How to fill out Vermont VN-101

The only document in the Vermont set that lets somebody else sign the assignment block for you, and the only one that needs both a witness and a notary. It is a single-vehicle appointment - the car is described at the top by make, model, plate and identification number - and the authority it grants is written out in the form's own sentence: to sign any documents for the vehicle described above, including but not limited to vehicle purchase, vehicle sale, application for title and/or registration, and transfer of ownership. Vermont will not take a power of attorney drawn on somebody else's paper for a vehicle transaction, and it will not take this one signed at the kitchen table with nobody watching.

Written against VN-101 (06/2023), issued under 14 V.S.A. s. 3505(c), which bars the agent from witnessing or notarising the appointment, affirmed under penalty of perjury per 23 V.S.A. s. 202, s. 203, s. 2082 and s. 2083. Book the notary and the witness for the same fifteen minutes. Every route people try to shortcut this form - signing at home and getting it notarised on the way past the bank, asking the person being appointed to sign as witness - fails on a sentence printed on the form itself.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank VN-101 from the dmv.vermont.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our VN-101 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Make, Model, Model Year, Body Type, Color

   The one vehicle this appointment covers, copied off the certificate.

   Watch out: If two cars are being sold, that is two forms. There is no box on this sheet for a second vehicle and no version of it that covers a fleet.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Serial Number (VIN), Plate Number, Plate State

   Seventeen characters and the plate the car is wearing now.

   Watch out: Write the plate state even when it is obviously Vermont. An empty box is an incomplete form, and this form says incomplete forms are not accepted.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Name of Agent, License Number, License State of Issue

   The person you are appointing, with a driving credential the department can look up.

   Watch out: Choose somebody who will be reachable for a fortnight, not somebody who is doing you a favour on their way to the airport.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Agent Mailing Address, City, State, Zip

   Four boxes for the agent's own address.

   Watch out: It does not have to be a Vermont address. Nothing in this form requires the agent to live in the state, and plenty of them do not.

5. 5
   Somebody else fills this in

   Agent Signature, Phone Number, Email Address

   The agent's own signature and two ways of reaching them.

   Watch out: They can sign this afterwards. What they cannot do is walk into a DMV office with it unsigned and expect to use it.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   Printed Name of Owner, License Number, License State of Issue

   Your name in print, and your own credential.

   Watch out: Print the name exactly as it appears on the certificate. A married name on the licence and a maiden name on the title is a query the notary cannot fix for you.

7. 7
   You fill this in

   Owner Mailing Address, City, State, Zip

   Your address, including a foreign one if that is where you are.

   Watch out: An owner temporarily in Quebec or Alberta writes that address here. It is a reason for the form, not an obstacle to it.

8. 8
   You fill this in

   Signature of Owner, and Date

   Signed in front of the witness and the notary, both watching, on the date written beside it.

   Watch out: Take photographic identification. The notary ticks a box on this form to say your identification was verified, and they will not tick it on your word.

9. 9
   Somebody else fills this in

   Witness Signature, Printed Name, Date, Address, Phone

   Five boxes completed by somebody who is neither you nor the agent nor the notary.

   Watch out: A neighbour, a colleague, the person at the next desk in the bank. What they are declaring is that you looked well and were not being leaned on.

10. 10
    Somebody else fills this in

    The notary's acknowledgement and seal panel

    Printed name, signature, commission number, expiry, phone number and the identification tick.

    Watch out: This is the notary's block and none of it is yours to prepare. A form arriving with the commission number already typed in is the fastest way to have the whole appointment refused.

What gets this one rejected

• •A photocopy or a scan. The instruction is in the first line of the form: all signatures must be original and in ink, no photocopies or scanned forms.
• •Any box left empty. The second line is just as flat - all fields must be completed, or the form will not be accepted - and it is the reason a form comes back for a missing agent phone number.
• •The agent standing in as the witness, or as the notary. 14 V.S.A. s. 3505(c) is printed twice on the face of the form: a person named as agent under the document may not serve as a witness or notary public with respect to it.
• •One person doing both other jobs. The witness and the notary may not be the same person, which means three people in the room and not two.
• •A general power of attorney drawn up by a solicitor, offered instead of this form. The department wants its own single-vehicle appointment with the vehicle described on it.
• •A form signed before the notary arrived. The signature line says sign in the presence of notary and witness, and the affirmation above it says you did.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •It appoints a person for a vehicle, not a person for your affairs. The authority runs to the car described at the top of the page and to the transactions listed in the sentence: purchase, sale, application for title or registration, and transfer of ownership.
• •The agent can sign later, but not later than the first use. The instruction page allows the two signatures to be applied at different times and closes the gap at the point it matters - before the power of attorney is used for the first time.
• •Revocation is easy and telling the agent is the hard part. The form lists tearing it up and crossing it out among the valid methods, and then adds the sentence people skip: tell your agent that you are revoking it.
• •A co-owner abroad still has to sign something. This form is the way an owner who cannot reach the table gets their signature onto the assignment. The alternative - leaving one of two owners' signature lines blank - is the single most common reason a Vermont transfer is handed back.

Every line here was read off VN-101 (06/2023) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, Agency of Transportation 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 Vermont seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Vermont involves.