How to fill out Maine MVT-10

The form that gets a foreign-registered car into the Maine title system, and the one Maine sellers near the border meet more than anyone else. The rule at the head of the sheet is flat: an inspection is required for all vehicles 25 model years and newer which were previously registered or titled in another country. It is also required whenever the vehicle identification number of a vehicle is questionable - which is the second reason a Maine seller ends up with one, on a car whose number plate has corroded or been replaced.

Written against MVT-10 (Rev 10-2023), issued under 29-A M.R.S. section 656. The two-places rule is the substance of this form and the thing people try to shortcut. Copying the dashboard number twice satisfies nothing - the second reading comes off the federal certification sticker, and the whole exercise is a comparison between two numbers that should agree.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MVT-10 from the maine.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our MVT-10 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Find an authorised inspector

   One of the five categories printed on the form.

   Watch out: A Maine official inspection station is usually the easiest of the five to book, and it is the one that has to write a station number on the sheet.

2. 2
   Somebody else fills this in

   Date and place of viewing

   The inspector certifies personally viewing the vehicle on a date at a location.

   Watch out: Personally viewed means present at the vehicle. This block cannot honestly be completed from photographs.

3. 3
   Somebody else fills this in

   The vehicle row

   Year, make, model, style, and the state and plate number where it was last registered.

   Watch out: For an import, the last registration was in another country and that is what goes in the box. It is the fact that triggered the inspection in the first place.

4. 4
   Somebody else fills this in

   Two numbers, two places

   The public identification number, and the number on the federal sticker.

   Watch out: On a motorcycle the frame number is required instead of the second reading, which the instruction says in as many words.

5. 5
   Somebody else fills this in

   Owner and odometer

   Owner name and address, then the reading with no tenths and its certification.

   Watch out: The mileage certification here is the same three-way choice as everywhere else in the Maine set, and it is signed by the inspector rather than by you.

6. 6
   Somebody else fills this in

   The finding

   No signs of alteration or tampering, or appears altered or tampered with.

   Watch out: If the second box is ticked, the vehicle is not going anywhere until the Bureau has looked at it. That is the form doing its job.

7. 7
   You fill this in

   Both signatures

   The authorized person signs and dates one lane; you sign and date the other, with printed names under both.

   Watch out: The owner's lane is the one left blank most often, because the sheet reads like an official document rather than one you are party to.

8. 8
   Somebody else fills this in

   Agency or station identification

   The agency or inspection station name, the badge or station number, and a work telephone number.

   Watch out: The number is what the Bureau uses to verify the inspection actually happened. A form with a name and no number is an anonymous certification.

What gets this one rejected

• •An inspection carried out by somebody not on the list of five. A friendly mechanic who is not a Maine official inspection station is not an authorized person.
• •One identification number where the form asks for two from two places on the vehicle.
• •A motorcycle inspected without the frame number, which the same instruction names specifically.
• •An inspection station number left blank, when the station route requires it by name.
• •An abandoned vehicle inspected by anybody other than a full-time law enforcement officer.
• •The current owner's signature lane left empty. The form has two signatures side by side and only one of them belongs to the inspector.
• •Used to correct the identification number on a registration, which the sheet excludes in its own bullet.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •The inspection is at your expense, not the state's. The form says arrangements for inspection must be made by the owner of a vehicle at no cost to the State of Maine.
• •It is a finding, not an opinion. The inspector is certifying under penalties of false statement, and the second tick box exists precisely so a genuine problem can be recorded rather than glossed over.
• •A dealer can only inspect a car they are selling. The Maine and New Hampshire dealer entry on the list carries the qualifier only if seller of vehicle, so a dealer down the road cannot oblige as a favour.
• •It does not fix a registration. The first bullet on the sheet rules that out. This form serves a title application; a wrong number on a registration is a different correction.

Every line here was read off MVT-10 (Rev 10-2023) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Maine 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.

Back to all Maine seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Maine involves.