How to fill out Tennessee RV-F1313801

What a Tennessee seller uses instead of a notice of sale. With nothing to file when the car goes, there is no confirmation to keep and no way to know whether the buyer ever reached a county clerk - so this is how you ask. Two pages: what you want and why on the first, and on the second the twelve statutory uses under the Driver's Privacy Protection Act, exactly one of which you have to sit inside.

Written against RV-F1313801 (Rev 9-20), issued under 18 U.S.C. 2721-2725 and Tenn. Code Ann. 55-25-101 to -112. Read the twelve uses before you fill in a single line. None of them is former owner, and the honest route for a seller asking about their own record is the written-consent box - which means the personal information you are asking for has to be yours.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank RV-F1313801 from the tn.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 A, who is asking

   Your name on the first line, and your name again with a title on the second - the person requesting the information.

   Watch out: Writing former registered owner as the title is worth doing. It tells whoever opens the envelope what this is before they reach Section C.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Pick the box that answers your question

   Four priced options. A complete history of the vehicle at $15.00 is the one that shows the chain of transactions.

   Watch out: The $1.00 printout is a snapshot of the current record. If what you want to know is whether the title moved after you signed it, the snapshot is a worse answer than it looks.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   The vehicle

   Make, year, vehicle identification number and tag number, plus the last known owner's name and address.

   Watch out: The VIN does the work here. A tag number alone can have moved to another vehicle by now, because in Tennessee the plate follows the owner.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Section C, the reason in your own words

   A written description of what the information is for, in the box at the foot of page one.

   Watch out: Say what happened and what you want to establish. Vague is fatal here - the warning above the box is repeated in bold on both pages.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   One box on page two, and only one

   The twelve permitted uses under the Driver's Privacy Protection Act. MUST CHECK ONE BOX is printed in the instruction above them.

   Watch out: The one that fits a seller asking about their own record is written consent of the person to whom the personal information pertains. If the information you want is somebody else's, that box needs their consent and not yours.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   Sign, and give a driver licence number

   Signature, driver licence number, state and date, each marked REQUIRED underneath.

   Watch out: The certification paragraph above it makes a false statement on this application a Class C misdemeanour punishable by a fine of up to $1,000. It is a records request, but it is a sworn one.

What gets this one rejected

• •No box ticked on page two. The instruction says in bold that it results in rejection, twice, on two different pages.
• •A reason described in Section C that does not match the box ticked on page two. They are read together.
• •A blank in any section. The opening line is that all sections must be completed entirely, and the warning under it says failure will result in rejection.
• •Cash in the envelope. Fees are payable by cheque or money order and the Department says plainly not to send cash.
• •A request for the new owner's details dressed up as curiosity. The permitted uses are a closed list and none of them is that you used to own the car.
• •A Tennessee towing company using it for an abandoned vehicle. Page two sends them to the Abandoned Vehicle Request Form instead.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •The record is the Department's, not the clerk's. This one is posted to Nashville rather than filed at a county clerk's window, and the address is printed at the foot of page two.
• •A complete history is the expensive box and usually the right one. $15.00 buys the chain of transactions rather than a snapshot, which is what answers the question of whether the buyer ever titled it.

Every line here was read off RV-F1313801 (Rev 9-20) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Tennessee Department of Revenue 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 Tennessee seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Tennessee involves.