Two forms printed on one sheet, and a seller may need either or both. The upper half swears that a document - the title, the registration, a tab, a decal, the plates or a metal tag - is gone. The lower half releases interest in the vehicle without using the certificate. Both halves are signed under penalty of perjury and both must be notarised or certified, which is the difference between this and signing the certificate itself.
Written against 420-040 (R/3/18), issued under RCW 46.12.580 and WAC 308-56A-265.
The two halves look alike and are not interchangeable. Swearing that a title is lost does not release your interest in the vehicle, and releasing your interest does not tell the department the certificate is missing - a sale where the certificate never turned up usually needs both halves completed by the same person on the same sheet.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank 420-040 from the dol.wa.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual 420-040, rendered from the PDF the Washington State Department of Licensing 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
Both halves completed by the same person on the same sheet, which is what a sale with a missing certificate actually needs. The second name column on each half has been left grey - it is there for a jointly owned vehicle, and on a single-owner car it stays empty.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
The vehicle band
Plate or registration number, identification number, model year, make, model and body style.
Watch out: One band serves both halves of the sheet. Fill it in once and it covers whichever half or halves you go on to complete.
2
You fill this in
What you do not have
Six ticks: title, registration, tab, decal, plates, metal tag. Check all that apply.
Watch out: Tick everything that is genuinely missing. Coming back a fortnight later because the tabs went with the title is a second notarised affidavit and a second fee.
3
You fill this in
Why you do not have it
Destroyed, illegible, lost, stolen, or defaced and can no longer be used.
Watch out: Stolen is a different answer from lost and the department reads it differently - a stolen certificate is a fraud risk, and saying so is what puts a flag on the record.
4
You fill this in
Your details, printed
Name, position and company if signing for a business, telephone, Washington driver licence number and email.
Watch out: The name has to match the certificate the department holds. If you have married or changed name since, that needs sorting out first or the affidavit swears about somebody else's document.
5
You fill this in
Date, place, and the signature you must not make yet
The date, the city or county, and the signature line - which prints its own instruction to sign before a notary or vehicle licensing agent.
Watch out: Signing at home and posting it is the single commonest way this form comes back. The department will accept a posted form only if the signature on it was notarised.
6
You fill this in
The release of interest half
Three ticks - ownership, gross weight licence, personalised plate - then the same name and signature structure again.
Watch out: Ownership is the tick that matters in a sale. The other two exist for a seller keeping a personalised plate or dropping a weight endorsement.
7
You fill this in
The notarisation block at the foot
One seal block at the very bottom of the sheet, carrying the place and the date, the names of everybody who signed in front of the witness, and the witness's signature, printed name, title and number.
Watch out: One block covers both halves and everybody who signed in front of that person. A co-owner who was not there is not covered by it.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
License plate/Registration number, and the identification number
The vehicle band at the top, shared by both halves of the form.
Model year, Make, Model, Body style
Four boxes describing the vehicle.
Affidavit of loss - I do not have the following
Six ticks: title, registration, tab, decal, plates, metal tag. Check all that apply.
It is not in my possession because it was
Five more ticks: destroyed, illegible, lost, stolen, defaced and can no longer be used.
Two name blocks with position and company
Room for two people to swear the affidavit, because a jointly owned vehicle needs both.
Phone number, Washington driver licence number, Email
Repeated for each signer.
Date and place (city or county) signed, and Signature
Each signature line prints the instruction: sign before a notary or vehicle licensing agent.
Release of interest - what are you releasing
Three ticks: ownership, gross weight license, personalized plate.
Release of interest name blocks
The same two-person structure again, with its own signature lines and its own perjury declaration.
Notarization / Certification
One block at the foot serving both halves: state, county, date, the names of the people signing, and the notary's or agent's details.
What gets this one rejected
•Posting it unwitnessed. The form's first line is unambiguous: when completed, mail or take this to any vehicle licensing office, and if mailing, you must have your signature notarized.
•One signature where the certificate names two registered owners. Replacing a lost title needs all of them.
•Ticking nothing in the second row. Saying what is missing without saying why does not make an affidavit.
•Printing it on coloured paper. The department's instruction for a replacement title is to print the form on white paper.
•Using it to correct a name or a mileage figure. That is a different form - this one swears a document is gone or releases an interest, and nothing else.
•Assuming it doubles as a Report of Sale. Releasing interest and telling the department you sold the vehicle are two separate filings.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•This is where Washington's notary rule actually applies. A release of interest signed on the certificate itself needs no notary. The identical words on this sheet must be notarised or certified, because the rule attaches the exemption to the certificate rather than to the sentence.
•A licensing agent counts as the notary. If signing at a vehicle licensing office, a vehicle licensing agent can take the place of a notary - which makes the free route and the convenient route the same route.
•How many signatures depends on which half. For a lost title, all registered owners sign. For a lost registration, one registered owner signs.
•It is also how a lienholder gets off your record. Where a lender has not sent the department what it needs, a completed affidavit of loss and release of interest with the lienholder's notarised signature does the same job as a releasing signature on the certificate.
•Replacement is not instant. A replacement title posted from the department takes four to eight weeks. A quick title office prints one immediately for more money.
Every line here was read off 420-040 (R/3/18) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Washington State Department of Licensing pages.
This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ,
theirs governs.
