How to fill out Wyoming MV-602

This is the shortest form in the Wyoming series and the only one on this site that a private seller is required by statute to complete and hand over before money changes hands. One side of one sheet: who is making the disclosure, which brand the title carries, the vehicle, the seller's name, address and signature - and then, underneath, the buyer's acknowledgement that they were told. The consequence of skipping it is printed at the top in the department's own words, and it is not a fine: failure of the seller to procure the buyer's acknowledgement signature renders the sale voidable at the election of the buyer. The statute behind that sentence sets the window - a written election delivered to the seller no later than thirty days after the certificate of title issues in the buyer's name, or, where a seller knowingly withheld the brand to defraud, thirty days after the buyer first learns of it, however long that takes.

Written against MV-602 (01/02), issued under WYDOT Motor Vehicle Services, the form prescribed by the department under W.S. 31-2-109(a). Read the top of the form as a description of your exposure rather than as legal boilerplate. Skip it and the buyer can hand you a written election and undo the sale, and the ordinary window for that runs from the day their new title is issued rather than from the day you shook hands - so the money can come back weeks after you have spent it. Worse, where a seller knowingly kept quiet about a brand to defraud, the clock does not start until the buyer finds out, whenever that is. The whole cost of avoiding both is one signature from a person who is standing in front of you anyway. Get it, keep the copy, and photograph it.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV-602 from the dot.state.wy.us copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our MV-602 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

   Read the brand off the certificate

   The word printed on your Wyoming title, not what you remember the insurer calling it.

   Watch out: If the certificate is in front of you and you cannot see a brand, ring the department's motor vehicle services number before concluding there is not one. Their record and your paper can disagree.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Print your name into the sentence

   The name of the person making the disclosure, on the first rule.

   Watch out: This is a personal statement rather than a company one. If the vehicle is titled to a business, print the name of the human signing for it as well.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Tick the brand, or write it in

   Non-repairable, flood, salvage or rebuilt salvage - or the other line, with the brand written out.

   Watch out: More than one can apply. A vehicle that was flooded, written off and rebuilt has a history that needs two ticks, and a buyer who discovers the second one later will remember that you only mentioned the first.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   The vehicle and your own details

   Make, year, identification number, then your printed name, street address, city, state and zip.

   Watch out: Use the address the buyer could actually reach you at. A post office box on a disclosure statement reads badly if the disclosure is ever tested.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   Sign and date it

   One rule carries the signature and the date, above the buyer's half of the sheet.

   Watch out: Date it the day you show it to them, which should be before they have committed to anything.

6. 6
   Somebody else fills this in

   Get the buyer's acknowledgement

   The buyer prints their name into the notice sentence, gives their own address, and signs and dates underneath.

   Watch out: This is the signature the statute names. Do not let a buyer take the form away to sign at home - the sale is voidable until they have signed it, and a form in somebody else's glovebox is not evidence of anything.

7. 7
   You fill this in

   Split the copies

   White copy to the buyer, yellow copy to the seller, exactly as the footer says.

   Watch out: If you are working from a printed download rather than the carbonless set, print two and have both signed. Photograph the signed sheet before it leaves your hand.

What gets this one rejected

• •Deciding the brand is old news and not worth mentioning. The duty is triggered by the title being branded, not by how recently or how badly the vehicle was damaged, and the statute reaches an owner who knowingly offers a branded vehicle for sale or trade.
• •Handing it over unsigned by the buyer. The seller's half is not the operative half - what the statute says must be procured is the buyer's acknowledgement signature, and without it the sale is voidable at their election.
• •Ticking a box that is not what the title says. The four printed brands are Wyoming's own vocabulary. If your certificate carries a different word, use the other line and copy the word off the title rather than translating it.
• •Doing it after the handshake. The disclosure is to any prospective purchaser, prior to sale or trade. A statement signed in the buyer's driveway a week later has been made to an owner, not a prospective purchaser.
• •Believing a clean-looking title means no brand. WYDOT warns in capitals on its own salvage page that Wyoming will brand a vehicle on information found in the national title information system even if the current title appears to have no brands.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •Private sellers, not just dealers. The statute's own words are any dealer in this state or motor vehicle owner who is not a dealer. Wyoming is unusual in saying so explicitly, and this form is the prescribed way of doing it.
• •The statute also tells you to keep your copy. W.S. 31-2-109(b) does three things in three sentences: the department prescribes a form carrying a statement that the buyer has been given notice of the brand, the seller must require the buyer to sign it before completing the transaction, and the seller shall retain a copy of the signed notification form. The footer's yellow copy is that copy.
• •What counts as salvage in Wyoming. A vehicle wrecked, destroyed or damaged to the extent that an insurer declares it a total loss - or, where no insurer is involved in settling the claim, damage exceeding three quarters of its actual retail cash value. The requirement does not reach vehicles currently titled in Wyoming with more than eight years of service, commercial vehicles, or trailers of any type.
• •The brand travels with the vehicle for good. A title from any jurisdiction carrying salvage, unrebuildable, parts only, scrap, junk, nonrepairable, reconstructed, rebuilt or flood puts that information on every subsequent Wyoming title, including a duplicate. Selling into or out of the state does not launder it.
• •Check before you advertise, not after. The department publishes a route to a national title history report and gives two telephone numbers for questions about whether a branded title is coming. Doing that before the listing goes up is cheaper than doing it after a deposit is taken.
• •It is not the same thing as the two questions on the title. Section 3 of the Wyoming certificate asks the seller whether the vehicle has ever had a branded title and whether it has been a total loss. Answering Yes there does not discharge this duty - it tells you that this form is due.

Every line here was read off MV-602 (01/02) 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.