How to fill out Maine MVT-28

The form a garage, a landlord or a tow company files to claim a vehicle somebody left behind, and it is here because a Maine seller can end up on the other side of it. If a buyer never registers the car and it is towed, or if a vehicle you sold is left at a repair shop and never collected, this notice is what starts the process of taking the title away from whoever the Bureau still thinks owns it - which, until the transfer went through, may still be you.

Written against MVT-28 (Rev 10-2023), issued under 29-A M.R.S. chapter 15, subchapter III. If you sold a car and the buyer never titled it, the Bureau's record still names you - and the first you may hear of any of this is a notice about a vehicle you have not seen for months. That is the practical argument for completing the assignment properly on the day: an open certificate leaves your name attached to a vehicle other people are making decisions about.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MVT-28 from the maine.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our MVT-28 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   Somebody else fills this in

   Date of possession

   The day the vehicle came into the claimant's hands.

   Watch out: The fourteen-day notification window runs from here, and missing it caps what can be recovered in storage no matter how long the vehicle stays.

2. 2
   Somebody else fills this in

   Plate, state and vehicle

   The plate and issuing state, then year, make, model, body type and identification number.

   Watch out: The plate is often the only clue to who the Bureau thinks owns it, which is how a seller who never completed a transfer gets a letter.

3. 3
   Somebody else fills this in

   Tick one of the eight reasons

   The numbered list, expanded on the reverse of the sheet.

   Watch out: Each has a precise definition on the back. Left after authorized repair completed, for instance, requires a written work order signed by the person who asked for the repair.

4. 4
   Somebody else fills this in

   Who ordered the tow

   A name and address, individual or business.

   Watch out: For a vehicle simply left somewhere, this is the property owner rather than a towing customer. It should not be left blank because nobody rang.

5. 5
   Somebody else fills this in

   Total loss, yes or no

   The answer routes to a salvage application or a title application.

   Watch out: Yes means the vehicle has no marketable value beyond its basic materials and parts. It is a valuation question, not a description of the dents.

6. 6
   Somebody else fills this in

   The charges

   Towing, daily storage, and repair parts and labour.

   Watch out: Storage has both a daily reasonableness test and a hard ceiling per thirty days, both printed on the face of the form.

7. 7
   Somebody else fills this in

   Attach the work order

   A legible copy of the signed work order where repair charges are claimed.

   Watch out: The word is legible. A faded thermal printout of a signature is the commonest reason a repair claim is struck off the notice.

8. 8
   Somebody else fills this in

   Sign the certification

   Signature, business name, mailing address and town.

   Watch out: The warning underneath covers both a material false statement and a failure to disclose required information, and both are Class D crimes in Maine.

What gets this one rejected

• •A vehicle that came into possession by none of the eight listed means. The companion instruction sheet says any vehicle not meeting one of those conditions is not eligible to be claimed under Maine's abandoned vehicle law.
• •Repair charges claimed with no legible copy of a signed work order attached.
• •Storage charged against a vehicle left on residential property for six months, which the reverse of the form excludes from towing, repair and storage charges entirely.
• •Filed with no vehicle identification number inspection completed and signed by a full-time law enforcement officer.
• •Filed with neither a title application nor a salvage application nor a request for a letter of ownership, which are the three routes the instructions offer.
• •Storage charges beyond what Maine allows, which the form prints on its own face.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •Fourteen days, and then the storage stops counting. The form quotes its own statute: if the notification is made more than 14 days after receipt of the vehicle, or is not submitted at all, the person holding the vehicle may not collect more than 14 days of storage fees ($700.00).
• •There is a ceiling as well as a clock. Daily storage charges must be reasonable and total storage charges may not exceed $1,500.00 for a 30-day period.
• •What goes in the envelope. A title application or a salvage application for vehicles 25 model years and newer with the $33.00 fee, or - for title-exempt vehicles - a request for a letter of ownership and $5.00. Plus the vehicle identification number inspection signed by a full-time law enforcement officer, and a signed work order if the vehicle was repaired.
• •A letter of ownership is Maine's answer for an old car. It is the one place the Bureau names a document for a vehicle too old to be titled, and at $5.00 it is the cheapest way anything in this section resolves.

Every line here was read off MVT-28 (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.