How to fill out West Virginia DMV-9-TR

One paragraph that lets somebody else sign the certificate for you - limited, as its name insists, to a single described vehicle. The grant is broad within that limit: authority to sign in the name of the undersigned any certificate of title covering the vehicle described above in whatever manner necessary to effect the transfer of such title, application for a duplicate title, or application for a new title, as the agent may deem fit and proper. It is the working answer for the co-owner posted out of state, the parent selling a student's car, and any AND title whose second signature lives three time zones away.

Written against DMV-9-TR (Rev 10/22), issued under W. Va. Code ch. 39B, Uniform Power of Attorney Act. Whoever signs the certificate under this power signs your name into a chain the state keeps. Appoint someone you would trust with the sale price in cash, name them precisely, and date the execution - the reliance sentence protects people who accept the sheet in good faith, which means a stale or loosely written one keeps working until somebody proves it should not.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank DMV-9-TR from the webapps.transportation.wv.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our DMV-9-TR guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank DMV-9-TR — Limited/Restricted Power of Attorney (POA) PDF at webapps.transportation.wv.gov · new tab Step 2 · how to fill it in Our filled-in DMV-9-TR guide PDF · print and keep beside you

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual DMV-9-TR, rendered from the PDF the West Virginia Division 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 West Virginia DMV-9-TR limited power of attorney filled in: co-owner Emory C. Burdette, working in Marietta, Ohio, appoints Rosalie M. Burdette of St. Albans as his agent for the 2014 Ford Escape, identified by VIN; the execution line at the foot waits for his dated signature. — The absent co-owner's answer for the sale this section follows - an AND title with one signature out of state. The grant covers this one vehicle and nothing else, and no notary is asked for anywhere on the sheet.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
The principal's details
The absent owner's name, address and phone - the person granting the power, not the person receiving it.
Watch out: The label reads buyer, seller, or legal owner because the form serves both directions. Whoever cannot attend is the one who completes and signs.
2
You fill this in
The vehicle, fully described
VIN, make, year built and body style, exactly as the certificate reads.
Watch out: This description is the boundary of the power. Photograph the certificate and copy from the photograph - a VIN error here voids the errand.
3
You fill this in
Naming the agent
The agent's full name and address into the printed appointment sentence.
Watch out: Name a person, not a household. The counter matches this name against the ID of whoever appears holding the sheet.
4
You fill this in
Execution
The written-out date, then sign and date the (X) line.
Watch out: If the car's mileage must be disclosed, sign the separate odometer statement at the same sitting - the seminar's rule means your agent cannot supply that figure for you.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
The principal	Buyer, seller, or legal owner's name - the form's own label, because either side of a sale can appoint - with street address, city, state, zip and phone number.
Motor vehicle, trailer, or boat information	Vehicle identification / hull / serial number, make, year built and body style. This is the limit of the grant: one vehicle, identified fully.
The appointment	The agent's name and address written into the printed sentence, then the grant of authority over title, duplicate title and new title paperwork for that vehicle.
The reliance sentence	Any person, including my agent, may rely upon the validity of this power of attorney unless that person knows it has been terminated or is invalid - the line that makes the sheet useful at a counter.
Execution	In witness thereof, the undersigned has executed this instrument on a written-out day, month and year, with the owner's (X) signature and date.

What gets this one rejected

•A blank or partial vehicle description. The power is limited to the vehicle described; an agent holding a POA with an empty VIN box is holding nothing.
•An agent filling in the odometer figure on their own authority. Where the vehicle needs a mileage disclosure, the Division's dealer seminar is explicit that a limited POA must travel with a separate odometer disclosure statement signed by the customer.
•Using it to dodge a second owner's involvement. The absent owner still executes this - it moves the pen, not the consent.
•An agent signing their own name without showing the sheet. The signature made under a POA only works for someone who can produce the instrument behind it.
•Assuming it covers the next car too. One vehicle, described above - selling a second vehicle means executing a second form.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•No notary block, unusually. The execution is a dated signature, nothing more - in a state that swears its bills of sale and gift affidavits, this instrument is the exception. What the counter checks is the description and the names.
•The secured POA is a different animal. Dealers use a separate secured power of attorney - printed to the federal Truth in Mileage Act's security rules - for lien-held and lost-title trades. This limited form is the private party's tool, and the odometer statement rides separately.
•Either side can appoint. The first blank is labelled buyer, seller, or legal owner's name. A buyer who cannot attend the counter can hand their half of the paperwork to an agent exactly the same way.

Every line here was read off DMV-9-TR (Rev 10/22) 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.

How to fill out West Virginia DMV-9-TR

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

The principal's details

The vehicle, fully described

Naming the agent

Execution

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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