How to fill out New York MV-82

The buyer's application, and the document that turns your assigned certificate into their registration and their title. It is not your form to sign - but it is the form whose contents your paperwork has to agree with, and the reason a buyer comes back to you asking questions.

Written against MV-82 (2/26), issued under the NYS DMV registration and title application requirements. This is the form where your sale meets the DMV's records, and every figure on it - identification number, odometer reading, the damage answer - is copied from documents you completed. If they disagree, the buyer is sent home and the phone call is to you.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV-82 from the dmv.ny.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our MV-82 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank MV-82 — Vehicle Registration/Title Application PDF at dmv.ny.gov · new tab Step 2 · how to fill it in Our filled-in MV-82 guide PDF · print and keep beside you

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is all 2 pages of the actual MV-82, rendered from the PDF the New York State Department 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

A New York MV-82 completed by the buyer: personal use yes, register a vehicle ticked, registrant Whitlock Desmond A. of Buffalo in Erie County, vehicle identification number 5N1AT2MV6FC812743 written one character per box, a 2015 Nissan Rogue in gray with a suburban SUV body type and an odometer reading of 104382, and on page two the damage and modification questions both answered no, Not For Hire ticked, and the certification signed and printed. — Page 1 of 2. Sections 1 and 2 - who is registering it and what it is. The county of residence line matters more than it looks: it is what sets the county use tax the buyer pays alongside the state tax.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
The buyer fills this in
I WANT TO: register a vehicle
One box of six across the head of section 1.
Watch out: Get a title only is the box for a vehicle that is not going to be driven - it is not the ordinary purchase box, and ticking it means no plates.
2
The buyer fills this in
Name and driver licence number
Name as the licence has it, the New York driver licence identification number, date of birth and a telephone number.
Watch out: There is a No ID box beside the licence number for an applicant who does not have one. Ticking it does not remove the requirement to prove identity, it just changes what has to be produced.
3
The buyer fills this in
County of residence
The county the registrant lives in, in its own cell at the right-hand end of the mailing address row.
Watch out: This is not decoration. Most New York counties add a use tax on top of the state sales tax, and this line is what decides which one.
4
The buyer fills this in
Vehicle identification number
Copied from the assigned certificate into the row of printed boxes, one character to a box.
Watch out: From the certificate, not the dashboard plate. The application and the ownership document have to agree character for character.
5
The buyer fills this in
Odometer reading in miles
The reading, in the cell beside the seating capacity.
Watch out: It has to match what the seller disclosed on the back of the certificate. Two different numbers on two documents in the same envelope is the commonest reason a title application stalls in Albany.
6
The buyer fills this in
Section 4, damage disclosure
Yes or no to the same 75% question the certificate asks.
Watch out: The answer comes from what the seller certified, not from what the car looks like. If the certificate says has not been and the application says yes, somebody is going to be asked which.
7
The buyer fills this in
Insurance requirements
Not For Hire, with a current and valid New York State insurance identification card.
Watch out: Out-of-state coverage is never acceptable on a vehicle registered in New York, whatever the policy says. The card has to be a New York one.
8
The buyer fills this in
Section 6, certification
Print the name in full, sign, and add a second signature if the vehicle is going into more than one name.
Watch out: The warning above it is not boilerplate: intentionally making a false statement in connection with the application is a criminal offence.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
A, B and C, the instructions	Three lettered instructions across the head. Answering yes to "is this vehicle being registered only for personal use" means completing sections 1 to 4; answering no means completing 1 to 5.
I WANT TO	Six boxes: register a vehicle, renew a registration, get a title only, change a registration, replace lost or damaged items, transfer plates. A private purchase is the first, unless the buyer already has plates to move across.
Section 1, the registrant	Name, driver licence identification number, date of birth, sex, telephone, email, the address where they get mail, the address where they live if it differs, and the county of residence.
Section 2, what the vehicle is	Vehicle identification number in a row of printed boxes, year, make, body type, colour, unladen weight, fuel, cylinders, seating capacity - and the odometer reading in miles.
Section 3, owner different from registrant	Completed only when the person who owns the vehicle is not the person registering it. It carries its own signature rule for the owner.
Section 4, damage disclosure	The same 75% question as the certificate, on the top of page 2, followed by a vehicle-modifications question.
Section 5, non-personal use	Tow trucks, farm vehicles, ambulances, hearses, buses, taxis and rentals. A private buyer skips all of it and ticks Not For Hire under insurance requirements.
Section 6, certification	The signature block. The applicant certifies the information is true, that the vehicle is equipped as the Vehicle and Traffic Law requires and has passed inspection or qualified for a time extension, and that appropriate insurance is in effect.

What gets this one rejected

•Anything in pencil. The head of the form reads PRINT CLEARLY IN BLUE OR BLACK INK.
•Turning up without proof of identity. The form points at the DMV's identification requirements and the points standard on form ID-82 - the six points a New York applicant has to produce.
•An insurance card in the wrong name. It has to be in the exact name the vehicle is being registered in, down to a middle initial or a Jr.
•Only one signature where the vehicle is going into two names. The certification block prints an additional signature rule and says an additional signature is required for a partnership or if registering in more than one name.
•Sending it without the assigned certificate. The application is an application; the proof of ownership is the title you signed over.

Every line here was read off MV-82 (2/26) itself — the PDF is here — and off the New York State Department 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.

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

How to fill out New York MV-82

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

I WANT TO: register a vehicle

Name and driver licence number

County of residence

Vehicle identification number

Odometer reading in miles

Section 4, damage disclosure

Insurance requirements

Section 6, certification

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

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