How to fill out Utah TC-802N

The moment a written-off car becomes a paperwork problem for the person keeping it. An insurer that has settled a total loss where the owner elected to keep the vehicle certifies that fact here, and the owner signs underneath to acknowledge an obligation with a deadline on it: to obtain a salvage or non-repairable title within ten days of settlement of the claim. Anyone who later sells that vehicle is selling on a branded title, and this sheet is where the brand started.

Written against TC-802N (Rev 10/12), issued under Utah Code 41-1a-1005 and 41-1a-1005.5. A non-repairable title is not a slower version of a salvage title. A vehicle on that brand is not going back on a road, and ticking the wrong box at the top of this sheet is the difference between a car that can be rebuilt and registered and one that cannot.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank TC-802N from the files.tax.utah.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank TC-802N — Notice of Requirement to Obtain Salvage or Non-repairable Title PDF at files.tax.utah.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual TC-802N, rendered from the PDF the Utah State Tax Commission, Motor Vehicle Division 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

Utah form TC-802N filled in: the salvage title box ticked for a 2019 Subaru Forester with identification number JF2SKAJC2KH512074 owned by Garrett M. Duckworth of Ogden, an insurer certifying a total loss settlement on 6 July 2026, and the owner acknowledging notification on the same date. — Two certifications on one page, one from each side. The dates in the middle of each are what the ten-day obligation is measured from.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
Somebody else fills this in
Salvage or non-repairable
One tick at the top of the sheet.
Watch out: This decides whether the vehicle has a future on a road. If the insurer has ticked non-repairable and you were expecting to rebuild it, stop and ask why before signing anything below.
2
Somebody else fills this in
Section 1, the vehicle and the owner
Year, make, model, identification number, type, body style, plate and state, then the owner's name and address.
Watch out: Check the identification number against the car. Insurers process a lot of these and a transposed character follows the vehicle onto a branded record.
3
Somebody else fills this in
Section 2, the insurer's certification
The company name, the settlement date, a signature and the signer's job title.
Watch out: The certification covers two facts: that a total loss was settled and that the owner elected to keep the vehicle. Both have to be true of your claim.
4
You fill this in
Section 3, your acknowledgement
The date you were notified, your signature and the date you signed.
Watch out: You are acknowledging a ten-day deadline that has already started running. Diary it before you put the form down.
5
You fill this in
Where the copies go
Original to the Tax Commission, a copy to the insurance company, a copy for your own records.
Watch out: Keep yours somewhere you will find it. Every future sale of this vehicle involves explaining the brand, and this is where the brand's history begins.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Salvage title / Non-repairable title	Two tick boxes at the very top, and they are not interchangeable. A non-repairable vehicle cannot go back on the road at all.
Section 1 - Motor Vehicle Information	Year, make, model, identification number, type, body style, licence number and the state that issued it.
Owner name, Address, City, State, ZIP Code	The person who is keeping the vehicle after the settlement.
Section 2 - Insurance Company Certification: Name of insurance company	One wide rule.
This is to certify that on the ___ day of ___, 20___	The date the claim was settled, in three separate boxes.
The settlement certification	That the insurance company satisfied a total loss claim on the motor vehicle described above and the owner elected to retain possession of the salvage or non-repairable vehicle.
The notification certification	In the same paragraph: that the above named owner has been notified of the requirement to obtain a salvage or non-repairable certificate of title, as required by Utah Code 41-1a-1005 and 41-1a-1005.5.
Insurance company's signature, Title, Date	Marked with a printed X. The Title box is the signer's job title, not the vehicle's document.
Section 3 - Owner Acknowledgment	A second dated certification, in the owner's voice, recording the day they were notified.
The ten-day obligation	That the owner was notified of the obligation to obtain a salvage or non-repairable title within ten days of settlement of the claim, and that they have received a copy of the notice.
Owner's signature and Date	The second of the two signature rules on the sheet, marked with a printed X.
The distribution line	Original to the Tax Commission. Copy to the insurance company. Copy for your records.

What gets this one rejected

•Neither box ticked at the top. Salvage and non-repairable are different titles with different futures, and the sheet cannot be read without one of them.
•Two different dates that do not line up. Section 2 records the settlement date and Section 3 records the notification date, and the ten days run from the settlement.
•The owner's acknowledgement left blank. The insurer's certification is that the owner has been notified, and Section 3 is the evidence of it.
•Signed by an adjuster with no job title. The Title box exists so the certification can be traced to somebody with authority to make it.
•Sent only to the insurer. The original goes to the Tax Commission; the insurer and the owner keep copies.
•Filed instead of applying for the branded title. This is a notice of a requirement, not the application that satisfies it.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•Ten days is the deadline, and it is the owner's. The acknowledgement in Section 3 states the obligation to obtain a salvage or non-repairable title within ten days of settlement of the claim.
•Branding is one-way. The Division's answer, four times over, is that a brand cannot be removed from a Utah title - not after repair, not on a flood vehicle, not by inspecting it here, and not where another state applied it first.

Every line here was read off TC-802N (Rev 10/12) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Utah State Tax Commission, 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.

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

How to fill out Utah TC-802N

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Salvage or non-repairable

Section 1, the vehicle and the owner

Section 2, the insurer's certification

Section 3, your acknowledgement

Where the copies go

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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