The towing garage's notice to the Division that it has removed a vehicle to its premises and is storing it. It is here for the person on the other side of it - the owner whose car has gone - because the form is a list of everything the tower is asserting, including whether you were notified and on what date, and the statute gives you a window to argue about it.
Written against TDMV 71 (Rev 11/2020), issued under RSA 262:32, RSA 262:34 and RSA 262:36-a.
If your car has been towed, the two entries to look at first are the value box and the owner-notified box. A garage that has ticked under $1,000 is setting up a quick sale with no advertising, and a garage that has ticked 'unknown' against owner notified is saying it did not find you - which is a different thing from you not being findable, and the fifteen-day challenge clock in RSA 262:35a is short.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank TDMV 71 from the dmv.nh.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our TDMV 71 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is the actual TDMV 71, 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
Nothing on this form is the vehicle owner's to fill in, and it is still worth reading line by line if it concerns your car. The two boxes that decide what happens next are the market value and the request for sale under 20 days - together they can turn a tow into a sale without a single advertisement.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
Somebody else fills this in
Who is reporting, and when the tow happened
Police or towing garage, with the date of tow.
Watch out: The date of tow starts both clocks: 30 days for the garage to file this, 15 days for the owner to challenge.
Watch out: The registration number is what lets the Division find the owner. A blank there and a blank owner block together are worth questioning.
3
Somebody else fills this in
Condition and value
Accident, severe, light, burned or no damage; over or under $1,000.
Watch out: These are the tower's opinions, not findings. If yours is the car, they are the two entries worth disputing first.
4
Somebody else fills this in
The request for a quick sale
Sale under 20 days without notice, with no public or newspaper posting.
Watch out: Only available under $1,000 per RSA 262:38, which is why the value box matters so much.
5
Somebody else fills this in
Private property, and which officer
Whether it was towed from private property and at whose request, and which peace officer gave the instruction.
Watch out: A tow from private property at a property owner's request is a different animal from one ordered by a police officer, and the form separates them.
6
Somebody else fills this in
Owner notified
Yes, no or unknown, with a date.
Watch out: If this reads unknown and your address was on the registration, that is the question to ask the garage before anything else.
7
Somebody else fills this in
Garage signature
Authorised garage owner's signature, under penalty of unsworn falsification.
Watch out: Everything above it is being asserted under that penalty, including the boxes about notice.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Who is reporting
Police, or towing garage, with the date of tow and the date of release from impound where applicable.
The vehicle
Year, make, registration number and state, with the identification number in a seventeen-cell comb.
General condition
Accident, severe, light, burned or no damage.
Current market value
Over $1,000, or under $1,000.
Fit for the road?
Is the vehicle intended or in condition for legal public way use - yes or no.
Request for sale under 20 days without notice
A request that will not require public or newspaper posting, available only where the value is less than $1,000 per RSA 262:38.
Towed from private property?
Yes or no, and if yes, who requested it.
The peace officer
Which peace officer notified the garage to remove the vehicle, with the officer or police report number and the department.
N.C.I.C. check
Yes or no.
Garage details
Name, address, authorised garage owner's signature under penalty of unsworn falsification, and telephone number.
The owner
Name, address, whether the owner was notified - yes, no or unknown - and the date.
What gets this one rejected
•A notice filed more than 30 days after the tow. The foot of the form says it must be submitted to DMV within 30 days per RSA 262:34.
•A request for sale within 20 days on a vehicle worth more than $1,000. The form ties that request to RSA 262:38 and to a value of less than $1,000.
•An unsigned form. The garage owner's signature is given under penalty of unsworn falsification pursuant to RSA 641:3.
•Blank owner details where the registration number is known, because that is what the Division's record is for.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•Fifteen days to challenge. Printed on the form as a note rather than buried: owner has 15 days to challenge the towing authority, RSA 262:35a.
•The value box decides the process. Under $1,000 opens the door to a sale in under 20 days with no public or newspaper posting. Over $1,000 does not.
•Two different reporting duties. This notice is one. The other is RSA 262:2, III, which requires a garage holding an unclaimed vehicle for 30 days to report it within 5 days of that period, on pain of forfeiting all claims and liens for the garaging.
Every line here was read off TDMV 71 (Rev 11/2020) 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.
