How to fill out South Carolina 400

The document every South Carolina title transaction runs through. It is the buyer's to sign, not the seller's - but a private seller meets it twice: once because the buyer will ask what to put on it, and once for real if the buyer is paying you in instalments, because then Section 2 records you as the lienholder and the new certificate is posted to you rather than to them.

Written against 400 (Rev 07/2025), issued under S.C. Code Ann. 56-19-240 and 56-3-627. The IMF line on the form reads that the fee is 5% of the sales price up to a maximum of $500.00. On a purchase from an individual the Code works it from fair market value instead, which the SCDMV may take from a national used-value guide, so the figure on the application is a starting point rather than the last word.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank 400 from the dmv.sc.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank 400 — Title and/or Registration Application PDF at dmv.sc.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is all 2 pages of the actual 400, rendered from the PDF the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles 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

South Carolina Form 400 filled in for one private sale: the TITLE and REGISTRATION NEW boxes ticked, a 2017 Honda Pilot with vehicle identification number 5FNYF6H52HB412907, Curtis N. Ashmore of Anderson as the new owner, an odometer reading of 84,610 with no statement checked, no lien recorded, a purchase price of 19,400 dollars from Delphine R. Ravenel of Summerville on 12 September 2026, a new plate requested, and the application signed and dated. — Page 1 of 2. Sections 1 and 2 - what the vehicle is, who is taking it on, and the mileage. The AND or OR pair is empty because there is only one new owner.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
The buyer fills this in
Tick what you are actually asking for
TITLE on its own titles the car; TITLE with REGISTRATION NEW gets a plate as well; PLATE TRANSFER needs the existing plate number written beside it.
Watch out: A title without a registration is a real option in South Carolina and it is the cheaper one, but the vehicle cannot be driven on it. Choose registration only if the county property tax receipt is already in hand.
2
The buyer fills this in
Vehicle information
VIN, make, model, year, body style, empty weight and fuel type, copied from the certificate rather than from the car.
Watch out: Read the VIN back character by character against the title and against the bill of sale. The SCDMV's own instruction is to verify all three match before submitting, and a mismatch is the commonest reason a South Carolina application is returned.
3
The buyer fills this in
AND or OR, if there are two of you
The SHARED OWNERSHIP pair beside the co-owner's name. AND makes them joint owners and both signatures will be needed on every future transaction; OR makes them co-owners and either can act alone.
Watch out: Once a lien is recorded, neither the names nor the relationship can be changed without the lienholder's involvement - so this is a decision made now, not later.
4
The buyer fills this in
Section 2, the odometer
The reading in whole miles, transcribed from the assignment on the back of the title, and three statements below it that stay untouched unless one is true.
Watch out: This is the one place in South Carolina where EXEMPT is a box you can tick. It is not on the certificate itself, which is why an exempt vehicle looks as though it has nowhere to declare it.
5
The buyer fills this in
The IMF and sales tax block
Ticked only where the transfer is exempt: parent, spouse, child, brother or sister, grandparent, grandchild, legal heir, beneficiary, distributee, active-duty military or a bonafide gift.
Watch out: The list comes straight out of S.C. Code Ann. 56-3-627 and it stops where the statute stops. An aunt, a cousin, a step-parent and a fiancee are all outside it, however the family sees it.
6
The buyer fills this in
Purchase information
Who the vehicle came from, the date of purchase, the sales price, and any trade-in with its own value and VIN.
Watch out: Do not net the trade-in off the price. The form asks for both separately because the fee is worked from the price less the trade-in, and doing the subtraction yourself hides half the calculation.
7
The buyer fills this in
Section 3, the plate
NEW PLATE, TRANSFER PLATE with the number, or EXCHANGE, plus a declared gross vehicle weight for a truck or cargo van and the name of the insurance company.
Watch out: A plate being transferred must already have at least three months left on its registration, and at least one owner on the plate has to be one of the new owners on the title.
8
The buyer fills this in
Sign under the perjury declaration
The owner's signature and date, and the co-owner's beside it where the title reads AND.
Watch out: An agent may sign in the owner's place, but the power of attorney has to be in the envelope. There is no SCDMV form for the ordinary kind - the Department asks for the individual's name, the attorney-in-fact, the vehicle, a signature and a witness.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Section 1, transaction type	Three columns of tick boxes across the head of the page. TITLE, REGISTRATION NEW and PLATE TRANSFER with a number beside it; then RECORD TRANSFER ON DEATH, EXPEDITE at $20.00 in a branch, RECORD LIEN, DUPLICATE TITLE and LEASE; then MOPED and LOW SPEED VEHICLE.
Vehicle information	VIN, make, model, year, body style, empty weight, a fuel choice of gas, diesel, hybrid or electric, and a cubic-capacity or wattage box for mopeds.
Owner and lessee information	New primary owner's complete legal name last, first, middle; a customer, licence, social security or federal employer number; a date of birth; then a co-owner block with the SHARED OWNERSHIP pair AND or OR beside it.
The address rows	Residence address with county, mailing address if different, an address where vehicle is housed with SC pre-printed in the state box, a telephone number and a temporary address with an expiry date.
Section 2, odometer mileage	One reading box marked MILES NOT KILOMETERS, NO TENTHS, then three statements under the words DO NOT CHECK ONE OF THE FOLLOWING UNLESS IT APPLIES: EXEMPT, mileage in excess of its mechanical limits, and the reading is not the actual mileage, WARNING ODOMETER DISCREPANCY.
Lien information	First and second lien rows, each with a customer number or federal employer number, a lienholder name, a date of lien, a contact and a phone, then a mailing address row. Electronic lienholders put their ELT customer number in the first cell.
Additional information	Prior title state, prior title number, the date the vehicle was first operated in South Carolina, and a yes-or-no box about an energy-efficient manufactured home.
IMF and sales tax	The exemption block. Tick boxes for a transfer from MY PARENT, MY SPOUSE, MY CHILD, MY BROTHER/SISTER, MY GRANDPARENT or MY GRANDCHILD; a second row for LEGAL HEIR, BENEFICIARY or DISTRIBUTEE; then active-duty military and bonafide gift.
Purchase information	Seller or dealer name and address, a dealer number and sales tax number for a dealer sale, NEW or USED, the date of purchase, the sales price, a gross capitalized cost box for vehicles over 26,001 pounds, and a trade-in amount with the trade-in vehicle's own VIN.
Section 3, registration	NEW PLATE, TRANSFER PLATE with the plate number beside it, or EXCHANGE; a declared gross vehicle weight; commercial or non-commercial; and an insurance certification naming the company the vehicle is insured with.
Section 4, signature	A Donate Life SC line with an amount box, then the perjury declaration and signature rules for owner and co-owner with a date against each.

What gets this one rejected

•A strikeover or an erasure in the VIN or the odometer. The line at the head of the form rules out strikeovers, erasures, correction tape and correction fluid, and the SCDMV's dealer guidance singles out those two fields as the ones no correction is allowed in at all.
•AND or OR left unticked where there are two owners. The SHARED OWNERSHIP pair decides whether one signature or two moves the car for the rest of the vehicle's life.
•One signature where AND was chosen. Joint ownership means every owner signs, and a co-owner's missing signature stops the application rather than delaying it.
•An insurance agent's name in the insurance certification. The SCDMV wants the company, licensed to do business in South Carolina, not the agency that sold the policy.
•A sales price with the trade-in already deducted. The trade-in has its own box and its own VIN line, and rolling it into the price understates the figure the fee is worked from.
•An exemption ticked that the statute does not carry. Cousins, nieces, nephews, in-laws and step-relations are not on the printed list of immediate family.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•Electronic signatures are accepted here and nowhere near the title. The signature block says electronic or digital signatures are acceptable, and the SCDMV's training repeats it: they work on an electronic version of this application, on the TI-006 and on a dealer bill of sale, and not on the certificate of title.
•Forty-five days, then a published scale. The foot of the form prints the penalty for registering late: $10.00 at 46 to 60 days, $25.00 at 61 to 75, $50.00 at 76 to 135 and $75.00 past 135.

Every line here was read off 400 (Rev 07/2025) itself — the PDF is here — and off the South Carolina Department 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 South Carolina seller paperwork, or what selling a car in South Carolina involves.

How to fill out South Carolina 400

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Tick what you are actually asking for

Vehicle information

AND or OR, if there are two of you

Section 2, the odometer

The IMF and sales tax block

Purchase information

Section 3, the plate

Sign under the perjury declaration

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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