How to fill out New Jersey DO-11A

The registration side of the same coin. Where the DO-22 searches the title record, this one produces a certified copy of what the Commission holds about a registration on a given date - and the Commission accepts that certified record as proof of ownership when you are replacing a lost title and cannot lay your hands on a registration or an insurance card.

Written against DO-11A (R2/26), issued under N.J.S.A. 39:2-3.3 et seq., the New Jersey Drivers' Privacy Act quoted in section D. Ask for it in person if you can. The postal route on this form runs at the same three to four weeks as the title search, and the counter route does not.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank DO-11A from the nj.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Your details and a current address

   Section A, exactly as on the title search: name, contact details, and the address the result will be posted to.

   Watch out: If you are going to a full-service agency in person, fill this in anyway - the clerk works from the form.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Licence number and a photocopy of the ID

   Your driver licence or government issued ID number, with a photocopy of it in the envelope or in your hand.

   Watch out: Same rule as every other record request in New Jersey: no identification, no record.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Plate number or VIN

   One of the two, and the form says so in capitals. Both is better.

   Watch out: If the plates have already been surrendered, the plate number still identifies the record - it is how the Commission indexed it.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Which pieces of the record you want

   Tick from insurance, name and address of driver, licence plate number, registration expiration date and vehicle description. More than one is allowed.

   Watch out: To prove a car was registered to you, tick the name and address and the vehicle description together. One without the other proves half of it.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   The date you want covered

   Month, day, year. The record comes back as at that date.

   Watch out: Use the date of sale if you are proving who held it when the car changed hands, not today's date.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   Section C - not yours to fill

   Only for a request into somebody else's record.

   Watch out: The moment you initial one of these you are asserting a permitted use and taking on the liability in section D for it.

7. 7
   You fill this in

   Fee and signature

   $15 per record search, cheque or money order, and the signature under the terms in section D.

   Watch out: At a full-service agency you can walk out with it. By post, budget the same three to four weeks the Commission quotes on its record requests.

What gets this one rejected

• •Leaving both the plate number and the VIN blank. The form is explicit that you must supply one of them.
• •Not naming a date. The record is produced for the date you want covered, and an empty date block leaves the clerk nothing to search against.
• •Expecting a full history. Some information is purged as required by law, and what comes back is the oldest still available.
• •Sending it without the photocopy of your identification, which section A requires.
• •Asking about a car that was never yours without completing section C.
• •Sending cash. Cheque or money order only, and a separate one for each record.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •It is the same-day option. The Commission's lien guidance names a certified record vehicle registration, DO-11A, as something that can be obtained the same day at a full-service agency for $15 - where the DO-22 title search is postal and takes weeks.
• •Five boxes, and you can tick several. Insurance, driver name and address, plate number, registration expiration date, vehicle description. If you are proving a car was yours, the description and the name and address are the two that do the work.
• •Same privacy act, same consequences. Section D is not softer here than on the DO-22. A request into someone else's registration for an impermissible purpose is a crime of the fourth degree.

Every line here was read off DO-11A (R2/26) itself — the PDF is here — and off the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission pages. This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ, theirs governs.

Back to all New Jersey seller paperwork, or what selling a car in New Jersey involves.