How to fill out South Carolina TI-021A

The route to a South Carolina title where no previous title exists to assign - a car bought years ago on a handwritten receipt, a trailer somebody welded together, a vehicle left behind. It is an affidavit and an indemnity in one: you swear how you came by the vehicle and you agree to defend the Department against anything that arrives afterwards.

Written against TI-021A (10/2023), issued under S.C. Code Ann. 56-19-230 and 56-19-240. A mobile home takes a different and much heavier package: seven years of property tax statements in the current owner's name or seven years of insurance records, plus a letter from the county treasurer that the taxes are current.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank TI-021A from the dmv.sc.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Section 1, describe the vehicle

   VIN, make, year, body and style, model, empty weight and gross vehicle weight.

   Watch out: Read the VIN off the vehicle itself, and read it twice. If the plate is gone or unreadable, this application cannot start until Form 401-A produces an assigned serial number.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Section 2, who the title will be issued to

   Your full legal name with a licence or customer number, a date of birth, addresses with county, phone and email - and the AND or OR pair if there is a co-owner.

   Watch out: The name on this line is the name that will appear on a brand-new certificate. Getting it exactly as your licence prints it saves a second application later.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Section 3, the mileage

   The reading in whole miles, and two statements that stay untouched unless one is true.

   Watch out: There is no exempt box here either. On a vehicle old enough to be exempt the reading still goes in, and the exemption is declared on the title application that accompanies this.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Purchase price and date of purchase

   What you paid and when, at the head of Section 4.

   Watch out: This is the figure the Infrastructure Maintenance Fee is worked from, and on a vehicle acquired years ago the Department is entitled to use a national used-value guide instead.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   Explain why the previous certificate was not obtained

   The free-text block: how, where and when you acquired it, who was involved, the condition it was in, and anything else about the vehicle.

   Watch out: Write it as a chronology with names and dates. Attach the handwritten receipt, the estate notice, the auction sheet - anything contemporaneous - because the block is the whole of the evidence otherwise.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   Photographs, four sides

   Front, back and both flanks, showing the vehicle as it stands.

   Watch out: They are not returned, so take them on a phone and print them. Include one that shows the VIN plate if it is legible.

7. 7
   Somebody else fills this in

   The TI-021B inspection

   A Dealer License and Audit Agent or a member of law enforcement physically verifies the vehicle identification number on its own short form.

   Watch out: Book that before filling anything else in. It is the item that takes the longest and the affidavit cannot be filed without it.

8. 8
   You fill this in

   Sign the indemnification agreement

   All listed owners sign and date under the perjury and indemnity paragraph.

   Watch out: Read the paragraph first. You are certifying the vehicle carries no lien and no claim, and agreeing to defend the SCDMV if somebody turns up later saying otherwise.

What gets this one rejected

• •A one-line explanation. Section 4 asks for how, where and when the vehicle was acquired, who was involved and the condition it was in, and a sentence saying bought it years ago answers none of those.
• •No photographs. Four sides, and the second page says they will not be returned.
• •No TI-021B. The vehicle has to be physically inspected by a Dealer License and Audit Agent or a member of law enforcement, and that inspection is its own form.
• •A vehicle with no readable identifying number. The requirements page routes that case to Form 401-A for an assigned serial number before this affidavit can proceed.
• •One signature on a two-owner application. The instruction under the signature rule is that all listed owners must sign.
• •Used where a title does exist. If there is a certificate in somebody's name, the route is an assignment or a duplicate - this form is for the case where none was ever obtained.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •The indemnity is the price of the title. You are agreeing to defend the SCDMV against any litigation that arises from it issuing a certificate in your name. That is a real undertaking, not a formality.
• •The Department checks two national databases. NCIC for theft, and NMVTIS for an existing record, an odometer figure and any brands. Both are on the form, both with their own employee signature.

Every line here was read off TI-021A (10/2023) 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.