WisDOT's own forms index labels this one for insurance company use, and the label is only half right. Section B is the vehicle owner's, and the option printed under Section C - Notification Only, owner is retaining the vehicle - is a route a private owner uses to get a brand onto their own title after damage, at no fee. If you are selling a car that has been through a total loss and stayed with you, this is the form the buyer's counter will be looking for.
Written against MV2849 (10/2025), issued under ss. 340.01(18p), 340.01(20m), 340.01(55g), 342.06, 342.065(1)(c) and 342.065(1m), Wis. Stats..
The forms index calls this one for insurance company use, and a seller who takes that at face value will miss the notification-only route on the same sheet. Read Section B and the paragraph under Section C before deciding it is not yours.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV2849 from the wisconsindot.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual MV2849, 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
Section C is greyed here because the form itself says not to complete it where no insurance claim is involved - which is exactly the case a private owner is in. The Notification Only paragraph above the brand list is the sentence that makes this a seller's form. Names and numbers invented for the sample.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Section A, the vehicle
Year, make, model, colour and a seventeen-cell VIN comb, with the current state of title and the title number below.
Watch out: Current State of Title means where it is titled now, which on a Wisconsin car is Wisconsin. It is there because the same form handles vehicles arriving from elsewhere.
2
You fill this in
Section B, Owner Legal Name
You, as the owner of record, with a social security number or a Wisconsin driver licence number beneath.
Watch out: This is the block that makes the form a seller's rather than an insurer's. If you are branding your own car and keeping it, Section B is where you live.
3
You fill this in
Date Damage Occurred
In Section B, and asked for whether or not an insurer was ever involved.
Watch out: There is a second Date Damage Occurred box in Section C. Fill the one in your own section; the other belongs to a claim.
4
You fill this in
Title is attached, or the lien holder has it
Two ticks describing where the certificate is.
Watch out: If a Wisconsin lender holds your title, tick that and send the form anyway. This is one of the few WisDOT transactions that proceeds without the certificate in the envelope.
5
The insurance agent fills this in
Section C, Insurer Information
Company, FEIN, address, claim number and dates - and only where an insurance claim is involved.
Watch out: Leave it entirely blank on a private notification. A half-filled insurer block turns a free notification into a query.
6
You fill this in
Notification Only - Owner is retaining the vehicle
The private owner's route. The department issues a new branded title in your name, and there is no fee.
Watch out: The alternative on the reverse transfers the title to an insurer. Read which side of the form you are on before you sign anything.
7
You fill this in
The brand list
Salvage, hail damage, flood damage, previous police vehicle, previous taxi - each with its test printed beside it.
Watch out: The 70% thresholds are of fair market value, not of what you paid. Tick what actually happened; the buyer's counter will see the brand either way.
8
You fill this in
Owner / authorized agent - print name
One printed name at the foot of page one, whichever of the two parties is filing.
Watch out: Print it as the title has it. The department is about to reissue that title with a brand on it and the names have to line up.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Section A, Vehicle Information
Year, make, model, colour and a seventeen-cell VIN comb, plus the current state of title and the title number.
Section B, Owner Legal Name
The vehicle owner. Not the insurer - that is Section C.
Owner Social Security Number or Wisconsin Driver License Number
One line, either identifier.
Street Address, City, State, Zip Code, and Daytime Telephone Number
The owner's contact block.
Date Damage Occurred (if applicable)
In Section B rather than Section C, because the owner knows it whether or not an insurer is involved.
Title is attached / Wisconsin lien holder is in possession of title
Two ticks that tell the department whether the certificate is coming with the form or sitting with a lender.
Section C, Insurer Information
Company name, FEIN, address, telephone, claim number, date damage occurred and date acquired from owner. The form says: do not complete if no insurance claim is involved.
Notification Only - Owner is retaining the vehicle
The private owner's route. The department issues a new branded title in the current owner's name, and there is no title fee for title notification only.
The brand list
Salvage, hail damage, flood damage, previous police vehicle, previous taxi - each with its own definition printed beside the tick.
Owner / insurance company authorized agent - print name
One printed name at the foot, whichever of the two is filing.
What gets this one rejected
•Completing Section C where there is no insurance claim. The form says not to, in its own heading.
•Ticking a brand that does not meet the printed definition. Salvage is a vehicle less than seven years old damaged more than 70% of fair market value, and the form prints the test beside the box.
•Sending the title where a Wisconsin lender holds it. There is a tick for exactly that, and using it is how the form is filed without the certificate.
•Using it to transfer ownership. Notification only leaves the vehicle in the current owner's name; the transfer half of the form is the insurer's.
•Paying a fee for a notification. There is none - the form says there is no title fee for title notification only.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•A brand is a disclosure duty, not an option. s. 342.15(1)(bm) forbids transferring a motor vehicle without disclosing in writing whether the s. 342.10(3) information applies, and s. 342.15(5m) sets a forfeiture for failing to disclose and a heavier fine where it is done with intent to defraud.
•70% is the threshold for both salvage and flood. WisDOT states it on its seller page for salvage - less than seven model years old and damaged more than 70% of fair market value - and for flood damage as water damage over 70% of fair market value.
•A brand is permanent. The department's definition: a brand is a permanent notation on the vehicle record that gives a prospective buyer important information about the history of a vehicle.
•An insurer's brand is not always a salvage brand. WisDOT's own example is a STFARM NOT INSPECTED brand placed on vehicles declared a total loss but not submitted as salvage - and it says no registration can be issued until the vehicle has passed a salvage vehicle inspection.
•Notification only costs nothing. Printed on the form. It is the one WisDOT title transaction with a fee of zero that has nothing to do with a death in the family.
