The route to a New Hampshire title for a vehicle that never had one and cannot get one the ordinary way, because the owner holds no prior title and no prior registration. It is the only form in a seller's group that is sworn in front of a Notary Public or a Justice of the Peace, and the reason is what it certifies: that there is no paperwork behind the claim of ownership at all.
Written against TDMV 105 (Rev 03/23), issued under RSA 261:4-a.
Getting a title for an antique is not always the right move before selling. A New Hampshire title takes 30 to 50 calendar days to issue and carries the ordinary title fee, and for a car of that age the buyer can register it perfectly well on a bill of sale plus your old registration or a VIN verification. Title it because the buyer wants the certainty, or because there is genuinely nothing else - not as a reflex.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank TDMV 105 from the dmv.nh.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our TDMV 105 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is the actual TDMV 105, 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 greyed block at the foot is not yours to fill in, and it is what makes this form different from every other one in this group. The sentence it is swearing to is the short one above the signature: that the owner is not in possession of a prior title or prior registration.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Date and your name and address
The head of the affidavit, and the first full line.
Watch out: Use the address the Division has for you. If it is out of date, the record change request is the form that fixes that, and it is worth doing first.
2
You fill this in
The vehicle line
Model year, make, model, colour and body style.
Watch out: Model year, not the year you think of it as. On a vehicle this old the two can differ and the Bureau records the model year.
3
You fill this in
The identification number
The comb below the vehicle line, a character to a cell.
Watch out: Pre-1981 vehicles carry a shorter number than the seventeen cells allow for. Write it in from the left and leave the spare cells empty rather than padding it out.
4
You fill this in
Where it came from
The date of purchase, and the name and address of the person you bought it from.
Watch out: If the vehicle was inherited or given, say so on the line rather than inventing a purchase. This is a sworn document.
5
You fill this in
The certification
That you are not in possession of a prior title or prior registration.
Watch out: If you find an old registration certificate in a drawer afterwards, that changes which form you should have used - RSA 261:2-a will accept a current or expired registration as proof of the identification number.
6
You fill this in
Sign in front of the official
Not before. The acknowledgement says the above named personally appeared and made oath that the declaration is true.
Watch out: Take photo identification. A Justice of the Peace is as good as a Notary Public in New Hampshire and is often easier to find.
7
Somebody else fills this in
The acknowledgement block
State, county, date, the name of the person who appeared, the official's signature, the commission expiration and the seal.
Watch out: Check the commission expiration before you leave. An expired commission makes the whole affidavit worthless and you will not find out for weeks.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Date
At the head of the affidavit.
Owner's name and address
'I ______ of ______' across the first line.
Vehicle description
Model year, make, model, colour and body style, then the vehicle identification number in a seventeen-cell comb.
Purchase details
The date the vehicle was purchased, then the name and address of the seller it was purchased from.
The certification
That the owner is not in possession of a prior title or prior registration, under penalty of unsworn falsification pursuant to RSA 641:3, then a second line certifying the whole affidavit true and correct.
Signature
The owner's, on a printed rule.
Notary or Justice of the Peace acknowledgement
State, county, date, the name of the person who personally appeared and made oath, the official's signature, the commission expiration and a space for the seal.
What gets this one rejected
•An unsworn affidavit. The acknowledgement block is on the form and the document does not work without it.
•An affidavit from somebody who does hold a prior title or registration - the sworn statement is that they do not, and if a registration certificate exists, this is the wrong form.
•A blank seller block. The form asks who the vehicle was purchased from and when, because that is the chain of ownership being asserted.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•What the statute allows. RSA 261:4-a says nothing in the exemption sections shall prohibit the department from issuing a certificate of title for an antique motor vehicle upon the request of the vehicle owner, and directs the commissioner to make rules for it.
•It is optional, and that is the point. The Division's own wording is that vehicles that have a model year of 1999 or older may only be titled at an owner's request. Nobody is compelled to title an old car in New Hampshire; this is the door for an owner who wants to.
•Antique means over 25 years old. The Division's plate schedule defines an antique plate as being for any motor vehicle, including a truck, regardless of its weight, over 25 years old which is maintained for use in exhibitions, club activities, parades and other functions of public interest, under RSA 261:89-a and RSA 259:4.
•A VIN verification usually comes with it. Antique vehicles are on the Division's own list of the cases where a Verification of Vehicle Identification may be required.
•A Justice of the Peace will do. New Hampshire treats a Justice of the Peace as an alternative to a Notary Public throughout its title forms, and the acknowledgement block on this one names both.
Every line here was read off TDMV 105 (Rev 03/23) 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.
