How to fill out Wyoming MV-405

Wyoming is a state where the plates belong to the person, not the vehicle, so the end of a sale is you standing in a driveway holding two pieces of aluminium. That works until one of them is not there. This application covers both ways out, and the form is careful about the difference: a new plate is the next consecutive number the county has, and a duplicate is your own number remade - which the department will only do for prestige plates, specialty plates and preferred number series. It also decides one thing sellers find surprising, printed in its own second step: if the plates could not be surrendered because they were lost or stolen, the duplicates cannot go on a vehicle until the validation stickers on the originals have expired.

Written against MV-405 (7/2026), issued under WYDOT Motor Vehicle Services, approved and processed by the county treasurer of your county of registration. Sort the plates out before you agree a completion date, not after. The moment your buyer's money is in your hand the registration on that vehicle has expired by statute, and the plates have to come off the same afternoon - so a missing plate stops being a filing-cabinet problem and starts being a reason your buyer cannot drive away without an argument. Check the vehicle for both plates the week you list it, and if one has vanished, get this in front of your treasurer while you still have time.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV-405 from the dot.state.wy.us copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our MV-405 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank MV-405 — Application for New or Duplicate License Plates PDF at dot.state.wy.us · new tab Step 2 · how to fill it in Our filled-in MV-405 guide PDF · print and keep beside you

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual MV-405, rendered from the PDF the Wyoming Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Services 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

A completed Wyoming Application for New or Duplicate License Plates. The owner is Verlene A. Tiegen of 1418 Cottonwood Loop, Sheridan, Wyoming 82801. The vehicle rows read make GMC, model Sierra 1500, year 2015, body style PU and identification number 3GTU9BEC3FG418207, with the reason given as rear plate lost in transit, cannot be surrendered, and an expiration date of 02/2027. The county box reads 3, the licence type reads P and the plate number reads 3-14827. The applicant has signed and dated the affidavit. The county treasurer's approval row above it is washed grey as the treasurer's own to complete. — Rendered from WYDOT's own PDF. Amber is the owner's; grey is the county treasurer's approval row, which is signed at the counter rather than by you. The name, address, plate number and identification number are invented for the sample.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
Work out which one you are asking for
New plates are the next consecutive number the county has. A duplicate is your own number remade, and only prestige, specialty and preferred number series plates qualify.
Watch out: If you are not sure which sort your plate is, ring the treasurer with the number in front of you. It is a thirty-second answer and it decides the fee.
2
You fill this in
Owner and vehicle
Your name and phone, your postal address, then make, model, year, body style, identification number and the registration expiry date.
Watch out: Take the expiry date off the sticker on the plate you still have, or off the registration certificate - the treasurer uses it to work out when duplicates could go on the road.
3
You fill this in
Say plainly what happened
The reason for the new or duplicate plate, in the box provided.
Watch out: Lost, stolen, damaged or mutilated are the four the form is built around, and each one leads somewhere different. Be specific: stolen from the vehicle overnight is not the same as fell off on the interstate.
4
You fill this in
County, type and plate number
The county number from one to twenty three, the licence type letter, and the plate number or specialty combination you currently hold.
Watch out: The county number is the first digit of your existing plate, so you already have it. If your plate reads 3-14827 then the county is three.
5
You fill this in
Sign the affidavit
Under penalty of perjury, including the undertaking to surrender your original certificate of registration and plates when the replacements are issued.
Watch out: That undertaking is the reason not to bin a damaged plate. Bring what you have to the counter, even if it is bent double.
6
Somebody else fills this in
Get the treasurer's approval
Signature of approval by the county treasurer or a deputy, with the county name and date, above your own signature.
Watch out: Filing in person collapses this into one visit. The treasurer approves, takes the fee, and the department manufactures the plate.
7
You fill this in
Post it with the fee to your county treasurer
The county treasurer in your county of registration, as step three says - not the department, and not the county clerk.
Watch out: If the vehicle is already sold, tell the treasurer that when you file. What you are settling is your own record, and they will want the sale date.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Owner's name and daytime phone	Step one, first row. The name has to be the registered owner's, because the treasurer is matching it to a registration record.
Mailing address, city, state and zip	The second row.
Vehicle make, model, year and body style	The third row - the vehicle the plates are on or were on.
Identification number, reason for the new or duplicate plate, and expiration date	The fourth row. The reason is a free-text box and it is what the treasurer reads first.
County, licence type and the number or specialty plate combination	The last row of step one, and the most Wyoming thing on the form: the county box is numbered one to twenty three, and that number is the first character of every plate in the state.
The lost or stolen note	Printed at the head of step two: where plates cannot be surrendered because they are lost or stolen, duplicate plates cannot be displayed on the vehicle until the validation stickers on the original plates have expired.
The embossed plate exclusion	Also step two: this form cannot be used to replace lost, damaged or mutilated embossed plates, which have to be reapplied for on the MV-145.
The surrender rule	Damaged or mutilated plates must be surrendered to the county treasurer when the new plates are received - the counterpart of the rule that lost ones cannot be.
The two fees, printed in words and figures	New plates at eight dollars, a duplicate at thirty, both payable to the county treasurer. The form explains what each one buys: a new plate is the next available consecutive plate, a duplicate is your existing number reproduced by the department.
Signature of approval by county treasurer or deputy, county name and date	The treasurer's own row, at the foot of step two. Nothing moves without it.
The affidavit and applicant signature	That you apply for the plates, that you will surrender your original certificate of registration and plates on issuance, that you understand the fee, and that everything on the application is true - sworn under penalty of perjury.
Step three, where it goes	Posted with the fee to the county treasurer in your county of registration.

What gets this one rejected

•Sending it to Cheyenne. Every other Wyoming form on this site goes either to a county clerk or to the department; this one goes to the county treasurer, and the department only manufactures the plate.
•Asking for a duplicate of an ordinary plate. Only prestige plates, every type of specialty plate, and preferred number series plates can be remade. An ordinary passenger plate gets the next consecutive number instead, and the number changes.
•Using it for embossed plates. The form says outright that it cannot replace lost, damaged or mutilated embossed plates, and names the application that can.
•Expecting to drive on the duplicates straight away. Where the originals were lost or stolen, the duplicates wait until the validation stickers on the originals have expired - which can be most of a registration year.
•Throwing damaged plates away before you apply. Damaged or mutilated plates have to be handed over to the treasurer when the replacements are issued, and a plate you have already put in the skip is one you now have to explain.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•The plates come off the vehicle, always. W.S. 31-2-214(a): on transfer of ownership the registration of the vehicle expires and the original owner shall immediately remove the license plates. Wyoming has no version of the rule where ordinary plates stay with the car.
•Sixty days to move the number, or it is gone. Within sixty days of acquiring another vehicle the plates would suit, you may apply to transfer the registration number to it, paying what a new registration would cost less credit for the unused portion of the old one.
•There is no refund, only credit. If the number moves to a cheaper vehicle there is no refund of fees paid, and the general rule is stricter still: fees are refunded only where they were paid and collected by mistake.
•Two exceptions where the plates stay put. On a transfer between joint owners, or from a person to their spouse, child, brother, sister or parent, the treasurer issues a new registration and the vehicle may be operated with the same plates for the rest of the registration year.
•The county number is not decoration. The one-to-twenty-three box designates the county of registration, and it is the prefix on the plate and on your title number. One is Natrona, two is Laramie, three is Sheridan, and the list runs to twenty three at Sublette.

Every line here was read off MV-405 (7/2026) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Wyoming Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Services 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 Wyoming seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Wyoming involves.

How to fill out Wyoming MV-405

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Work out which one you are asking for

Owner and vehicle

Say plainly what happened

County, type and plate number

Sign the affidavit

Get the treasurer's approval

Post it with the fee to your county treasurer

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

Want the paperwork handled instead?

Or send the details — we'll come to you