How to fill out Ohio BMV 3754

The insurer's form, and the one an owner signs when a total loss is bought out. Like the dealer version it is three documents stacked on one sheet: a power of attorney appointing the insurance company, the assignment of ownership with its price and mileage, and the company's own application - for a salvage certificate, not an ordinary title. Two paragraphs at the top tell the insurer which sections to complete for which scenario.

Written against BMV 3754 (12/25), issued under Ohio Revised Code 4505.07 and 4505.11. Signing this is the moment the car stops being yours, and the price on it is the settlement figure. Read the mileage row and the condition tick as carefully as the number, because both follow the vehicle into its next title.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank BMV 3754 from the dam.assets.ohio.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 information

   Year, make, model, body type, VIN, title number and control number, copied from the certificate.

   Watch out: This block is completed for both of the scenarios the form describes at the top, which is why it sits above everything else.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   The power of attorney

   The insurance company's name written into the appointment sentence, then your printed name, address, signature and date.

   Watch out: Check the company name is the underwriter rather than the adjusting firm. The authority is to execute an assignment of your certificate of title, and it should not be held by a contractor.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   The first transferor signature

   Signed and dated under the power of attorney block.

   Watch out: If a separate power of attorney has already been signed, this box does not need completing - the note above it says so. Doing both is not belt and braces, it is two authorities.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   This vehicle was a

   Law Enforcement Vehicle, Flood Vehicle or Taxi.

   Watch out: Flood is the tick that changes what the car is for the rest of its life, and it is the reason a lot of these forms exist. If water was the cause, it belongs here whether or not anybody asks.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   The date and the price

   The date the vehicle was transferred and the price it was transferred for - the settlement figure.

   Watch out: The warning underneath is the same one Ohio prints on every assignment: you are required by law to state the true selling price, and all transfers are audited by the Department of Taxation.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   The odometer row

   Six boxes for the reading, then one tick from the CHECK ONE column, then the seller-is-a-minor question.

   Watch out: A wrecked car still has a mileage. Read it off the dash if the dash still reads, and use the not-actual statement if it does not.

7. 7
   The buyer fills this in

   Salvage, salvage replacement or salvage duplicate

   The three choices at the head of page two, with lost, stolen and destroyed as sub-options.

   Watch out: There is no ordinary certificate on this form. What comes out the other end is a salvage certificate, and that is the point of it.

8. 8
   The buyer fills this in

   Purchase price and tax exemption

   The price and tax paid, or a reason the transaction is exempt.

   Watch out: The insurer completes this half. It is worth reading before you sign, because the price on it should be the figure you agreed.

9. 9
   The buyer fills this in

   Condition of vehicle

   Good, Fair, Poor or Wrecked, check only one, beside a Print Title question.

   Watch out: Wrecked on a total loss is the honest answer and the expected one. A vehicle recorded as Good on a salvage application invites a question neither party wants.

10. 10
    The buyer fills this in

    The applicant's signature

    The insurer signs under the certification that all information contained in the application is true and correct.

    Watch out: No notary here: the note at the foot exempts an insurance company from having this application, its supporting power of attorney and other appropriate documents notarised.

What gets this one rejected

• •A private buyer named as transferee. The form's own title and its opening paragraph limit it to a transfer from a person to an insurance company.
• •Signing the power of attorney box with the company name left blank, and also submitting a separate power of attorney. The note says the box does not need completing where a separate document is provided - doing both creates two authorities over the same title.
• •Ticking an ordinary title on the application half. The choices on this form are salvage, salvage replacement and salvage duplicate; a total loss does not come back as a clean title.
• •Leaving the condition unticked. Good, Fair, Poor and Wrecked - and the point of the exercise is usually the last of them.
• •A gap anywhere above the signature. The note is the standard Ohio one: all blank spaces above must be completed before acknowledgement, and where something is not applicable you insert NA or NONE in the space provided.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •The insurer does not have to notarise, and that is written down. The note at the foot says an insurance company is not required to have this application for a salvage certificate of title, any supporting power of attorney and any other appropriate document notarised, in accordance with R.C. 4505.11. Your own signature on the assignment is a different matter - ask the adjuster where they want it taken.
• •Four digits of a Social Security number are enough. The note also records that under R.C. 4505.09 title applicants may use the last four digits when applying for a salvage certificate for an owner-retained vehicle or transferring titles to insurers or nonprofits.
• •Owner-retained is the version to read carefully. Where you keep the wreck rather than hand it over, the salvage certificate is issued to you, and what you own afterwards is a vehicle that cannot be registered until it is inspected and rebuilt.

Every line here was read off BMV 3754 (12/25) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Ohio Bureau 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 Ohio seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Ohio involves.