For collecting a certificate you are not named on. South Carolina posts titles to the owner, or to the lienholder where a lien is recorded, and a branch will not hand one across the counter to somebody else without this. It matters to a seller in exactly one common case: a duplicate title has been applied for, the owner cannot get to a branch, and somebody else has to fetch it before the sale can go ahead.
Written against MV-80A (Rev 12/18), issued under S.C. Code Ann. 56-3-390 and 56-19-340.
This releases a document, not a vehicle. Collecting somebody's title on this form gives no authority whatever to sign the assignment on the back of it - that still needs a power of attorney naming the vehicle.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV-80A from the dmv.sc.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual MV-80A, 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
Both halves completed, because the form is a pair of certifications rather than one. Its two signature rules have no fillable box behind them and are signed at the counter in ink; the DMV-use panel and the licence-copy box at the foot are greyed, because the branch completes the first and takes the photocopy for the second.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Vehicle identification number
The VIN of the vehicle whose certificate is being collected.
Watch out: It is the only thing on the form that identifies the car. No make, no year, no plate - so a transposed character means the branch cannot match it to a title at all.
2
You fill this in
I am an authorized agent for
The vehicle owner's name, and the relationship between the two of you in the cell beside it.
Watch out: Write a real relationship - mother, son, neighbour, business partner. A branch reads that cell alongside the identification it is about to photocopy.
3
Somebody else fills this in
Or, I am an authorized employee for
The alternative line, naming a company or an individual, used where the collector is acting for a business.
Watch out: One route or the other, not both. A company also needs an MV-80 on file at the branch, and the DMV-use box below has a tick for exactly that.
4
You fill this in
Printed name and signature of vehicle owner
The owner authorising the collection, printed and signed, each with its own date.
Watch out: This is the half that has to be done before the trip. Sending the collector with a blank owner block turns a ten-minute errand into two.
5
Somebody else fills this in
Printed name and signature of third party
The collector, printed and signed, acknowledging that the certificate was handed over.
Watch out: The wording is I have received this certificate of title from the DMV, so it is signed at the counter rather than at home.
6
Somebody else fills this in
Bring photographic identification
The box at the foot is for a photocopy of the collector's driver's licence.
Watch out: The original comes back after one photocopy. Where it is a South Carolina licence, the branch also checks the name and signature against its own record.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
The statutory warning
A paragraph across the head quoting S.C. Code Ann. 56-3-390 in full: fraudulently using or giving a false or fictitious name or address, knowingly making a false statement, or knowingly concealing a material fact in an application is a misdemeanour.
The certification
Two printed sentences the third party is signing to: that the owner of the vehicle with the VIN listed below has authorized me to receive the title on his or her behalf, and that I have received this certificate of title from the DMV.
Vehicle identification number
One cell, and the only description of the vehicle anywhere on the form.
I am an authorized agent for
The vehicle owner's name, with a second cell for the relationship to the vehicle owner.
OR I am an authorized employee for
The name of a company or individual - the alternative route, used where a business is collecting.
Owner block
Printed name of vehicle owner with a date, then signature of vehicle owner with a date.
Third party block
Printed name of third party receiving title with a date, then signature of third party receiving title with a date.
For DMV use only
Two tick boxes - that the MV-80 agent authorization is on file if applicable, and that the name and signature on the SC driver's licence match the record - then the date and time the title was picked up, the representative's initials and the field office number.
The licence copy box
A ruled box at the foot with an instruction to place the third party's driver's licence in it and make one copy, and a note that the original is given back to the customer after the photocopy is made.
What gets this one rejected
•The owner's signature missing. Both halves of the form are signed - the owner authorising, and the third party acknowledging receipt.
•No relationship stated. The cell beside the owner's name asks how the two are connected, and a blank invites the question the form exists to answer.
•A company collecting on the individual route. A business sends someone as an authorized employee and files an MV-80 as well, which is the company-level authorisation the DMV-use box asks about.
•No photographic identification produced. The box at the foot exists to hold a copy of the collector's licence, and the branch takes one before releasing anything.
•Used where a lien is recorded. Where the certificate is going to a lienholder, the SCDMV's rule on the MV-80 is that the owner's authorization is not required for a lien holder to pick up the title.
•A VIN that does not match the title being collected. It is the only identifier on the page and the branch works from it.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•MV-80 is the company version, MV-80A the individual one. The MV-80 authorises a named person to collect titles for a company and stays on file at the branch; the MV-80A is a one-off for one certificate.
•MV-80B posts it instead. Where nobody can attend at all, the Third Party Mail-To Title Delivery form sends the certificate to a third party's address rather than to the owner's.
Every line here was read off MV-80A (Rev 12/18) 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.
