How to fill out Virginia VSA 10

Mostly a catalogue of Virginia's two hundred-odd plate designs, and buried in section A is the one tick a seller needs: transfer existing plate. Because a Virginia plate belongs to the person rather than the vehicle, the plates coming off a car you have just sold can go straight onto its replacement - and this is the form that moves them.

Written against VSA 10 (07/01/2026), issued under Va. Code 46.2-694 and 46.2-725. Nothing on this form surrenders anything. A seller who has no replacement vehicle needs the refund application and the plates in an envelope, or the online surrender - filing a plate application instead leaves the registration live, in your name, on a car you no longer own, which is precisely the situation Virginia's uninsured-vehicle rules are built to punish.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank VSA 10 from the dmv.virginia.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank VSA 10 — License Plate Application PDF at dmv.virginia.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is all 2 pages of the actual VSA 10, rendered from the PDF the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles 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

The Virginia DMV VSA 10 filled in as a plate transfer: transfer existing plate ticked in section A, a standard plate selected, applicant Corinne T. Ashby of Charlottesville, the current plate number VBM-7241 with its type and expiration date, and the title number and vehicle identification number of the replacement vehicle. — Page 1 of 2. Section A with transfer existing plate ticked, a standard design in section B, and the applicant block carrying the plate coming off one car and the title number and vehicle identification number of the one it is going onto.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
Section A, transfer existing plate
One tick, at the right-hand end of the five.
Watch out: Read the row before ticking. Souvenir and standard sit next to it and are different transactions entirely.
2
You fill this in
Applicant information
Name, telephone and the mailing address DMV holds for you.
Watch out: This has to be the registered owner of the plate. A plate cannot be transferred to somebody else's vehicle, only to another of your own.
3
You fill this in
The plate coming off
Current plate number, plate type and plate expiration date.
Watch out: The expiration date travels with the plate. Transferring it does not restart the registration year.
4
You fill this in
The vehicle it is going onto
Title number and vehicle identification number of the replacement vehicle.
Watch out: The replacement has to be titled to you already, or being titled in the same visit - which is why this form and a title application often cross the counter together.
5
You fill this in
Insurance certification
On page two: one tick and the insurer's name for the vehicle receiving the plate.
Watch out: The certification is about the receiving vehicle, not the one you sold. Insuring the new car before the plate moves is the order that keeps you out of trouble.
6
You fill this in
Signature
Sign and date under the certification.
Watch out: No notary, and no witness. Like the rest of Virginia's set it is affirmed under penalty of perjury.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Section A, type of plate	Five choices and only one may be selected: license plate, disabled plate, souvenir plate, hearing impaired plate, or transfer existing plate.
Section B, which plate	The design itself - standard, disabled veteran, heritage, lighthouse, scenic with a background type, college with a locality, special interest by organisation name, military, clean fuel with the vehicle year, make and model, or other.
Section C, personalised or souvenir	A grid of eight character cells repeated four times, for up to four different options of up to eight characters, with the personalised licence plate policy printed on the second page.
Hearing impaired certification	A single tick certifying the applicant is hearing impaired and cannot hear and understand normal speech, with a warning that it is unlawful for a person who can to obtain the plate.
Applicant information	Owner's name in last, first, mi order with a daytime telephone number, a co-owner row, the current mailing address, then the current plate number, plate type and plate expiration date, and finally the vehicle title number and vehicle identification number.
Power of attorney information	The standard Virginia appointment of the Commissioner as agent for service of process, for non-residents and corporations not domiciled here.
Insurance certification	On page two - one tick certifying the vehicle is insured by a liability policy from a company licensed in Virginia and will remain insured while registered, with the insurer's name, then the applicant's signature and date.

What gets this one rejected

•Ticking two plate types in section A. The instruction is select only one, and transfer is one of the five.
•Transferring a plate onto a vehicle you do not own. The title number and VIN boxes are for the receiving vehicle, and they have to be a vehicle on your own record.
•Personalising a hearing impaired plate. The note under the certification says the design does not allow it.
•Leaving the insurance certification untouched. Every Virginia registration transaction carries it and an unsigned one is not an application.
•Applying to move a plate onto a car that is already properly plated. A transfer moves a registration - it does not stack a second plate on a vehicle.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•Plates follow the person here. That is the premise the transfer tick rests on, and it is why a Virginia seller takes the plates off rather than leaving them. The registration on them is yours to move.
•A transfer is done at a counter. DMV's plate page says to complete this form and visit a customer service center to complete the transfer transaction - it is not one of the transactions the department finishes by post.
•Old plates get destroyed, not returned. Once replacement plates are received, DMV's guidance is that the old ones may be destroyed. That is different from a surrender, where the plates go back.

Every line here was read off VSA 10 (07/01/2026) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Virginia 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 Virginia seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Virginia involves.

How to fill out Virginia VSA 10

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Section A, transfer existing plate

Applicant information

The plate coming off

The vehicle it is going onto

Insurance certification

Signature

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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