The buyer's application, and the sheet an MVA branch works from. Two pages that do five jobs at once: they apply for the certificate, describe the vehicle, declare every lien, work out the titling excise tax and ask for plates. A private seller does not sign it anywhere. The MVA will also accept the identical application printed on the reverse of the certificate you are assigning, so a buyer who has that filled in does not need this at all.
Written against VR-005 (07-26), issued under Maryland Transportation Article, Sections 13-112 and 13-116. This form was revised in July 2026 and the MVA revises it often. Take a fresh copy from mva.maryland.gov rather than reusing a saved one, and check the code in the top right corner against the revision this page was written against.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank VR-005 from the mva.maryland.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our VR-005 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is all 2 pages of the actual VR-005, rendered from the PDF the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration publishes and completed end to end: letterhead, every field, and the blocks at the foot.
Top row of page one. The buyer's legal name, their Maryland driver's licence or MDID number, and their date of birth.
Watch out: Full legal name means what the licence says. A shortened first name here against the full one on the identification is a mismatch an agent has to stop and resolve.
Five boxes across the second row, and county is one of them.
Watch out: County is asked for separately from city because Maryland asks for it separately everywhere. Fill it from the licence rather than guessing which county a Baltimore or Silver Spring address falls in.
A two-way tick under the co-applicant block, answered only where a second name is being put on the title.
Watch out: This decides what happens to the vehicle when one of two owners dies, and the MVA's instruction sheet is clear that tenancy by entirety is only available to married couples. It cannot be changed later without a fresh application and another title fee.
New or Used, then model year, make, model, body style and the seventeen-character VIN, all copied off the certificate being surrendered.
Watch out: Copy the VIN from the face of the title rather than from the windscreen plate, and remember that a VIN never contains the letters I, O or Q.
Name of secured party, type of lien, lien code, date and amount, plus the lender's full address. Only where the buyer is borrowing to buy the car.
Watch out: If there is no lender, write the word NONE. The instruction is printed above the block in capitals and it is the single most common thing left undone on this page.
The purchase-information block on page two: the price the vehicle sold for, and the tax worked out from it.
Watch out: This is where an under-written price on the back of the certificate comes home to roost. Where the MVA does not accept the figure it charges the rate on book value instead, so a low number on the title makes the buyer's bill larger, not smaller.
A box in the middle of page two marked no tenths, with two exception statements beside it.
Watch out: It has to agree with the reading in the printed box on the back of the certificate. Two documents in the same envelope disagreeing about the mileage is a discrepancy, and it brands the record rather than being quietly corrected.
New Tags, Transfer of Tags, 30 Day Inspection Plate or Title Only, with a class of tags written on the line beside it.
Watch out: Title Only is for a vehicle that will not be driven. A buyer who intends to drive home from the branch wants New Tags or Transfer of Tags, and a transfer needs the old tag and sticker numbers written in.
Three boxes above the signature, plus the agent or broker's name.
Watch out: It has to be a company licensed to write insurance in Maryland. The certification the buyer signs promises continuous cover for the whole registration period, which is the promise the uninsured-motorist penalty is measured against.
The last block on page two, with a second pair of lines for a co-applicant and a dated Witness my/our Hand(s) and Seal(s) line underneath.
Watch out: No notary is involved. If somebody is signing on the buyer's behalf, that authority comes from a VR-470 with a copy of the owner's licence attached, not from a note.
A line inside the purchase-information block for a licensed title service agent's own charge.
Watch out: If you are doing this yourself it stays empty. If someone has offered to file the paperwork for you, this line is the ceiling Maryland puts on what they may collect for it.
| On the form | What to put in it |
|---|---|
| Applicant block | Full name, driver's licence or MDID number and date of birth, then street address with city, county, state and ZIP, then email and phone. A small MDID Needed tick sits beside it for an applicant who has neither number yet. |
| Co-Applicant block | The same seven boxes again, and then the question that follows from them: is the vehicle to be titled as Joint Tenants or Tenants by Entireties. |
| Business or trust line | If the name entered above is a business or trust, enter the FEIN here, then tick one of eight entity types - trust, professional association, sole proprietorship, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, joint venture, or other with a space to specify. |
| Vehicle Description | New or Used, then model year, make, model, body style and the vehicle identification number. Underneath, a two-stage vehicle row for completed chassis, and a class row of six ticks - truck, truck tractor, construction, bus, motorcycle, trailer - with weight, axles, seats, engine number and engine CCs beside them. |
| Lien section | Name of secured party, type of lien, lien code, date and amount, then the secured party's full address. The instruction above it is printed in capitals: if not subject to a lien, write the word NONE below. Each lien filing needs a VR-217 and its own filing fee attached. |
| Purchase information for tax purposes | Md. Excise Tax of 6.5% of the full purchase price, a title service agent's collection line at 6% of gross or $12 max fee, a taxable price box, and beside them a Maryland Dealer's Certification and a Dealers Only column that a private sale leaves untouched. |
| Excise tax credit block | For somebody who has just moved here: how long they have been resident, where they last registered and what percentage tax they paid, with an instruction to write NONE if none was paid. A returning or active-duty military tick sits under it. |
| Odometer certification | The federal warning, then an odometer reading box marked no tenths, and two statements to check - the mileage stated is in excess of its mechanical limits, or the odometer reading is not the actual mileage, under the words WARNING - Odometer Discrepancy. |
| Application for plates | New Tags, Transfer of Tags, 30 Day Inspection Plate or Title Only, with a class of tags line. Then a short-term rental question, a dealer loaner box, and where tags are being moved across, the tag and sticker numbers they carry. |
| Certification of insurance | Name of insurance company, NAIC number, policy or binder number and agent or broker. It sits directly above a certification that the vehicle is covered by at least the minimum amounts of insurance required by the Maryland Motor Vehicles Laws and will be continuously insured throughout its registration period. |
| Signatures | Applicant and co-applicant sign and print on page two, then a witness line reading Witness my/our Hand(s) and Seal(s) this day of year, and a co-signer block with a Maryland driver licence number, relationship and date of birth for an applicant under eighteen. |
Every line here was read off VR-005 (07-26) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration 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 Maryland seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Maryland involves.