How to fill out Wyoming MV147

This is the document at the centre of a Wyoming bonded title, and it prints the whole route on its own reverse: nine numbered steps with the form and the fee for each one beside it. The front is a sworn statement that you own a vehicle you cannot produce a title for, describing the vehicle, naming who you got it from, giving the prior title number and state if you know them, naming any lienholder, stating a current value, and explaining in your own words why no title or lien information could be obtained. Two printed questions at the foot decide whether a bond will be needed at all, because a vehicle bought inoperable and being restored for personal use can have the bond waived by the county clerk - at the price of a title that says NON-TRANSFERABLE FOR 180 DAYS FROM THE DATE TITLE ISSUED across its face.

Written against MV147 (8/12), issued under WYDOT Motor Vehicle Services under W.S. 31-2-105(c) and (d), sworn before a notarial officer and filed with the county clerk where the title application is made. The line to be careful with is the certification that the liens and encumbrances noted hereon are the only liens and encumbrances against the vehicle described herein. You are swearing to a negative about a vehicle whose history you by definition do not have, which is precisely why the record search sits three steps before this one and why the certified letters exist. Do them in the printed order. An affidavit sworn before the search comes back is a felony exposure dressed up as efficiency.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV147 from the dot.state.wy.us copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our MV147 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

   Ring the county clerk before you write anything

   Step one on the reverse asks you to verify that this is the proper procedure for your specific situation.

   Watch out: Describe what you have rather than what you want. An unsigned title, a signed title with the wrong name on it and no title at all are three different routes, and only one of them ends here.

2. 2
   Somebody else fills this in

   Get the identification number inspected

   A Wyoming law enforcement officer verifies the number and checks whether the vehicle has been reported stolen. The reverse prices it at $10.00.

   Watch out: This is also the moment the whole plan can end. A number that comes back stolen stops everything, and it is far better to find out in your own yard than at a counter.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   Order the record search

   The department's search identifies the previous owner of record and any liens, with a copy of the inspection and a colour picture of the vehicle attached to the request.

   Watch out: Take the photograph while the deputy is there. The same picture is wanted twice and the light in a Wyoming yard in February does not last.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Write the certified letters

   One to any lienholder the search names, asking for a release; one to the previous owner of record, asking that a title be established and properly executed to you. Copies and the return receipt information are attachments.

   Watch out: Keep the unopened envelope if it comes back. Returned mail is better evidence of a previous owner who cannot be found than any sentence you can write in the explanation box.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   Establish a value you can document

   A national appraisal guide, a current or past registration showing a value, or a written certified statement from a licensed Wyoming dealer - with the documentation attached.

   Watch out: The figure is not cosmetic: the bond is written against it. Under two and a half thousand dollars there is no bond at all, so an honestly low value on an honestly rough vehicle can end the process here.

6. 6
   You fill this in

   Fill in the affidavit and answer the two questions

   The vehicle block, where you got it, the value, the explanation of why no title or lien information could be obtained, and the two yes-or-no questions at the foot.

   Watch out: Write the explanation as a chronology - bought on this date, from this person, at this address, letter sent on this date, returned on this date. A clerk reading a sequence can follow it; a clerk reading a paragraph of regret cannot.

7. 7
   You fill this in

   Swear it in front of an officer

   Printed name, signature and date, then the acknowledgement taken by a notary public, county clerk or deputy.

   Watch out: The clerk's own office can take it, which saves a trip - and it means the person who will assess the file is watching you sign it.

8. 8
   Somebody else fills this in

   Buy the bond, unless it is waived

   A surety bond for twice the retail value, issued by an insurance provider, with the bond form submitted alongside this affidavit.

   Watch out: Nothing is due below $2,500.00. Above it, ring a surety broker with the documented value in your hand - they price off the figure you have proved, not the figure you hope for.

9. 9
   You fill this in

   File the lot with the county clerk

   All paperwork goes to the office of the county clerk where the title application is being made.

   Watch out: Take the whole file in one envelope in the printed order. A bonded application arriving in instalments over three weeks is the one that gets set aside.

What gets this one rejected

• •Starting here. Step one on the reverse is to verify with your local county clerk's office that this is the proper procedure for your specific situation, and clerks turn away more of these for being the wrong route than for being wrongly filled in.
• •Guessing a value. The reverse allows three sources - a current national appraisal guide, a current or past registration where the value is present, or a written certified statement from a licensed Wyoming vehicle dealer - and asks for the documentation to be submitted with the affidavit. The bond is calculated off this figure.
• •Skipping the certified letters. One goes to any lienholder identified, asking for the lien to be released; another goes to the previous owner of record, asking that a title be established and properly executed. The copy and the return receipt information are both listed as attachments.
• •Answering the two questions at the foot to fit the outcome you want. They decide whether a clerk may waive the bond, and the waiver's price is a title that cannot be transferred for 180 days - which is a poor trade if you intended to sell.
• •Swearing that the liens noted are the only ones before the record search has come back. You cannot know that yet, and the sentence you are signing is not hedged.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •The reverse is the procedure, not an appendix. Nine steps, in order, with the form and fee for each: the clerk's confirmation, a law enforcement identification number inspection at $10.00, the department's record search at $5.00 with copies of the inspection and a colour photograph attached, the photograph again, certified letters to lienholders, certified letters to the previous owner, a value, this affidavit at no fee, and the bond.
• •The fee it quotes for the record search is out of date. This revision dates from 2012 and the search form has been reissued since. Read the current amount off the search form itself, which prints it in its own enclosure list - and expect the clerk to want the current one.
• •Under two and a half thousand dollars, no bond. The reverse states it in step nine and WYDOT's bonded-titles page repeats it: a surety bond is not required for vehicles or watercraft valued at less than $2,500.00. The statute behind it also lets a title issue on this affidavit with a notarised bill of sale, a certified written statement of value from a licensed Wyoming dealer and an identification number inspection.
• •The waiver exists, and it costs you the resale. Where the vehicle was not operational and could not have been made operational without substantial repairs to one or more mechanical systems, and it is being restored for the owner's personal use, the county clerk may choose to waive the bond. The title then carries NON-TRANSFERABLE FOR 180 DAYS FROM THE DATE TITLE ISSUED on its face.
• •Everything lands at the county clerk. The footer is unambiguous: all paperwork shall be submitted to the office of the county clerk where application for title is being made. The record search is the only piece of this that goes to Cheyenne.

Every line here was read off MV147 (8/12) 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.