How to fill out North Dakota SFN 2889

The one place in the North Dakota system where the answer is a refund rather than a credit - and the form says so by quoting the statute at length in its own body. Where a licensed vehicle is permanently and involuntarily destroyed, the owner may claim back the unused portion of the licence fee, computed pro rata by the month, one twelfth of the annual fee for each month remaining after the month in which the vehicle was destroyed. The condition is surrender: the title, registration card and licence plates all go back to the department. What comes the other way is a cheque and a salvage certificate of title, with $5 deducted from the refund to cover the cost of that certificate.

Written against SFN 2889 (4-2026), issued under NDCC 39-04-44, quoted in full on the face of the form. Do not send this in before you have settled with the insurer. The department wants the certificate of title surrendered as part of the claim, and an insurer settling a total loss will normally want that same certificate assigned to it. Work out which document goes where first - and remember that a total loss settlement is one of the numbered excise tax exemptions on the buyer's certification, which is a hint about how often these two processes collide.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank SFN 2889 from the dot.nd.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our SFN 2889 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Owner(s) and address

   Your name and full mailing address, as the certificate of title has them.

   Watch out: This is where the refund cheque and the salvage certificate are posted, so a stale address costs twice.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Year, Make, Model, Style

   Year, make, model and style of the destroyed vehicle.

   Watch out: Take it from the certificate rather than from the insurer's letter. The two do not always describe a vehicle identically and the department works from its own record.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Vehicle Identification Number and Title Number

   The entries that tie the affidavit to the department's record.

   Watch out: Copy them before you surrender the certificate - once it goes in the envelope you no longer have them to hand.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Date of Accident

   The date the vehicle was destroyed, which the pro-rated refund is measured from.

   Watch out: The month of the loss itself earns nothing back. One twelfth of the annual fee is credited for each month remaining after that month, so a loss late in a month is worth exactly as much as one early in it.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   North Dakota License Number and License Year

   The plate number and the registration year the unused fee is being claimed against.

   Watch out: The plates themselves go back with the affidavit, along with the registration card and the certificate of title. All three are conditions of the refund in the statute quoted on the form.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   Name printed, and Signature of Owner

   Printed and signed before a Notary Public or Authorized Officer, under the oath set out at the head of the form.

   Watch out: The $5 deduction for the salvage certificate is noted immediately above this line. It is not a fee you can decline - the certificate is what the department issues in exchange.

7. 7
   Somebody else fills this in

   The Acknowledgement block

   State and county, the sworn date, and then the notary's printed name, stamp, signature and expiry - four lines that are not the owner's.

   Watch out: The officer's block. Take the certificate of title and the registration card to the appointment so the whole package leaves in one envelope.

What gets this one rejected

• •A vehicle that is merely uneconomic to repair. The statute the form quotes says permanently and involuntarily destroyed, and both words are load-bearing.
• •Claiming without surrendering. The plates, the registration card and the certificate of title all have to reach the department - the refund is conditioned on it in the statute's own wording.
• •Missing the window. The statute allows the claim during the same year or the following year, and there is nothing after that.
• •Expecting the whole year back. The refund is one twelfth of the annual fee for each month remaining after the month in which the vehicle was destroyed, so the month of the loss itself pays nothing.
• •Forgetting the deduction. $5 comes off to pay for the salvage certificate the department issues in return, and the form says so directly above the signature block.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •Refund here, credit everywhere else. North Dakota's ordinary answer to an unused registration is a credit against your next vehicle with no refunds available. This affidavit is the exception, and it exists because there is no replacement transaction to credit against.
• •A salvage certificate comes back with the money. The department does not simply cancel the record. It issues a salvage certificate of title for the vehicle, which is what the $5 deduction pays for and what governs whatever happens to the wreck next.
• •It is sworn. Unlike the statement of fact, this one is an affidavit taken before a Notary Public or Authorized Officer, with the oath printed at the top of the form rather than at the bottom.
• •The plate credit rules do not apply to a destroyed vehicle. Where a sold vehicle's plate must go onto your replacement car by statute, a destroyed vehicle's plate goes back to the department with the paperwork. Different route, different outcome.

Every line here was read off SFN 2889 (4-2026) itself — the PDF is here — and off the North Dakota Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Division pages. This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ, theirs governs.

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