Here because Texas sellers search for it and then find it is not theirs. The form's first line reads FOR DEALERS: it lets a licensed dealer move a buyer's plates onto a newly bought vehicle at the time of title application. A private seller keeps their plates and moves them a different way.
Written against VTR-904 (Rev 10/2018), issued under Texas Transportation Code 504.901. Remove the plates and the registration sticker at handover. Once the car is gone, getting a plate back from a stranger is a conversation nobody enjoys.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank VTR-904 from the txdmv.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
| On the form | What to put in it |
|---|---|
| Who this form is for | Licensed motor vehicle dealers, transferring plates from a purchaser's Texas registered vehicle to one they have just bought. |
| What can be transferred | General issue or specialty plates. General issue plates move only from a passenger car or truck to a passenger car or truck, and must be in good condition with a readable number. |
| The fee | There is none. The form says so in as many words: there is no fee to transfer license plates. |
| Filing | It goes to the county with the Form 130-U but is not attached to it, and dealers filing through webDEALER are told not to scan or upload it at all. |
Every line here was read off VTR-904 (Rev 10/2018) 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.
Back to all Texas seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Texas involves.