How to fill out Rhode Island Affidavit of Repossession

A lender's document rather than a seller's, which is precisely why it is here. When a lender takes a financed car back, this is what it swears and attaches to the certificate before selling the vehicle on. A private seller meets it from the other side: as the debtor named on it, or as somebody being offered a repossessed car and wondering what the extra sheet clipped to the title is.

Written against Affidavit of Repossession (no revision printed), issued under R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-4-7. If a car you financed has been repossessed, cancelling the registration is still your job and nobody else's. The registration expired under section 31-4-1 the moment your interest in the vehicle ended, but the town's excise record and the DMV's insurance verification record know nothing about it until you cancel.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank Affidavit of Repossession from the dmv.ri.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank Affidavit of Repossession — Affidavit of Repossession PDF at dmv.ri.gov · new tab

Not shown filled in

Why there is no completed Affidavit of Repossession here

This affidavit carries no fillable fields at all - it is published as a flat sheet with typed rules - and it is not a document a private seller ever completes. It is sworn by an authorised representative of a lending institution and notarised, and its own closing note says the form cannot be used to transfer ownership. Filling one in with our own names would show a seller doing something Rhode Island does not permit a seller to do, so the blocks are set out below in the order they appear instead.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Date, lienholder name and address	The three rules at the head of the affidavit, completed by the lending institution rather than by any owner.
Debtor and amount due	The person who took the loan, and the sum outstanding when the vehicle was taken.
Lien date and vehicle	The date the security interest was created, then the vehicle identification number, year, make, model, body and cylinders.
The certification	A printed paragraph certifying that funds were due, that they were secured by a valid lien on the date stated, and that default had been made.
Which kind of repossession	One of two ticks: the debtor voluntarily surrendered possession on a stated date, or the lien holder seized said vehicle without process of law on a stated date under authority of the conditions of the lien contract.
Signature and notary	The lender's name and an authorised signature, then a jurat - before me personally appeared, who by me being duly sworn under oath says the statements set forth above are true and correct - subscribed and sworn before a notary public.

What gets this one rejected

•A private individual signing it. The note at the foot is explicit: this affidavit is for use by lending institutions when a vehicle is repossessed, completed and signed by an authorized representative of the lending institution.
•Using it to transfer the car. The form says so in its own notes - this form cannot be used to transfer ownership.
•An unreleased lien. The lien must be released on the face of the title before the affidavit is any use.
•An affidavit handed over loose. The instruction is to attach this original to the Certificate of Title.
•Neither tick chosen. The affidavit has to say whether the vehicle was surrendered voluntarily or seized without process of law, and each has its own date.
•An un-notarised affidavit. It is sworn evidence, and the jurat is printed on the sheet.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•The assignment still happens on the back of the certificate. The lender's own instruction on this sheet is to release the lien on the Certificate of Title, assign ownership to the purchaser and disclose the odometer mileage in the spaces provided on the reverse side of the Certificate of Title. The affidavit explains how the lender came to be the one signing; it does not replace the signing.
•If you are the debtor, the odometer statement is not yours. A repossessed car is disclosed by whoever assigns it. You will not be asked for a mileage reading, and you should not be signing the back of a certificate you no longer hold.
•Buying one of these means reading two documents. The certificate tells you who owned the car; the affidavit tells you it was taken back for default. A repossessed vehicle offered privately with no affidavit attached and no lien release on the face of the title is a car whose paperwork does not close.
•Rhode Island prints no revision on it. Every other form in this set carries a revision date somewhere. This one does not, on either face, which is worth knowing if you are asked whether you have the current version.

Every line here was read off Affidavit of Repossession (no revision printed) 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.

How to fill out Rhode Island Affidavit of Repossession

Why there is no completed Affidavit of Repossession here

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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