How to fill out Tennessee RV-F1315201

The Department's general-purpose application, and the one a seller reaches for when the certificate has gone missing. A hundred and seven boxes across seven bands, of which an owner replacing a lost title fills in about fifteen: who they are, which vehicle, which title number, and one tick from six describing what happened to the paper. Everything else on the sheet belongs to a lender, a lessee, a dealer or the clerk.

Written against RV-F1315201 (Rev 04-20), issued under Tenn. Code Ann. 55-3-115. File it in person or by post through the county clerk, and expect to wait for the post. A duplicate does not exist to sell against - the buyer needs the certificate in hand, and until it arrives there is nothing to assign.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank RV-F1315201 from the tn.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank RV-F1315201 — Application for Noting of Lien, Duplicate Title, or Multipurpose Use PDF at tn.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual RV-F1315201, rendered from the PDF the Tennessee Department of Revenue 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

Tennessee form RV-F1315201 filled in as a duplicate title application: Loretta J. Bramblett of Maryville, Blount County, title number 96114208, a 2016 Toyota 4Runner, vehicle identification number JTEBU5JR9G5318472, body 4D, current mileage 96,240 with odometer indicator 0, plate BFZ-3140, the LOST box ticked in the duplicate row, and the certifier signature and date completed. — The same sheet a lender uses to note a lien, a lessee uses to register a plate and a dealer uses to file a sale - which is why so much of it is greyed. Everything amber is what one owner replacing one lost certificate actually writes.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
The title number
New or current title number, top left. It is the number of the certificate you are replacing.
Watch out: If you do not have it, the county clerk can look the record up from the vehicle identification number - but bring the VIN written down rather than a photograph of the windscreen.
2
You fill this in
Owner information, in the record's own order
Last name, first name, middle initial, in three separate boxes, exactly as the title holds them.
Watch out: The legal status box beside it is 1 for AND and 2 for OR, and it describes what is already on the certificate. It is not a choice you get to make now.
3
You fill this in
County of residence
Your county, on the line marked CNTY OF RESIDENCE/PRINCIPAL BUS OR INCORP LOCATION.
Watch out: The Department's rule is to use the clerk of the county where you live. Filing in the county where the car happens to be parked is how an application ends up in the wrong office.
4
You fill this in
Vehicle information
Vehicle identification number, make, model, year and body, copied off the record rather than off the car.
Watch out: Body is the clerk's abbreviation - 4D, 2D, UT, PK - not a word you choose. Take it from the old certificate or from the registration.
5
You fill this in
Current mileage and the odometer indicator
The reading, and one digit beside it from a printed list: 0 actual, 3 not actual, 1 over ten years or 16,000 pounds, 9 in excess of mechanical limits.
Watch out: The indicator is a brand, and it goes onto the replacement certificate. Copy forward whatever the old title carried rather than restarting the question.
6
You fill this in
One tick in the duplicate row
Lost, stolen, mutilated, returned due to non delivery, altered or illegible.
Watch out: Altered and illegible both come with a condition: the heading says to submit the illegible or altered certificate with the application. If you have the ruined title, it goes in the envelope.
7
You fill this in
Sign under the perjury line
The signature of the certifier or owner, with the date beside it. There is a separate line for an attorney-in-fact.
Watch out: No notary is involved here either. If somebody else is signing for you, they sign the power-of-attorney line and an RV-F1311401 goes in with the form.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Title numbers	New or current title number at the top left, and a registration-only number beside it that a private owner leaves alone.
Owner information	Last, first and middle initial for up to two owners, with a legal status box - 1 for AND, 2 for OR - and a name code box for a company, multiple last names or a name over 25 characters.
Address block	A mailing address with its own city, state and ZIP, and a separate physical address line with its own set, plus a line for an additional owner.
County of residence, purchase date and telephone	The county line decides which clerk and which local tax rate; the purchase date is when you bought it, not when you are applying.
Vehicle information	Vehicle identification number, make, model, year, body, title brand and its translation code, and type of fuel with its own code.
Surrendered title, mileage and odometer indicator	The previous title number and state, previous states titled, vehicle use and type, current mileage, and a one-digit odometer indicator: 0 for actual, 3 for not actual, 1 for over ten years or 16,000 pounds, 9 for in excess of mechanical limits.
Plate information	Plate number, class code and issue year, validation number, county and city sticker numbers, a trade-in plate column and an expiration date - required only for title-and-registration and registration-only transactions.
Lien information	First and second lienholder, each with a lien date, street, city, state and ZIP.
Lessee or registrant information	The owner of the plate where that is not the owner of the vehicle.
Vehicle cost and tax	Sale price, trade-in allowance, warranty amount, taxable amount, sales tax paid and a tax exemption reason, then a dealer name, address and number.
The duplicate title row	Six ticks under a heading that reads: required for Duplicate Title - T.C.A. 55-3-115 - submit illegible or altered Certificate of Title. Lost, stolen, mutilated, returned due to non delivery, altered, illegible.
Certification and signature	A perjury sentence, then the signature of the certifier or owner, a separate line for a power of attorney signature, and the date.

What gets this one rejected

•No tick in the duplicate row. Six reasons are printed and the application is not a duplicate application until one of them is chosen.
•Altered or illegible ticked with nothing enclosed. The heading itself says to submit the illegible or altered certificate of title with the form.
•A duplicate requested by an owner while a lien is still noted. Where a lien remains, the request has to come from the lienholder and the new title goes to the first lienholder on record.
•A missing county of residence. It sets the clerk, and on a title-and-registration transaction it sets the local tax rate.
•The wrong odometer indicator. It is one digit from a printed list of four, and it carries the brand on to the new certificate.
•A signature in a name the record does not hold. Where the title reads one name and your identification reads another, a General Affidavit reconciling them goes in with this.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•Fourteen dollars, plus whatever the county adds. The instruction sheet on the form's own second page puts the cost of a duplicate title at $14.00 and says additional county fees may apply.
•Two owners, one signature - sometimes. The Department's answer is that even though a vehicle is titled in two individuals' names, only one signature is required when applying for a duplicate title. That is the duplicate, not the sale: the AND or OR on the front of the certificate still governs the assignment.
•It doubles as the noting-of-lien form. Which is why the fee sentence reads $11.00 per new lien plus $14.00 title fee. A private seller replacing a lost certificate pays the second half of that sentence and not the first.

Every line here was read off RV-F1315201 (Rev 04-20) 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.

How to fill out Tennessee RV-F1315201

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

The title number

Owner information, in the record's own order

County of residence

Vehicle information

Current mileage and the odometer indicator

One tick in the duplicate row

Sign under the perjury line

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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