A separate mileage statement for the times the printed box on the certificate is not available or not enough - a title held by a lender, a duplicate on its way, a certificate whose odometer box has already been used. Maryland puts the disclosure on the title itself, so on an ordinary sale this form is a second copy rather than the main event, and it is printed in triplicate: white to the MVA, canary to the seller, pink to the buyer.
Written against VR-197 (06-17), issued under 49 CFR Part 580 and Maryland Transportation Article, Section 13-112.
The revision printed on this one is from 2017 and it is the oldest form in the seller's set. It is still what the MVA publishes, which is why the page is written against it - but check the code in the corner before you rely on a copy you saved.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank VR-197 from the mva.maryland.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our VR-197 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is the actual VR-197, rendered from the PDF the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration 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 VR-197 at revision 06-17. Both exception boxes are deliberately empty, because the sentence above them already certifies the reading as actual mileage unless one is checked - and note the three-copy distribution line along the bottom edge.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
I, print seller's name
The first rule on the sheet, inside the certification sentence.
Watch out: Print it as the face of the certificate has it, middle initial included. This is a certification in your name and it should be recognisable as yours.
2
You fill this in
The reading
Whole miles in the box marked no tenths, read on the day you sign rather than the day the buyer first looked at the car.
Watch out: A fortnight of test drives is a different number. If the reading has moved since you last wrote it down, write the new one and change the certificate to match before anyone signs.
3
You fill this in
The two exception boxes
Tick the first for a reading in excess of its mechanical limits, the second for a reading that is not the actual mileage.
Watch out: Ticking the second one puts a permanent warning on the vehicle's record. It is still the right answer where it is true, and the warning is printed on the form precisely so that nobody can claim not to have seen it.
4
You fill this in
Make, Model, Year
Three boxes across the middle of the sheet, taken from the certificate rather than the dashboard.
Watch out: Trim names are a trap on this row. The title's make and model are what the MVA has on file and what this statement has to agree with.
5
You fill this in
Body Type and Vehicle Identification No.
The row underneath, with the VIN in the wider box.
Watch out: Check it back against the certificate character by character. The VIN is what ties this loose sheet of paper to the vehicle it is about.
6
You fill this in
Seller's Signature, Printed Name and address
Four rules down the middle of the sheet: signature, printed name, street address, then city, state and ZIP.
Watch out: There is no notary block on this form and there is not meant to be. Do not go looking for one, and do not let anybody tell you the mileage statement has to be sworn in Maryland.
7
You fill this in
Date of Statement
One box under the seller's address. The day you signed.
Watch out: It should match the DATE OF SALE box on the reverse of the certificate. A gap between the two invites the question of which document describes the transaction.
8
The buyer fills this in
Buyer's Signature, Printed Name and address
The last four rules on the sheet, mirroring yours.
Watch out: Keep the canary copy with the buyer's signature on it. It is the only proof you will have that the disclosure was made before the vehicle changed hands, which is what the federal rule actually requires.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
The federal warning
Federal and State law requires that you state the mileage in connection with the transfer of ownership. Failure to complete or providing a false statement may result in fines and/or imprisonment.
I, print seller's name
A rule inside the certification sentence. Your name, printed, as it appears on the face of the certificate.
The reading
A box marked miles, no tenths, under the words certifying it to be the actual mileage of the vehicle unless one of the following statements is checked.
The two exception boxes
The mileage stated is in excess of its mechanical limits, and the odometer reading is not the actual mileage, the second of them followed by the words Warning - odometer discrepancy.
Vehicle block
Make, model and year on one row; body type and vehicle identification number on the next.
Seller block
Signature, printed name, street address, then city, state and ZIP, then the date of statement.
Buyer block
The mirror image at the foot: signature, printed name, street address, city, state and ZIP.
The distribution line
White Copy - MVA, Canary Copy - Seller, Pink Copy - Buyer. It is a three-part form and each party is meant to walk away with one.
What gets this one rejected
•A reading carrying tenths, when the box says no tenths in its own label.
•A blank buyer block. Federal law makes the buyer's acknowledgement part of the disclosure rather than a courtesy.
•A date of statement that is not the date of sale, which raises the question of which reading was true when the keys changed hands.
•A figure that differs from the one in the printed odometer box on the reverse of the certificate.
•Neither exception ticked on a vehicle whose odometer has rolled past its mechanical limit, which certifies a false mileage by default.
•A seller's printed name that does not match the name on the face of the title.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•There is no age rule printed on it anywhere. Read the sheet end to end and it never says when the disclosure stops being required. That answer lives in the federal regulation, and the MVA's own dealer manual still prints the version of it that was superseded in 2019.
•It does not replace the box on the title. Maryland's certificate carries its own odometer box inside the assignment block. Where the certificate is in your hands, fill that in - this form is for the situations where it is not, and for the buyer's own file.
Every line here was read off VR-197 (06-17) 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.
