A note that sends somebody else to the counter with your paperwork, and a form whose most important sentence is a denial. In bold across the foot: this form IS NOT a power of attorney and the above named person cannot sign my name to any documents. So it gets a friend to the window with an envelope. It does not get them a pen.
Written against DPSMV 1806 (R0418), issued under Administrative, Office of Motor Vehicles.
The revision here is R0418, printed as a bare four-digit month and year with no separator. The form still refers to the Department of Motor Vehicles in its opening sentence, which is not the agency's name - the department is the Office of Motor Vehicles, within Public Safety Services, within the Department of Public Safety and Corrections.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank DPSMV 1806 from the public.powerdms.com copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual DPSMV 1806, rendered from the PDF the Louisiana Office 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
The actual DPSMV 1806 at revision R0418, completed for the errand a seller most often needs somebody else to run. Every unticked option is greyed, including the bold sentence at the foot, which is the department telling you what this note cannot do.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
I ______ do hereby give permission
The first blank in the opening sentence.
Watch out: The registered owner's name as the record holds it. The permission is personal to you, so a jointly titled vehicle where both owners are named needs both to give it - one owner's note does not cover the other's business.
2
You fill this in
for ______ to process my transaction
The second blank, split across two boxes either side of a line break in the printed text.
Watch out: Full first name and surname, matching the identification the person will be carrying. The counter is going to check that the person in front of them is the person you named.
3
You fill this in
Surrender a License Plate
The fourth tick in the list.
Watch out: This is the one a seller wants. It sends somebody to hand the plate in for cancellation on your behalf, which is an errand with no signature attached and therefore exactly what this form is for.
4
You fill this in
VIN NUMBER
The last of four boxes on the vehicle row under the ticks.
Watch out: Fill all four boxes even though the number alone identifies the vehicle. The row is what limits the permission to one car, and a permission with no vehicle on it is a permission to do anything.
5
You fill this in
Owner's Driver's License Number
Right-hand box of the three-position row at the foot, after the date and the signature rule.
Watch out: The signature rule beside it carries no fillable box, so sign it in ink after printing. This number is what ties the note to your record, and a form with a signature and no number is harder for the counter to accept, not easier.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
I ______ do hereby give permission for ______ to process my transaction indicated below
The opening sentence with two blanks, the second split across two boxes so that a first name and a surname sit either side of a line break.
Renewal or Replacement of License Plate
First of the ticks.
Obtain a Duplicate Registration Certificate
Second tick.
Process a transfer of Ownership
Third tick, with its own condition printed beside it: new owner must have DPSMV 1799 form completed and signed.
Surrender a License Plate
Fourth tick, and the one a seller reaches for.
Other ______
A blank for anything not listed.
on the following described vehicle: YEAR, MAKE, MODEL, VIN NUMBER
Four boxes on one row under the ticks.
Create/Change/or Update International Registration Plan (IRP)
A fifth tick with account and fleet or unit number boxes, for commercial fleets.
Clear a Flag or Suspension on My Driving Record
A sixth tick, and it belongs to the driver-licence side of the department rather than to a vehicle.
Obtain a Copy of My Official Driving Record
A seventh, again with a condition printed beside it: must have DPSMV 2106 form completed and signed.
This form IS NOT a power of attorney
Printed in bold above the signature, and it is the sentence that decides what this document can and cannot do.
Date, Owner's Signature, Owner's Driver's License Number
Three positions on one row at the foot. The signature rule carries no fillable box.
What gets this one rejected
•Sent with a transaction that needs a signature the holder cannot give. Anything requiring you to sign at the counter needs a mandate, not this.
•No tick at all, or a tick against Other with the blank beside it empty.
•The vehicle row left incomplete. Four boxes, and the VIN is the one that identifies the record.
•Your driver's licence number missing. It is one of only three things on the signature row and it is how the department matches the permission to your record.
•Used to send somebody to transfer ownership without a DPSMV 1799 already completed and signed by the new owner - which is the condition printed beside that very tick.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•The difference between this and a mandate is the whole point. A power of attorney or mandate lets an agent sign documents for you, has to be notarised where it is executed in Louisiana, must carry the vehicle's make, year and VIN where it is being used to transfer ownership, and must be submitted with the file in original or certified true copy. This form does none of that.
•An agent cannot buy your car with your own mandate. Worth knowing even where you do go the mandate route: an agent cannot use a power of attorney to transfer a vehicle into their own name unless the mandate specifically authorises it.
•Any alteration voids a mandate outright. And an affidavit of correction will not be accepted to cover one. If a mandate needs changing, it needs redoing.
Every line here was read off DPSMV 1806 (R0418) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Louisiana Office 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.
