It is not optional and it is not on this page. Sign one before you leave, because a dealer chasing a mileage certification after the car has gone is a dealer phoning you at work.
7
You fill this in
Section four, the affirmation
Your signature, printed name and date, under a certification that the title is in an electronic format and free of liens or encumbrances.
Watch out: You are swearing to the lien position, not the dealer. If a loan was settled recently, confirm the release actually reached the BMV before you sign that sentence.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
SECTION 1: VEHICLE INFORMATION
The Vehicle Identification Number in its own wide box, then Vehicle Year, Vehicle Make, Vehicle Model, Title Number and Issue Date on the row beneath.
SECTION 2: SELLER INFORMATION
Four printed-name lines, each with a Position box beside it, under an instruction to provide the complete names of all sellers as they appear on the title record.
The transfer date sentence
A certification with three date blanks in it: the above-mentioned vehicle or watercraft is being transferred to the dealer in section 3 on ___/___/______.
SECTION 3: DEALER INFORMATION
Name of Dealer and Dealer Number, then the dealership's address, city, state and ZIP.
The odometer note
A single line between sections 3 and 4 in its own band: a separate Odometer Disclosure Statement must be completed by the seller and the dealer.
SECTION 4: AFFIRMATION / PURCHASE DATE
Signature of Seller and Signature of Dealer, each with a printed name and date, under an affirmation that the title is in an electronic format, free of liens or encumbrances.
What gets this one rejected
•A private buyer in section three. The form's fifth instruction limits it to transferring an electronic title to a Dealer licensed under IC 9-32 who will use a BMV authorized Partial Service Provider.
•A dealer who is not with a service provider. If their title inquiry says the title was printed, or they have no provider, the vehicle owner is required to provide a paper title and this form does nothing.
•A lien on the record. The affirmation says free of liens or encumbrances, and an electronic lien has to be released electronically by the lienholder first.
•Missing the odometer statement. The band across the middle of the page says a separate disclosure must be completed by the seller and the dealer - this form does not carry one.
•One seller signing for several. The instruction is to provide the complete names of all sellers as they appear on the title record, and additional names may be added to the existing seller lines.
•Using it as a bill of sale. Instruction 6 says it must only be accepted by the BMV for the purpose of transferring vehicle ownership.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•The dealer does not have to accept it. The Secretary of State's guidance to dealers says the dealer is not required to accept an electronic title and may request that the vehicle owner provide a paper title before taking the trade.
•Position is for entities, not people. The Position box beside each seller line is where an officer of a company or a trustee writes what they are. An individual owner leaves it alone.
•It becomes the dealer's proof of ownership. Instruction 7 lets a licensed dealer use this form as proof of ownership to obtain a title or when reassigning vehicle ownership.
Every line here was read off State Form 57738 (07-25) 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.
