How to fill out Oregon 735-7116A

Two pages, a notary, and the answer to the worst version of a private sale: you have the car and no way to reach the person who sold it to you. Oregon will not hand out a registered owner's details on request — the driver privacy statutes make that a crime — so this affidavit is the narrow, documented route to getting the name and address needed to chase a release of interest or a missing signature. It guarantees nothing. The form says so itself, twice, in bold.

Written against 735-7116A (5-26), issued under ORS 802.175 to ORS 802.187. Revised May 2026. Notarised, posted, and slow — this is the form to start early, because everything that depends on it waits for the answer.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank 735-7116A 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

   Applicant information

   First, middle and last name printed, telephone, mailing address, city, state, ZIP and email. Asterisks mark the required ones.

   Watch out: Give the email even though it is not starred. DMV Record Services works through queries by writing back, and a posted question adds a week each way.

2. 2
   The buyer fills this in

   Date you acquired vehicle, and today's date

   Two dated boxes.

   Watch out: The gap between them is part of the story. A vehicle acquired two years ago and only now being chased needs explaining in the block below.

3. 3
   The buyer fills this in

   Vehicle description

   Plate, year, make, body style and VIN, with the OR box for a DMV-assigned number.

   Watch out: You must provide either a VIN or a valid Oregon plate, or the request will not be processed — that is the form's own sentence, in bold.

4. 4
   The buyer fills this in

   Explain in detail how you acquired this vehicle, and why you do not have the ownership documents

   The largest block on the form, with the back of the sheet available if it will not fit.

   Watch out: Dates, names and amounts. Write it as a sequence of things that happened, not as a complaint, because a clerk is deciding whether you have a financial interest rather than whether you have been badly treated.

5. 5
   The buyer fills this in

   The evidence checklist

   Eight tick boxes and an Other line, covering bills of sale, contracts, parts receipts, a court order, an out-of-state registration card, proof of insurance and a signed statement from the prior owner.

   Watch out: Send copies, not originals — the form says documents will not be returned. And tick only what is actually in the envelope.

6. 6
   The buyer fills this in

   The three certifications

   Printed above the signature: why you are asking, that the copies are true, and that misusing personal information from a motor vehicle record is a Class A misdemeanour.

   Watch out: The third one is the reason the whole form exists. Oregon protects a registered owner's details under ORS 802.175 to 802.187, and this is a controlled exception rather than a look-up service.

7. 7
   The buyer fills this in

   Signature

   One signature line, signed in front of the notary rather than before you get there.

   Watch out: A notary who has not watched you sign cannot notarise it, and a form signed at the kitchen table and taken along is a second trip.

8. 8
   Somebody else fills this in

   The notary block

   State, county, subscribed and sworn before me this day of, the name of the signer, and the notary's signature.

   Watch out: This and the Inheritance Affidavit are the only Oregon forms in this whole set that need a notary. Neither of them is part of an ordinary sale, which is worth remembering when somebody tells you Oregon titles have to be notarised.

What gets this one rejected

• •Sent without notarisation. The form says it in the note at the top: this request must be notarized before it is submitted.
• •No VIN and no valid Oregon plate. The warning above the vehicle block says the request will not be processed without one of them.
• •No evidence attached. Requests without proper documentation will be denied, in the form's own words, and the copies you send are not returned.
• •Evidence that does not name you. The instructions require the document to include a description of the vehicle, your name, and something showing you have an interest in it.
• •Used for an abandoned vehicle on your property. The instructions bar it: do not use this form to request personal information from the record of a vehicle abandoned on your property, or one for which you are required by law to give notice.
• •Used to establish ownership. The certification is explicit that the form and the evidence will not be used to establish any type of ownership in the vehicle.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •It buys information, not a title. The form's own note: the submission of this certification does NOT guarantee the release of information, and neither the form nor the evidence establishes ownership for title issuance purposes.
• •One document is not a case. The instructions add a plain warning to the list of acceptable documents: providing one document does not guarantee your application will be approved.
• •Non-standard evidence is allowed if you explain it. Any other documentation supporting your claim is acceptable, and where you submit a non-standard document the form asks for your reasoning in the explanatory portion.
• •It goes to a different address. Not DMV Services with the title work — DMV Record Services, 1905 Lana Ave NE, Salem OR 97314.

Every line here was read off 735-7116A (5-26) 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.