How to fill out Oregon 735-226

The document that actually moves the car onto somebody else's record. Two sides, twenty-one numbered lines, and a private seller signs it nowhere at all — it belongs to the person buying the car, who posts it to Salem or takes it to a DMV office with your assigned certificate behind it. It is worth a seller's time anyway, because everything the buyer will ring you about in the fortnight after the sale is on this sheet: the VIN they cannot read, the county they have to name, the survivorship box, and the odometer certification they need from you and do not have.

Written against 735-226 (4-26), issued under ORS 803.045 and ORS 803.070. Revised April 2026 and revised often. Take a fresh copy from the DMV forms page rather than a saved one, and check the code in the bottom left corner against the revision this page was written against.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank 735-226 from the oregon.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   The buyer fills this in

   Line 1 — Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and Oregon Title #

   The top row of the form. Seventeen characters and the title number printed on the face of the certificate.

   Watch out: Copy the VIN from the title, not the dashboard, and remember a VIN never contains I, O or Q. If DMV cannot match it, the next thing that happens is a $9 VIN inspection.

2. 2
   The buyer fills this in

   Line 2 — Present Oregon Plate #, Year, Make, Style

   The plate currently on the vehicle and the three descriptors, all taken from the certificate rather than the advert.

   Watch out: If the seller took the plates off, this line still wants the plate number that was on it — that is how DMV finds the registration record it is about to close.

3. 3
   The buyer fills this in

   Line 3 — motor power

   One of nine boxes. Hybrid means electricity plus another source; plug-in hybrid means it can be charged from a socket and also burns petrol.

   Watch out: This is not cosmetic in Oregon. Motor power feeds the fee tables, and an all-electric vehicle is charged a title fee of its own rather than the petrol chart's — the figures are on the Oregon fees page and on our hub page.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Line 4 — odometer reading and date of reading

   Whole miles, no tenths, and the date the figure was taken, with two exception boxes beside them.

   Watch out: The certification underneath is worded for the case where the buyer cannot get a proper disclosure from the seller, and the form spells out the stakes: failing to complete an odometer disclosure, or providing a false statement to meet the requirement, is a Class C felony under ORS 815.430.

5. 5
   The buyer fills this in

   Line 5 — owner or lessee, name, customer number and date of birth

   Tick owner or lessee, then print the full legal name last, first, middle, with the Oregon driver licence, ID or customer number and a date of birth.

   Watch out: Line 5 decides where every piece of DMV post about this vehicle goes. The form says so in its own instruction: complete line 5 with the owner whose address will be used for all DMV mail regarding this vehicle.

6. 6
   The buyer fills this in

   Line 6 — residence or business address, and mailing address

   The residence address, which will also update the buyer's licence or ID card, and a mailing address only where it differs.

   Watch out: The form warns that the address provided may be used for other official purposes, including voter registration. A mail drop entered here as a convenience has a longer reach than the reader expects.

7. 7
   The buyer fills this in

   Line 7 — city, state, ZIP and county of residence

   Two city rows side by side, each with its own county box: county of residence and county of mailing.

   Watch out: Oregon asks for the county separately everywhere, and a Portland address can sit in Multnomah, Washington or Clackamas. Fill it from the licence rather than guessing — it is also what decides the county registration fee.

8. 8
   The buyer fills this in

   Line 10 — Title Only, Registration Only, or Both

   Three small boxes in the middle of the sheet.

   Watch out: Title Only is for a vehicle that will not be driven. A buyer who wants to drive it home wants Both, and if the seller kept the plates that means full registration fees and a new set.

9. 9
   The buyer fills this in

   Lines 11 to 13 — security interest holder, secondary holder, lessor

   Name, customer number, date of birth, telephone and full address for anyone financing the purchase.

   Watch out: Whoever is named here receives the new title. The buyer gets the registration card only, which is the single most misunderstood thing about an Oregon title transfer.

10. 10
    The buyer fills this in

    Line 12 — survivorship

    A yes-or-no pair for joint owners, and a second pair for joint security interest holders.

    Watch out: This is the box the family reads years later. Oregon records it as a two-letter code in the SURVIVORSHIP field on the front of the title, and whether it says Y or N decides whether an estate needs an inheritance affidavit or nothing at all.

11. 11
    The buyer fills this in

    Line 19 — insurance company (not agent) and policy #

    Two boxes under the insurance certification, completed where the application includes registration.

    Watch out: It has to be the insurer's name. Writing the local agency there is the most common reason a registration part of an otherwise clean application is held.

12. 12
    The buyer fills this in

    Line 20 — signature of owner or lessee as shown above

    One signature, dated, with a telephone number beside it. A second line takes the lessor's signature where that is a different party.

    Watch out: Above it sits the sentence that makes this a sworn document: knowingly making a false statement on an application for title or registration is a Class A misdemeanour under ORS 803.070, 803.075, 803.375 and 803.385, punishable by up to a year in jail, a fine, or both.

What gets this one rejected

• •The odometer certification left blank on a 2011-or-newer vehicle under 20 years old, where the seller's disclosure on the title is missing. The form's own certification exists for that case and it has to be signed.
• •A county left empty. Oregon asks for county of residence and county of mailing separately from the city, and the record cannot be built without them.
• •Neither Title Only, Registration Only nor Both marked on line 10, which leaves DMV holding an application that does not say what it is applying for.
• •An insurance company named as the agency rather than the insurer. The line says not agent, and a broker's name there stops the transaction.
• •A security interest holder listed on the assigned title but omitted from lines 11 to 13, so the new title would be issued without the lender who is financing it.
• •A signature missing from line 21 where the lessor and the security interest holder are different parties — the form requires both.
• •An application filed more than 30 days after the date of purchase without the late fee, which is $25 from day 31 and $50 from day 61.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •Your name appears once, and not in your handwriting. There is no seller signature block anywhere on the 735-226. Oregon puts the seller's release on the reverse of the certificate instead, and this form simply transcribes what you wrote there.
• •There is a guided version that does the arithmetic. DMV publishes a DMV2U application for passenger vehicles that prepares the form and calculates the fee. For a car, pickup or SUV it is the shorter road, and it is the one the department's own video walks through.
• •The replacement-title box is on this form for a reason. Where the Oregon title is lost and the vehicle is model year 2010 or older, the buyer marks Replacement Oregon Title in the certifications section instead of anyone filing a separate replacement application. On a 2011-or-newer car that shortcut is closed.

Every line here was read off 735-226 (4-26) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Oregon Department of Transportation, Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division 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 Oregon seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Oregon involves.