Whose form this is answers most of the questions about it: only insurers, and Rhode Island dealers whose primary business is the sale of salvage motor vehicles on behalf of insurance companies. It exists for the moment after a total-loss payout when the certificate cannot be got out of the former owner - and the former owner it names is the seller. If your written-off car has gone to an insurer and you are being chased for a title you cannot find, this is the form that ends the chase without you.
Written against Salvage in Lieu (Rev 8/2025), issued under R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-46-1. If an insurer has written your car off, has paid you, and is sending certified letters asking for the certificate, respond to them rather than ignoring them. Two unanswered attempts are exactly what this affidavit is built out of - and once it is filed, the salvage title is issued without you and the file records that you could not be reached.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank Salvage in Lieu from the dmv.ri.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This affidavit is not a private seller's to complete, so it is not shown filled in. Section A restricts it to insurers and to Rhode Island dealers whose primary business is selling salvage vehicles for insurance companies, and the certification in section D is sworn by an authorised representative of one of those two. A seller appears on the form only as the former vehicle owner in section C - the person the applicant is certifying they could not obtain a title from. Showing our own cast signing it would be showing a private individual doing something the form's first paragraph forbids.
| On the form | What to put in it |
|---|---|
| A, Requirements and instructions | The printed scope: only to be used by Insurers or by Rhode Island Dealers, the primary business of which is the sale of salvage motor vehicles on behalf of insurance companies, and a flat instruction - do not use this form if you have the vehicle's Certificate of Title. |
| B, Applicant information | The insurance company or dealer's name, mailing address, email, phone and authorised representative, then two yes/no questions - is the applicant an insurance company, and is the applicant a dealer - and a salvage classification tick for a dealer, Class A or Class B. |
| C, Vehicle information | Year, make, model, colour and vehicle identification number, then the former vehicle owner's first name, middle initial, last name and suffix, and their street address, city, state and ZIP. |
| D1, Insurance company certification | Four sworn limbs: that documentary evidence has been provided that the company paid a total-loss claim to the former owner; that the company has satisfied any existing lienholder; that it has not been able to obtain the Certificate of Title from the former owner; and that legible copies of two written attempts sent by certified mail have been provided. |
| D2, Dealer certification | The equivalent block for a salvage dealer applicant, signed by an authorised representative. |
| The attachments | Originals of 2 written attempts sent by certified mail to contact the vehicle's former owner and any known lienholder, a completed TR-2/TR-9, and the title fee. |
Every line here was read off Salvage in Lieu (Rev 8/2025) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Rhode Island Division 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 Rhode Island seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Rhode Island involves.