Your lender's written statement that the loan is paid and its claim on the car is over. If a lienholder is still printed on the face of your title, this is the document that gets it off — and until it does, you cannot hand a clean title to a buyer.
Written against VP 186 (6/2023), issued under NRS 482.432, "Applicable statutory provisions for perfection and release of security interest".
June 2023 revision. Read the box at the top before anything else: this form only works on a printed paper title. If your title is held electronically, the lienholder has to release it electronically instead and no paper version of this will be accepted.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank VP 186 from the dmv.nv.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our VP 186 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is the actual VP 186, rendered from the PDF the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles 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
VP-186 completed for a paid-off 2009 Mini Cooper. The lender fills in and signs everything from the Printed Name of Lienholder line down; the top half is the car and the registered owner.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Vehicle Identification Number
One character per box, seventeen in all, copied off the title rather than off the dashboard.
Watch out: Read it from the title itself. A VIN that does not match the DMV's record stops the release dead, and the windscreen plate is the easiest place to misread an 8 for a B.
2
You fill this in
Year, make and model
The three short lines under the VIN boxes.
Watch out: Copy the make and model exactly as the title spells them, abbreviations and all. The title is the document being corrected, so it is the one that has to agree.
3
You fill this in
Registered owner's name
First, middle and last across the three boxes.
Watch out: This is the registered owner, not the lienholder. If two people are named on the title, both names belong here.
4
You fill this in
Your address
Street, city, state and ZIP.
Watch out: Use the address the DMV has for you. If a clear title is going to be mailed out at the end of this, it goes to the address on record — update that first if it has changed.
5
The lienholder fills this in
Printed name of lienholder
The lender's legal business name.
Watch out: The name here has to match the lienholder printed on the title. Banks merge and rename constantly; if the title says one thing and the release says another, expect a question.
6
The lienholder fills this in
Lienholder's address
The lender's street, city, state and ZIP.
Watch out: Their lien-release department, not your local branch. It is usually a different city from the one you bank in.
7
The lienholder fills this in
Daytime telephone number
A number the DMV can call.
Watch out: This is the line the DMV uses when something does not add up. A dead number turns a same-day check into a letter.
8
The lienholder fills this in
Lienholder representative's name
First, middle and last of the person at the lender who is signing.
Watch out: A person, not a department. The notary is about to swear that this named individual signed in front of them.
9
The lienholder fills this in
Representative's title
Their job title at the lender.
Watch out: Blank here is a common rejection. The DMV wants evidence the signer had authority to release the lien, and the job title is the only place on the form that shows it.
10
The lienholder fills this in
County, date, signature and notary stamp
The bottom block: county, the date sworn, the representative's signature and the notary's own signature and stamp.
Watch out: Every line here is filled in at the notary's desk, not before. Nevada does not make you notarize the title assignment itself, but it does make you notarize this.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Vehicle
VIN in the seventeen boxes, then year, make and model on the line beneath.
Registered owner
Your name as it appears on the title, and your address.
Lienholder
The lender's printed business name, address and daytime telephone number.
Lienholder representative
The name and job title of the person at the lender who is signing.
Notarization
Signed in front of a notary or an authorized Nevada DMV representative. Blank until then.
What gets this one rejected
•Using it on an electronic title. The form says so at the top: an electronic lien has to be released electronically by the lienholder, and the DMV then issues a clear title itself.
•You signing it. This is the lender's statement, not yours — the signature has to be the lienholder's representative, notarized.
•A photocopy or a scan. The form requires original signatures, in ink.
•Correcting a mistake after it is signed. Changes may not be made once the form is signed and witnessed; an error means starting again on a fresh copy.
•Sending it alone when the title is also missing. The DMV's title page pairs this with an Application for Duplicate Title (VP 012) — the release clears the lien, the VP 012 gets you the paper.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•The DMV's title page puts the first move on the lender: "The lienholder is responsible for ordering a printed title after you have satisfied the lien." Ask them to do that before you reach for this form.
•The alternative the same page gives you: the lienholder completes a Lien Release and you submit it with an Application for Duplicate Title. That is the route this form belongs to.
•A payoff quote is not a lien release. It is a number with an expiry date; the release is the statement that the number was paid.
What it costs
Duplicate title, vehicle staying in Nevada
$20
Duplicate title, vehicle not in Nevada
$35
Title Processing Fee, on a complete change of ownership
$8.25
Every line here was read off VP 186 (6/2023) itself —
the PDF is here — and off the Nevada Department 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.
