The only notarised signature in WisDOT's whole vehicle set, and it is not the seller's. A person under eighteen cannot register a vehicle in Wisconsin unless a parent, guardian or legal custodian consents in writing - and that consent has to be witnessed, either by a notary or by a DMV employee. If your buyer is seventeen, this is the form that decides whether the sale completes.
Written against MV2924 (5/2017), issued under Ch. 342, Wis. Stats..
If you are selling to somebody under eighteen, ask before the day whether the consent has been sorted out. A signature witnessed at the counter is easy; a notary found at short notice on a Saturday is not.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV2924 from the wisconsindot.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual MV2924, 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 DMV employee line sits above the notary block for a reason - it is the first and cheaper of the two ways to witness this signature. The young owner named at the top signs nothing on this sheet. Names invented for the sample; this is a different transaction from the sale followed elsewhere in this section.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
The buyer fills this in
Owner Name
The person under eighteen who is going to own the vehicle.
Watch out: This is the young owner, not the adult signing below. Getting these two the wrong way round is the single most common error on this sheet.
2
The buyer fills this in
Vehicle Identification Number
Seventeen characters, in one plain box.
Watch out: Copy it from the certificate you are handing over. This form travels with the MV1 and both have to agree.
3
The buyer fills this in
Vehicle Year and Make
Two boxes below the identification number.
Watch out: Make only - the model has no box on this form and does not need one.
4
Somebody else fills this in
Printed Name and Signature of the custodian
The parent, guardian or legal custodian, certifying legal custody and consenting to the purchase and to registration in the applicant's name.
Watch out: Do not sign it at home if you intend to use the DMV employee route - the whole point of that route is that the signature happens in front of them.
5
The insurance agent fills this in
DMV Employee Signature and Date Witnessed
The counter's own witness line, and the alternative to a notary.
Watch out: Free, immediate and available wherever there is a customer service center. Ask at the desk before you go looking for a notary.
6
Somebody else fills this in
Subscribed and sworn to before me, and the notary block
Day, month and year, then the notary's signature and commission expiry.
Watch out: Only used where a DMV employee did not witness the signature. Completing both blocks is not belt and braces - it reads as two different witnessing events.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Owner Name
The person under eighteen who will own the vehicle - not the adult signing.
Vehicle Identification Number
Seventeen characters, in a single box rather than a comb.
Vehicle Year / Make
Two boxes side by side beneath the identification number.
Signature
The parent, guardian or legal custodian, certifying legal custody and consenting to the purchase and to registration in the applicant's name.
Printed Name
The same adult, printed.
Date
The date of the certification.
DMV Employee Signature and Date Witnessed
The alternative to a notary. A DMV employee can witness the signature at the counter.
Subscribed and sworn to before me this ___ day of ___, 20__
The notarial block, used only where a DMV employee did not witness it.
Notary Public, State of Wisconsin, and My Commission Expires
The notary's own two lines at the foot.
What gets this one rejected
•A signature with neither witness. The form's own sentence: if signature is not witnessed in front of approved DMV employee, signature must be witnessed by Notary.
•The young owner signing it themselves. The certification is about legal custody, which they do not have over themselves.
•An adult who is not the parent, guardian or legal custodian. The wording is I certify that I have legal custody of the person named.
•A notarial block dated differently from the signature. Subscribed and sworn to means witnessed at the time, not certified afterwards.
•Sending it separately from the application. It goes with the MV1, or Section H of the MV1 is completed instead.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•Section H of the MV1 does the same job. WisDOT's Consent to purchase page says so: the field is on page two, section H of the MV1, and this separate sheet is for anyone who did not complete it there.
•It is a registration bar, not a title bar. The department's wording is that children under 18 are not eligible to register a vehicle unless a consent to purchase certification is completed.
•The witness has two forms and one is free. A DMV employee at a customer service center can witness it. That is the cheaper route and it is printed on the form as the first option, with the notary block below as the fallback.
•This is the exception that proves the rest. Nothing else a Wisconsin seller or buyer signs on a private sale is notarised - not the title, not a bill of sale, not the replacement application. Searching 241 department pages for the word notary returns this one situation.
