How to fill out New Jersey OS/SS-2

The single page that carries the mileage when the certificate itself cannot. It is not a substitute for signing the title - the form says so in its own words, that it is only a supplement to a fully assigned certificate of title or manufacturer certificate of origin - but it is what a New Jersey counter asks for when the mileage block on the certificate is full, spoiled or missing.

Written against OS/SS-2 (R4/23), issued under the federal Truth in Mileage Act, and N.J.S.A. 39:10-11 as cited on the form itself. This page has no power to move ownership. It records mileage, and it does that job well - but a buyer holding only this is holding nothing.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank OS/SS-2 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

   Vehicle identification number and body type

   Copied off the certificate. The body type is the same short description the Commission uses elsewhere.

   Watch out: The buyer's own certification further down is that they compared this number with the one on the car and found they agree in every particular. Get it right here and that comparison is a formality.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Year, make and model

   Three boxes across, matching the certificate rather than the badge on the boot lid.

   Watch out: Trim levels do not belong here. Model means what the title says the model is.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Buyer name and licence number

   The buyer's full name or entity name, and their driver licence number - or an MVC Business Entity Identification Number if the car is going into a company.

   Watch out: Ask to see the licence and copy from it. This is the second document in the transaction that carries their number, and the two have to agree.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Buyer address

   Street, city, state and zip. Where they live, not where they are collecting the car.

   Watch out: If the address on the licence is out of date, use the one they are registering from and expect the counter to ask about the difference.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   Seller name and date of sale

   Your name as it appears on the certificate, and the day the car actually changed hands.

   Watch out: This is the date the buyer's ten-day clock runs from. It should match the date on the certificate and on your bill of sale, all three.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   Seller address and the date of this statement

   Your address, then the separate line for the date you are signing this particular page.

   Watch out: Two different dates here is normal and not a mistake. A blank one is.

7. 7
   You fill this in

   The reading

   Whole miles, no tenths, in the gap in the sentence. Writing it there certifies that to the best of your knowledge it reflects the actual mileage of the vehicle.

   Watch out: Read it off the dash the morning you hand the car over, not off the last service invoice. A number that has drifted by a few hundred miles is the kind of discrepancy a buyer notices later.

8. 8
   You fill this in

   The two exception boxes

   Tick the first if the odometer has exceeded its mechanical limit and the reading started again at 0. Tick the second, headed WARNING - ODOMETER DISCREPANCY, if the reading is not the actual mileage.

   Watch out: Neither box is an accusation and neither stops a sale. Ticking nothing on a car you know has a replaced cluster is the thing that causes trouble.

9. 9
   The buyer fills this in

   Statement of buyer

   The buyer certifies that they bought the vehicle described and have compared the VIN on the certificate with the one on the car.

   Watch out: Let them actually check it. The number is on the dash, visible through the windscreen from outside, on anything built since 1968.

10. 10
    You fill this in

    Both signatures

    Seller signs and dates; buyer signs and dates. A wet signature is accepted as is; a digital one needs a Certificate of Completion attached for each signature.

    Watch out: No notary here - unless the reason you are filling this in is to correct a mileage already on the record and you are signing in ink, in which case it must be notarised.

What gets this one rejected

• •Filing it instead of a signed certificate. It is a supplement to a fully assigned title or MCO and must accompany that original document when it is submitted.
• •Writing tenths of a mile. The instruction on the line is explicit about it.
• •Ticking both exception boxes. They describe different things - a rolled-over reading and an untrue one - and ticking both says neither clearly.
• •Signing digitally without the paperwork behind it. A digital signature is accepted only with a Certificate of Completion attached for each signature; a wet signature is taken as is.
• •Using it to change a mileage already on record without a notary. For mileage corrections with a wet signature the statement has to be notarised.
• •Leaving the buyer's half blank. Step 5 is the buyer's own certification that the numbers agree, and it is what makes the page worth anything.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •It carries the deadline nobody tells the buyer about. The note above the signatures is the clearest statement the Commission publishes of the ten-day rule and its $25 penalty - and it is aimed at the person taking the certificate to the counter, which is the buyer.
• •Two dates, on purpose. Step 3 has a date of sale and, separately, a date of odometer statement. If you are completing this a week after the car went, those are different days and the form expects them to be.
• •An estimate beats a blank. The Commission's guidance to sellers is that where the actual reading is inaccurate you give an estimate of what it should be. This form is where that estimate goes, with the warning box ticked beside it.

Every line here was read off OS/SS-2 (R4/23) 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.