How to fill out West Virginia DMV-43

The dealership counter's odometer sheet - the Division's forms index files it with (Dealers) in its name, and its top line asks for a customer's name and a stock no., which is dealership inventory language. A private seller meets it in one situation only: trading a car in, where you are the transferor whose sentence and signature it collects. It appears here because it is the first result a search for a West Virginia odometer form tends to surface, and filing it on a driveway sale substitutes a stock-control document for the disclosure the title itself should carry.

Written against DMV-43 (Rev 1/91), issued under 49 U.S.C. 32705. The revision printed at its foot is decades old and the sheet shows it: nothing on it mentions the model-year split or the twenty-year disclosure period the newer paperwork explains. The federal duty it recites is real, but the sorting - who must disclose and for how long - lives on DMV-TM-1 and the titles page, so read those to learn whether your vehicle discloses at all, and use this sheet only because a dealership handed it across its counter.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank DMV-43 from the webapps.transportation.wv.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our DMV-43 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   Dealers only

   Customer's name and stock no.

   The dealership's deal reference - your name as their customer, and the number they file the trade-in under.

   Watch out: If you are completing this anywhere but a dealership counter, stop; the form has no role in a sale between individuals.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Transferor's statement

   Your printed name into the sentence, the no-tenths reading, and a numbered box only for a true exception.

   Watch out: The second box's printed warning is the permanent one. On a trade-in it also moves money - a discrepancy reading reprices the deal on the spot.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Vehicle identification

   Make, model, body type, VIN and year for the car being traded.

   Watch out: Read the VIN from the vehicle or the certificate, not the sales listing - the dealer's title work will be built on what this line says.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Transferor signature and address

   Sign, print, and give your address and the date of statement.

   Watch out: The date should be the day the trade actually concludes. A statement dated before the deal exists certifies a reading nobody could yet rely on.

5. 5
   Dealers only

   Transferee block

   The dealership signs and identifies itself as the receiving party.

   Watch out: Ask for a copy once both blocks are done. The original disappears into the deal jacket, and the copy is your record of exactly what was certified.

What gets this one rejected

• •Standing in for the title's own disclosure on a private sale. Post-1990 West Virginia certificates carry the certification on their back, and that is where a driveway sale discloses.
• •A reading that disagrees with the trade-in figure on the dealer's title work. The two are the same disclosure in two places, and the mismatch is the dealer's send-back.
• •Both numbered certifications checked at once. One says the counter rolled over, the other says the number is simply wrong - they cannot both describe one odometer.
• •An unsigned transferee block. The dealership acknowledges your disclosure the way a private buyer would; a half-executed sheet protects nobody.
• •Tenths in the mileage. The sentence says no tenths, the same discipline every odometer document in this state applies.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •Whose form it is. The dealer's. The customer name and stock number at the head are the tell - a document indexed to a dealership's inventory, not to a title record.
• •Where the private seller signs it. At a trade-in, as transferor. You certify the reading; the dealership signs as transferee and the sheet goes into their deal jacket, feeding the odometer figure their title work will carry.
• •What to use instead between individuals. The certificate's own assignment section - or, for the rare title whose format lacks one, the DMV-TM-1 with its buyer acknowledgement.

Every line here was read off DMV-43 (Rev 1/91) itself — the PDF is here — and off the West Virginia Division 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 West Virginia seller paperwork, or what selling a car in West Virginia involves.