How to fill out South Dakota Form 1203

The car in the shelterbelt with no title and nobody left to ask. South Dakota's bonded route is narrower than most states': SDCL 32-3-64.1 opens it only where the vehicle is older than thirty years, no record exists for it, and there is no bill of sale. A vehicle eleven years old or more with no record but with a valid bill of sale goes down a different and much cheaper road under s. 32-3-64. This form starts the bonded process - it goes to the Motor Vehicle Division in Pierre with a $2 fee for the record search, not to a county treasurer - and the department then runs a nationwide title search and a National Crime Information Center check before it will value the vehicle.

Written against Form 1203 (no revision printed), issued under South Dakota Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division, submitted to the Pierre office under SDCL 32-3-64.1. Be careful with the value you put in the estimate box, because the arithmetic runs against you in both directions. Understate it and the department's own valuation replaces yours, which is what the form warns about when it says the estimated value submitted may not be the amount used for valuation. Overstate it and the bond you have to buy is one and a half times a number you invented. Attach whatever supports a realistic figure - an auction result for a comparable vehicle, photographs of the condition, a written estimate for what it needs - and let the department work from evidence rather than from optimism.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank Form 1203 from the sddor.seamlessdocs.com copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our Form 1203 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Applicant details and county

   Name, address, identification number, county, phone and email. The county matters because the county treasurer finishes the process later.

   Watch out: Use contact details that will still work in a year. The department's own outside limit on this process is twenty-four months from the day the form is submitted.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   The vehicle, in detail

   Type, VIN, year, make, model, trim level, body style, weight and cylinders - more detail than any other South Dakota form asks for.

   Watch out: A pre-1981 vehicle has a shorter VIN than seventeen characters, and that is correct rather than a transcription error. Copy it exactly as it is stamped.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Operational, complete, and previously branded

   Three yes-or-no questions with explanation blocks beneath them, covering whether it runs, whether it has all its original major components, and whether it has ever been branded.

   Watch out: Answer the branding question honestly even about another state. The department is about to run a nationwide title search and a National Crime Information Center check, and a surprise there is worse than a disclosure here.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Your estimate of the value

   A figure, with supporting documentation attached. The bond will be at least one and a half times whatever the department settles on.

   Watch out: The form tells you plainly that your number may not be the one used. Attach the evidence rather than arguing the figure.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   How you acquired it, with names and dates

   The narrative block. The statute wants the facts surrounding the applicant obtaining possession of the vehicle.

   Watch out: This is the block the whole application turns on. Vague possession is what the bond exists to insure against, and a clear account shortens everything that follows.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   Photographs, and the $2 declaration

   Colour photos of the front, driver's side, rear, passenger side and the VIN, plus the safety sticker if present; then the declaration and the $2 record-search fee.

   Watch out: Photograph the VIN so it is legible, not so it is in shot. If the pictures do not answer the department's questions, the next step is a physical inspection by a division agent.

What gets this one rejected

• •A vehicle that is not older than thirty years. The statute's threshold is explicit, and the department's own page repeats it - a vehicle 30 years old or older with no record on file.
• •A vehicle you do have a bill of sale for. The bonded route is for the case where there is none; with one, an eleven-year-old vehicle goes through s. 32-3-64 with an affidavit instead.
• •A record that turns out to exist. The department conducts a nationwide title search and checks the National Crime Information Center, and a record found ends the bonded route.
• •An acquisition story with no names and no dates. The form asks for both, and the statute wants the facts surrounding the applicant obtaining possession of the vehicle.
• •Missing photographs. Five views are named on the form, and where they do not answer the department's questions the vehicle may need to be brought to an inspection.
• •Letting it run past twenty-four months. If the title application process is not completed within 24 months from the date the request form is submitted, the request is considered abandoned and a new request form is required.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •It goes to Pierre, with $2. The department's own instruction: a Bonded Title Request Form, along with a $2 fee for the record search, must be submitted to the Motor Vehicle Division office in Pierre with all necessary documentation.
• •The bond is one and a half times the value. SDCL 32-3-64.1 requires a bond executed by the applicant and an insurance company licensed to do business in this state in an amount equal to no less than one and one-half times the current value of the vehicle as determined by the department.
• •The department sets the value, not you. Once the value is determined the Motor Vehicle Division completes and sends back a Vehicle Valuation for Surety Bond form. Where more information is needed, the vehicle may require an inspection by a Motor Vehicle Division agent.
• •Then the county, with the title application. With the bond purchased, the applicant submits all the previously submitted documents, a completed application for title and registration, and any applicable fees to their local county treasurer.
• •Who the bond protects. It runs in favour of any prior owner, subsequent purchaser, secured party and their successors in interest, and indemnifies against expense, loss or damage including reasonable attorney fees - capped at the amount of the bond.
• •The title says so on its face. When issued, there will be a disclaimer on the title indicating it is a bonded title. It comes off through Form 1205, not by waiting.

Every line here was read off Form 1203 (no revision printed) itself — the PDF is here — and off the South Dakota Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division pages. This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ, theirs governs.

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