How to fill out Washington 420-504

The only plate form Washington publishes, and it is not the one most sellers go looking for. There is no plate surrender form in the Washington set - plates are handed in over a counter or posted to Olympia. This one is for a plate that has been lost, stolen or mutilated, and a seller meets it when the plates that are supposed to come off the car cannot be found.

Written against 420-504 (R/8/16), issued under RCW 46.17.200 and WAC 308-96A-070. If the plates on a car you are selling have gone missing, this is the form - but think about the order. Replacing them so you can hand them in, when what you actually want is for the department to know they are gone, is a longer road than telling a licensing office the situation and asking which of the two they want first.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank 420-504 from the dol.wa.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank 420-504 — License Plate Replacement Application PDF at dol.wa.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual 420-504, 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

A completed Washington License Plate Replacement Application, form 420-504, for a 2015 Toyota RAV4: the registered owner's name, driver licence number and Spokane address, the plate number and tab expiration date, the identification number, the lost box ticked, automobile ticked as the plate type, and the owner's signature and date. — Rendered from DOL's own PDF and completed for a lost pair of standard plates. The armed forces decal ticks and the personalised plate grid at the foot have been left grey - both belong to plate types a private seller almost never holds, and both change what the department issues back.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
The applicant band
Name of the registered owner and driver licence number.
Watch out: It has to be the registered owner. A replacement plate application from somebody who is not on the record does not get one.
2
You fill this in
Mailing address and daytime phone
Where the plates are posted, and how the department reaches you about it.
Watch out: Plates come by post, so this is the address they arrive at - not necessarily the residence address on the vehicle record.
3
You fill this in
The plate and vehicle band
Plate number, tab expiration date, identification number, year and make.
Watch out: The plate number is the one being replaced. If you cannot remember it, it is on the registration you have to photocopy anyway.
4
You fill this in
Lost, stolen or mutilated
One of three ticks.
Watch out: Stolen has consequences the other two do not: the department will not reissue the same combination on a plate reported stolen.
5
You fill this in
Plate type and background design
Automobile, motorcycle, large trailer or small trailer, then the design if it is not a standard plate.
Watch out: The form gives its own example of a background design. If your plates carry one and you leave the line blank, what comes back will be plain.
6
You fill this in
Sign and date it
One signature line, after the form is printed out.
Watch out: There is no notarisation block here, which makes this one of the few forms in the Washington set you can complete and post without seeing anybody.
7
You fill this in
Keeping your number
A tick, and an additional fee that has to go in with the application.
Watch out: Tick without paying and you get the next available combination. On an ordinary sale it rarely matters - the plates are coming off the car anyway.
8
You fill this in
The armed forces and personalised blocks
Ten decal ticks, and a grid for printing a personalised plate exactly as it reads.
Watch out: The grid is transcribed character by character, spaces and hyphens included. The form's own example is three characters and a space, and it is there because people get it wrong.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Name of registered owner and driver licence number	The applicant band, printed rather than signed.
Mailing address, city, state, ZIP code, daytime phone number	Where the replacement plates will be posted.
License plate number, tab expiration date, identification number, Year, Make	The vehicle band, and the plate number is the one being replaced.
I am applying for a replacement plate because the current plate(s) has been	Three ticks: lost, stolen, mutilated.
Plate type	Four ticks: automobile, motorcycle, trailer large, trailer small.
Background design	One line, and the form gives its own example: Keep Kids Safe.
Date and Signature of registered owner	One signature line, with the instruction to print the form out before signing.
To keep your standard or special plate number	A tick, with a warning attached: include the additional fee, or the replacement plates will be the next available combination.
Armed forces collection plates	Ten ticks for the decal that was on the existing plate - veteran, retired, active duty, reserves, disabled veteran, army guard, air guard, army retired, air retired, fallen hero.
Personalized plate	A row of boxes to print the plate exactly as it should read, including hyphens and spaces, with the form's own worked example: U R GR8.

What gets this one rejected

•Sending it without a copy of the registration. The instruction is to take or mail this completed application with a photocopy of your current registration and fees.
•Posting a disabled American veteran or prisoner of war plate application to a licensing office. Those must be processed in Olympia.
•Ticking the keep-my-number box and not paying the extra fee, which produces the next available combination instead.
•Expecting the same number back on a plate reported stolen. Where the plate or the vehicle has been reported stolen the department will not reissue the combination, and it says why: it is a law enforcement issue and is for the protection of the public.
•A personalised plate transcribed approximately. The instruction is to print exactly the way the plate should look, including hyphens and spaces, if used.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•Keep a copy in the vehicle. The form says so on its face: keep a copy of this completed form in your vehicle as proof that you have submitted an application for replacement license plates.
•A replacement is not a surrender. Nothing on this form tells the department a vehicle has been sold. The Report of Sale does that, and the two are unrelated filings.
•Amateur radio plates are a special case. Replacement HAM and MARS plates are issued with the original number, because that number is the holder's federal licence call sign.
•Some plates cannot be recycled at all. Personalised, disabled parking, collector vehicle, horseless carriage, baseball stadium, amateur radio, disabled American veteran, Purple Heart, Medal of Honor, Pearl Harbor survivor and Gold Star plates all have to come back to a licensing office rather than into a recycling bin.

Every line here was read off 420-504 (R/8/16) 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.

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

How to fill out Washington 420-504

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

The applicant band

Mailing address and daytime phone

The plate and vehicle band

Lost, stolen or mutilated

Plate type and background design

Sign and date it

Keeping your number

The armed forces and personalised blocks

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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