New Hampshire plates belong to the person rather than the car, so a seller keeps them and moves them to the next vehicle. This is the form for when one of them cannot make that trip - lost, stolen, destroyed, or never received by post - and the rule printed on it about keeping the same number is the part that catches people out.
Written against RDMV 125 (Rev 3/22), issued under RSA 261:96.
Read the two sentences about the number together, because they point in opposite directions. If a plate is lost or destroyed you can keep your number by surrendering what you still have. If the plates were stolen you cannot - a new number must be issued - and that means the number on your registration certificate, and on anything you have written it on, changes.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank RDMV 125 from the dmv.nh.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our RDMV 125 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is the actual RDMV 125, rendered from the PDF the New Hampshire Division 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
The small print under the fee boxes is the whole form. Surrender what you still have and you keep your number; report the plates stolen and you do not. On a set of plates you are carrying from a car you have just sold to a car you are about to buy, that difference is worth a careful read.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Plate number, type and phone
The three boxes across the top.
Watch out: The number comes off the registration certificate you kept when you sold the car - which is one more reason the statute tells you to keep it.
2
You fill this in
Choose what you need
Two plates at $8.00, one plate at $4.00, or decals only at $1.00.
Watch out: Both figures include the decal fee. Ordering decals separately afterwards costs more than ordering them together.
3
You fill this in
The reason
Lost, stolen, destroyed, plate change or never received by mail.
Watch out: Stolen is the one with consequences. It forces a new number, and the certification on the form says the loss was reported to a New Hampshire police department.
4
You fill this in
Owner details
Name, date of birth, street, city, state and ZIP.
Watch out: The name must match the registration record. A married name here and a maiden name on the record is a stop.
5
You fill this in
Description of vehicle
Year, make, model and the identification number.
Watch out: If the plates are between cars because you have just sold one, this is the vehicle they were registered to - not the one you are about to buy.
6
You fill this in
The police department line
Which New Hampshire police department the loss was reported to.
Watch out: Report it first and write the department in second. The certification says the loss was reported, in the past tense.
7
You fill this in
Sign, and surrender the survivor
Owner's signature under penalty of unsworn falsification, and the remaining plate in the envelope if you want to keep your number.
Watch out: Not cash in the same envelope. The form says so in capitals.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
N.H. plate number, type and phone
The three boxes across the top.
What is needed
Two plates including the decal fee at $8.00; one plate including the decal fee at $4.00; or decals only at $1.00.
Reason
Lost, stolen, destroyed, plate change, or never received by mail.
Owner's name and date of birth
Two boxes.
Address
Street, city, state and ZIP.
Description of vehicle
Year, make, model and the vehicle identification number, with a seventeen-cell comb for the number.
The police report line
'I certify that the above replacements are needed for the reason indicated and that the loss was reported to the ______, N.H. Police Department.'
Owner's signature
Under penalty of unsworn falsification pursuant to RSA 641:3.
What gets this one rejected
•A request to keep the same number without surrendering a plate. The note on the form says a set of plates with the same number can only be ordered if one or both plates are surrendered with this application.
•A stolen-plate application asking for the same number. If the plates were stolen, a new number must be issued.
•Cash in an envelope. DO NOT MAIL CASH is printed on the form.
•A blank police department line where the reason given is lost or stolen - the certification names a report to a New Hampshire police department.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•The plate fee itself is a first-year charge. The Division's registration page says there is an $8.00 plate fee for the first time you order plates, and its plate schedule repeats that the manufacturing fee is only required in the first year of purchase. The replacement fees on this form are separate from that.
•Why a seller ends up here at all. Because RSA 261:66 expires the registration on transfer and tells the former owner to retain the expired certificate of registration in order to obtain transfer credit. The plates come off the sold car and go onto the next one - so a missing plate is a problem you have created for yourself rather than for the buyer.
•Seven characters is the ceiling. The Division's complete list of plate types gives a passenger plate a maximum of seven digits and characters, under RSA 261:75.
Every line here was read off RDMV 125 (Rev 3/22) itself — the PDF is here — and off the New Hampshire Division 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.
