How to fill out Nevada VP 202, the Lost, Stolen, Mutilated or Surrendered License Plate Affidavit
Accounts for a Nevada plate that is no longer in your hands. There is a box on it that most sellers do not know exists — Left on Sold Vehicle — which is precisely what happens when a buyer drives off still wearing your plates.
Written against VP 202 (2/2023), issued under NRS 482.285, sworn under penalty of NRS 482.555.
February 2023 revision. In Nevada the plates belong to you, not the car. If they went with the vehicle, they are still registered to you until you say otherwise, and this affidavit is how you say it.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank VP 202 from the dmv.nv.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our VP 202 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is the actual VP 202, 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-202 completed for the seller's version of this problem: the plates went down the road on the car. Left on Sold Vehicle is ticked and the six other boxes are grey.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
County and date
The Nevada county you are in, and today's date.
Watch out: This is the county for the affidavit, not necessarily where the car was sold.
2
You fill this in
Registered owner's name
Last, then first, then middle.
Watch out: Read the labels under the boxes before you write. Surname first is unusual and it is the most common thing to get wrong on this form.
3
You fill this in
Licence number, date of birth or FEIN
Nevada driver's licence or identification card number.
Watch out: It has to be the registered owner's. If the plate is registered to a business, that is the FEIN and an authorized representative signs.
4
You fill this in
Physical and mailing addresses
Where you live, then where post goes.
Watch out: Match the DMV's record for you, or update it at the same visit.
5
You fill this in
The certification line
"I, ___ do hereby certify under penalty of NRS 482.555".
Watch out: Your name again, in full. It repeats because this line is the sworn statement itself.
6
You fill this in
Plate number
The Nevada plate number the affidavit is about.
Watch out: Both plates share one number. If you have one of the pair and the other is gone, say so at the counter rather than guessing which box fits.
7
You fill this in
What happened to it
Lost, mutilated, stolen, destroyed, illegible, left on a sold vehicle, or confiscated and surrendered.
Watch out: One box. For a private seller whose buyer drove away with the plates on, it is Left on Sold Vehicle — not Lost, which describes a plate you mislaid.
8
You fill this in
Case number, if stolen
Required when you tick Stolen.
Watch out: Get the police report first. And note what the form says next to it: stolen plates may not be duplicated, so you are getting a new number rather than the old one back.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Where and when
County and date at the top of the page.
Registered owner
Last, first and middle — the only form here that leads with the surname.
Identity and addresses
Licence or ID number, date of birth or FEIN, then physical and mailing address.
The plate
The plate number, and which of seven things happened to it.
Notarization
Sworn in front of a notary or an authorized Nevada DMV representative.
What gets this one rejected
•Writing your name first-name-first. This form runs Last, First, Middle across the page, unlike every other one in this set.
•Ticking Stolen without a case number. The form marks it required, and it notes that stolen plates may not be duplicated at all.
•Ticking Lost when the plates left on the car you sold. Left on Sold Vehicle is its own box and it describes something different.
•Expecting a new plate by post. The form says you must visit a full-service DMV office to obtain a new set.
•Signing before you reach the notary, or altering it afterwards.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•It is sworn under penalty of NRS 482.555, the same unlawful-acts section behind the other Nevada affidavits.
•The form recommends reporting lost or stolen plates to your local law enforcement agency, in case they are used unlawfully. That is worth doing whether or not you file this.
•There is a separate block at the foot for law enforcement submitting on behalf of the registered owner, which is not yours to complete.
Every line here was read off VP 202 (2/2023) 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.
