How to fill out West Virginia DMV-TM-1

The standalone mileage certification, for the sale whose certificate has nowhere to write one. Its own second paragraph does the sorting: you do not need this document if the vehicle model year is 2010 or before, if it is non-motorized, if its gross vehicle weight exceeds 16,000 pounds - or if the West Virginia certificate was issued after January 1, 1991, because every certificate since then prints the certification on its own back. What is left is narrow, and the Division's titles page names it in one line: when a motor vehicle is sold or transferred, the exact mileage must be recorded in the assignment section of the title - if the title format lacks this section, use Form DMV-TM-1.

Written against DMV-TM-1 (Rev 05/21), issued under 49 U.S.C. 32705 and W. Va. Code 17A-3-12a. Read the four exclusions as alternatives and a strange truth appears: an ordinary car recent enough to need disclosure - model year 2011 or newer - cannot sit on a pre-1991 West Virginia certificate, so this form's honest audience is the odd-format title: the out-of-state certificate with no room in its assignment, the older document formats the titles page means by lacks this section. If your West Virginia certificate has the odometer lines on its back, write there and leave this sheet unprinted.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank DMV-TM-1 from the webapps.transportation.wv.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our DMV-TM-1 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Vehicle information

   Year, model, make, body type, gross vehicle weight and the full VIN.

   Watch out: The weight box is doing legal work - over 16,000 pounds gross and the form's own exclusions say you did not need to be here.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Seller name and address

   Last, first and middle, then the address, as the record should hold them.

   Watch out: This sheet may be the only disclosure document the sale produces, so treat it with title-grade care: certificate names, not nicknames.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   The reading and the boxes

   Whole miles into the printed sentence, and a tick only for a true exception.

   Watch out: The second box's printed warning says notary required on a discrepancy - ticking it is what summons the oath blocks at the foot of the page.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Seller signs and dates

   The (X) line and the certification date beside it.

   Watch out: The reading is certified as of this date. Fill the sheet at the handover so the date, the reading and the sale agree.

5. 5
   The buyer fills this in

   Buyer certification

   The buyer's name, address, signature and date - their acknowledgement of your figure.

   Watch out: They are countersigning your number, which is why the figure goes in before their pen arrives. Then the sheet is theirs to keep and file with the title.

What gets this one rejected

• •Filing it beside a certificate that already carries the certification. Titles issued after January 1, 1991 print the section on their back, and the disclosure belongs there - a second, separate statement invites the two to disagree.
• •Tenths written into the reading. The sentence says no tenth miles, and a decimal is a figure the record cannot take.
• •No buyer signature. Both seller and buyer are required to acknowledge the odometer reading certified on this document - half an acknowledgement is not one.
• •Both exception boxes ticked. They contradict each other; the reading either exceeded mechanical limits or is simply not actual, and the form wants one truth.
• •Notarising it unasked and considering that a cure. The notary bands are only required when requested due to a title or odometer discrepancy - a discrepancy the stamp does not erase.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •Run the four exclusions first. Model year 2010 or before, non-motorized, over 16,000 pounds gross, or a post-1990 West Virginia certificate: any one of them and this document is not yours to file. Most sellers reading it are excused by the first or the last.
• •The buyer keeps the paper. The grey bar is explicit - the completed statement travels with the title, in the buyer's hands, into their application. The seller's protection is a photograph of the finished sheet.
• •The notary section waits to be asked. Unusually for this state, the oath here is conditional: it exists for the discrepancy case, when the Division requests it, and an ordinary certification is signed without it.

Every line here was read off DMV-TM-1 (Rev 05/21) 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.