How to fill out Maine MVT-54

The form that lets an old Maine car be scrapped with no title at all, and the one form in this section where the seller's own name, date of birth and identification number are copied onto a document filed by somebody else. It exists because of a narrow exemption: a vehicle at least twenty years old by model year needs no title if it is acquired to be scrapped, where scrap means to compress, shred or destroy. That exemption comes with a condition worth knowing before you agree to it - a vehicle acquired under it cannot be used for parts.

Written against MVT-54 (Rev 9-2021), issued under 29-A M.R.S. section 654. If a yard offers you more for the car because it will be broken for parts rather than crushed, this is not the form for that transaction, and agreeing to it anyway puts a false statement on a document that names you. A vehicle handed over for parts needs its title surrendered or a salvage certificate applied for.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MVT-54 from the maine.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our MVT-54 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 vehicle acquired

   The day the recycler took possession.

   Watch out: The thirty-day reporting window runs from the destruction rather than from this date, but this is the date that anchors the record of the handover.

2. 2
   Somebody else fills this in

   The recycler identifies itself

   Name, address, licence number and state, with an optional company stamp.

   Watch out: The licence number is the part that makes the exemption available at all. A yard that cannot produce one cannot use this route.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Seller information

   Your name, date of birth, identification number and its state, address and telephone.

   Watch out: This is the block you are actually party to. Check it before it is signed, because the name and address on it are yours and the criminal warning underneath is about false ones.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Show identification

   A driving licence, non-driver identification card, United States passport or military identification, noted on the form and copied.

   Watch out: The copy stays in the recycler's records. It is a legal requirement of the exemption rather than a yard being awkward.

5. 5
   Somebody else fills this in

   Vehicle information

   Year, make, model and the identification number in the boxed row.

   Watch out: Twenty model years is the test. If the car is younger than that, this form is the wrong one and the title has to be dealt with properly.

6. 6
   Somebody else fills this in

   The certification

   Printed name, signature and date, attesting the vehicle was acquired to be scrapped or destroyed.

   Watch out: Acquired to be scrapped is a promise about what happens next. If the plan is to sell parts off it, the certification is not true and a different route applies.

What gets this one rejected

• •Used for a vehicle that will be broken for parts. The exemption is for scrapping, and the form's own text says a vehicle acquired under this section cannot be used for parts.
• •Used on a vehicle under twenty model years old, which is outside the exemption and needs its title surrendered instead.
• •Filed more than thirty days after the destruction, which the instructions require to be reported inside that window.
• •Filed where a title or certificate of salvage was in fact submitted. The form says it is only needed when neither is.
• •A seller information block completed without sight of the seller's identification. The form asks for the document to be noted on it and copied.
• •A recycler licence number left blank, when the exemption belongs to a licensee rather than to anybody with a yard.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •The general rule this is an exception to. Where an owner transfers a vehicle with no certificate of salvage to a licensed salvage dealer, scrap metal processor or recycler, the vehicle is deemed declared by the owner to be a salvage vehicle and the licensee must apply for a certificate of salvage - unless the certificate of title is surrendered to the Secretary of State within thirty days.
• •Which identification is acceptable. The form names four: a valid driver's licence, a non-driver identification card, a United States passport, or military identification. Whichever is used is noted on the form and copied.
• •Twenty years by model year, not by registration. The exemption is written against the model year, so a vehicle first registered late does not get an extra season out of it.
• •Your name is on it either way. This is a document about you filed by somebody else, and the Class D warning under the signature applies to whoever signs. Give a recycler accurate details and there is nothing here to worry about.

Every line here was read off MVT-54 (Rev 9-2021) 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.