How to fill out Texas VTR-203

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   Dealers only

   Junk vehicle information

   VIN, year, make, body style and model of the vehicle whose ownership evidence has already been surrendered.

   Watch out: Already surrendered is the precondition, not a step here. The title went to the TxDMV on a Form VTR-340 before this form was ever printed.

2. 2
   Dealers only

   Dealer or used automotive parts recycler

   The entity name as listed on the licence, the licence number, and the address.

   Watch out: As listed on license, in the form's own words. A trading name that differs from the licensed name is a mismatch a Regional Service Center will pick up.

3. 3
   Dealers only

   Metal recycler information

   The second licensed business - the one that will destroy the vehicle - with its own name, licence number and address.

   Watch out: Two licences on one page. That is the structural reason a private seller never signs this: there is no line on it for an unlicensed party.

4. 4
   Dealers only

   Delivery information

   The licence plate state and number of the vehicle delivering the junk vehicle, and the date of delivery.

   Watch out: The plate wanted here is the tow truck's or the transporter's, not the junk vehicle's. The junk vehicle no longer has a live registration to name.

5. 5
   Dealers only

   The recycler's certification

   The authorised agent certifies the ownership evidence was surrendered in accordance with Transportation Code, Chapter 501 and Occupations Code, Chapter 2302, and that the vehicle is being transferred to the metal recycler named above.

   Watch out: Signature, printed name and date, under the third-degree-felony line. If a yard hands you this to sign, the certification is describing acts only a licensed business can have performed.

6. 6
   Dealers only

   The metal recycler certification

   A second, later signature certifying the junk vehicle was permanently destroyed, with the date of destruction.

   Watch out: It is completed after the destruction, and the form is then surrendered to a TxDMV Regional Service Center before the 61st day following it, on a Form VTR-340-M.

What gets this one rejected

• •A private individual using it to sell a scrap car. There is no licence number to write, and that is the field that gives it away.
• •Using it before the title has been surrendered on a VTR-340.
• •A metal recycler filing it late. The window is the 61st day after permanent destruction.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •What a private seller does with a junk car. Sell it with the title signed over, the way you would any other vehicle, and file the VTR-346. If the title is gone, the certified copy on a VTR-34 comes first. The junk-vehicle paperwork starts at the recycler's end, not yours.

Every line here was read off VTR-203 (Rev 05/20) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Texas 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.

Forms that go with this one

• VTR-441 · Application for Salvage or Nonrepairable Vehicle Title
• VTR-34-S · Application for a Certified Copy of a Texas Nonrepairable or Salvage Vehicle Title
• ENF-SAL-221 · Disclosure of Salvage Motor Vehicle
• VTR-71-2 · Application for Authority to Dispose of a Motor Vehicle to a Demolisher

This bill of sale belongs to dealers and recyclers; if the junk car is yours, read what a junk motor vehicle can cost you in Dallas while it sits.

Back to all Texas seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Texas involves.