One page, thirteen boxes, and the only thing a Wisconsin private seller can file that puts the word sold onto the vehicle record. It exists for plates that have been stolen, destroyed, left on a car you no longer own, or are sitting in your garage - and the third of those four boxes does something none of the rest of your paperwork does.
Written against MV2514 (5/2015), issued under s. 341.14 and ch. 341, Wis. Stats., administered by WisDOT.
The revision is old - this form has not changed since 2015 - and that is not a reason to distrust it. It is still the form WisDOT links from both of its seller pages, and the disposition wording quoted here is read from the current file.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV2514 from the wisconsindot.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual MV2514, rendered from the PDF the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, 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 tick in the third box is the whole form. WisDOT's own wording beside it is that the plate will be notated as cancelled and the vehicle notated as sold in DMV records - which is more than the thirty-day seller notification does. Every name and number on it is invented for the sample.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Vehicle Year and Make
One line for both, describing the car the plates came off.
Watch out: If you have already scrapped the registration certificate, the year and make are on the title you photographed before handing it over. This is why the photograph matters.
2
You fill this in
License Plate Number
Eight cells, one character to a cell.
Watch out: The comb counts characters, not punctuation. A hyphen or a space between the letters and the digits does not get a cell of its own, and putting one in shifts everything after it.
3
You fill this in
Vehicle Identification Number
Seventeen cells. It has to be the VIN from the title, because the department matches this against the record.
Watch out: A single transposed character here cancels somebody else's plate, or nothing at all. Check it against a photograph rather than from memory.
4
You fill this in
Plate(s) Disposition
Four boxes and you tick one: stolen, destroyed, left on vehicle when sold, or still in my possession.
Watch out: Left on vehicle when sold is the only one that touches the vehicle record. If the plates did go with the car, this is the box - do not tick destroyed because it sounds tidier.
5
You fill this in
Plate Owner(s) Name
Last, first, middle initial, as the plates are registered.
Watch out: The name has to match the registration, not the title, if for some reason the two differ. The department is cancelling a plate, not transferring a vehicle.
6
You fill this in
Street Address, City, State, ZIP
Where the department writes if it needs to query the record.
Watch out: Use the address WisDOT has for you if you have moved recently, or change your address first. A mismatch is the usual reason one of these comes back.
7
You fill this in
Telephone Number
A daytime number - the form asks for one reachable between 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Watch out: This is the only channel back to you. A mobile that goes to voicemail is fine; a disconnected landline turns a two-week job into a two-month one.
8
You fill this in
Plate Owner Signature
Signed, with a second rule beside it for a co-owner.
Watch out: No notary. Post it to P.O. Box 7911 in Madison and keep a copy - the department sends no acknowledgement.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Vehicle Year / Make
The car the plates were on, not the car you are buying next. One line, year and make together.
License Plate Number
An eight-character comb. Take it from the registration certificate rather than from memory if the plate has already gone.
Vehicle Identification Number
A seventeen-character comb. This is what ties the cancellation to the right vehicle record.
Plate(s) Disposition - Stolen
Ticked, the department notes the plate as stolen in DMV records.
Plate(s) Disposition - Destroyed
For the ordinary Wisconsin ending: you cut them up. The plate is noted as destroyed.
Plate(s) Disposition - Left on vehicle when sold
The seller's box. WisDOT's own parenthesis: plate will be notated as cancelled and vehicle notated as sold in DMV records.
Plate(s) Disposition - Still in my possession
For plates you are keeping but not transferring. Noted as cancelled, nothing more.
Plate Owner(s) Name - Last, First, M.I.
You, as the person the plates are registered to.
Street Address / City, State, ZIP Code
Your address, so the department can write back if the record does not match.
Telephone Number between 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
The form asks for a daytime number in those words.
Plate Owner Signature, twice
Two signature rules, for two registered owners. No notary and no witness.
What gets this one rejected
•No disposition ticked. Which of the four boxes is marked is the entire point of the form - it decides what the department writes on the record.
•A plate number that does not match the vehicle identification number on the same sheet. The department matches them against the record before it cancels anything.
•Sending the plates in with it. Wisconsin does not want them: do not return the plates to DMV.
•Using it to ask for money back. Cancelling a plate is not a refund request; that is the MV2030, and on a mid-year sale the answer is no.
•One signature where the record carries two owners. There are two signature lines because there can be two names.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•The sold box is the one that matters to a seller. Three of the four dispositions only annotate the plate. The fourth annotates the vehicle as well, and it is the only route in Wisconsin's seller paperwork that does.
•It is not the seller notification, and it does not replace it. Different statute, different clock, different purpose. s. 342.41 wants to know who bought the car; this tells the department the plate is dead and the vehicle has gone.
•Post it - there is nowhere else for it to go. The form prints one address and no alternative: Wisconsin Department of Transportation, P.O. Box 7911, Madison WI 53707-7911.
•A renewal notice afterwards is not a mistake. WisDOT warns you may still receive a renewal notice when the plates expire, and says to disregard it unless you transferred the plates to another vehicle.
•A Spanish version exists. MV2514s, published alongside it, for a seller who would rather read the four dispositions in Spanish.
