One page, five short sections, and the only sanctioned way to explain a mistake on a document whose margins say VOID IF ALTERED OR ERASED. It is narrow on purpose: it can only be used for name corrections, and only when a title application is being made. Somebody wrote the buyer's name on the seller's line, or signed in the wrong place and struck it out, or a name was erased from an ownership document — this is the sheet that tells DMV the entry has no bearing on who owns the vehicle.
Written against 735-502 (1-24), issued under ORS 803.075.
Revised January 2024. Note the difference between this and the correction request: this one is used while a title application is in flight, and the other is used once a title has been issued.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank 735-502 from the oregon.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual 735-502, rendered from the PDF the Oregon Department of Transportation, Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division 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
The 735-502 at revision 1-24, completed by the person who made the mistake rather than by the owner — which is what section 5 asks for. The buyer wrote their own name on the seller's line and is now explaining it in writing.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
Somebody else fills this in
Section 1 — plate number and vehicle identification number
The two boxes at the top, identifying the vehicle whose paperwork carries the error.
Watch out: Either one is enough for DMV to find the record, but a form with both is a form nobody has to ring about.
2
Somebody else fills this in
Section 1 — which document
Three ticks: Manufacturer's Certificate of Origin, Title, or Title Application.
Watch out: Be exact. A name written wrongly on the certificate and a name written wrongly on the 735-226 are different mistakes with different consequences.
3
Somebody else fills this in
Section 2 — describe the error or erasure
A free-text block. What was written, and where.
Watch out: Write what happened rather than what you meant. “I wrote my own name on the seller's printed name line and drew a line through it” is the kind of sentence a clerk can act on immediately.
4
Somebody else fills this in
Section 3 — the entry should properly read as follows
What the line ought to say. If nothing should be there, the form asks for the word “blank”.
Watch out: Its own quotation marks are around the word blank in the printed instruction, which is a hint about how often people leave it empty instead.
5
Somebody else fills this in
Section 4 — the certification
Printed rather than filled in: certifying the truth of a statement you know is not true is a Class A misdemeanour under ORS 803.075.
Watch out: Read it before signing. The fine attached is up to $6,250, and this is a form people fill in casually because the mistake felt small.
6
Somebody else fills this in
Section 5 — printed name, title, signature and date
The person or business who made the error, or the person whose name appears in error.
Watch out: Title here means job title, for a business. An individual leaves it empty rather than writing the word owner in it.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Section 1
Plate number and vehicle identification number, then a tick for which document carries the error: Manufacturer's Certificate of Origin, Title, or Title Application.
Section 1, the certification
The name appearing on, or erased from, the document was in error and has no bearing on the ownership of the vehicle described above, and should not be part of the ownership record.
Section 2
Describe the error or erasure — a free-text block.
Section 3
The entry should properly read as follows, with an instruction in the form's own quotation marks: if no entry, write “blank”.
Section 4
The certification against ORS 803.075: it is a crime to certify the truth of a statement when you know the statement is not true, a Class A misdemeanour punishable by up to a year in jail, a fine of $6,250, or both.
Section 5
Printed name, title, signature and date of either the person or business who made the error, or the person whose name appears in error.
The instructions at the head
Five numbered steps, including one that is not a box at all: draw one line through the error and write in the correct name on the document itself.
What gets this one rejected
•Using it for anything but a name. The form says it can only be used for name corrections when applying for title, in a line of its own under the heading.
•Using it to change ownership. A name in error has no bearing on ownership — a name that does have a bearing on ownership needs a release of interest, not this.
•Signed by the wrong person. Section 5 accepts either the person or business who made the error, or the person whose name appears in error, and nobody else.
•Section 3 left blank where nothing should be there. The instruction is to write the word “blank” — an empty box says nothing at all.
•Correction fluid on the underlying document. The instruction is to draw one line through the error and write the correct name in, and the certificate's own margins bar erasing.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•It travels with the application. It is a statement in support of a title application, not a standalone correction. On its own it corrects nothing.
•The document itself still gets marked. Step 4 of the instructions is to draw one line through the error and write in the correct name. The form explains the strike-through; it does not replace it.
•For a title already issued, it is the wrong form. A mistake DMV printed onto a certificate is a Request for Correction of Title Records, form 735-264, which is a different sheet with a different list of things it can and cannot do.
