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A motor vehicle power of attorney is a form authorizing your agent. The agent handles registration, a sale or title paperwork for your vehicle while you stay the owner. Owners away from the DMV get a free template, state form list and signing steps.
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A motor vehicle power of attorney gives the person you name, your agent or attorney-in-fact, authority over the DMV tasks and vehicle dealings you choose, without transferring ownership of the vehicle to that person.
You are the principal, and the agent acts for you. You can ask your agent to:
The details are up to you and your agent. You stay the owner of the vehicle, and you keep your own rights over it while your agent holds this authority.
A DMV power of attorney form is a state agency’s own version of this document, and the table below names that form for each state where this page lists one.
Several form names link to the matching FormsPal page, so you can open the form directly. A state left out of the table has no form listed here, which does not mean that it has none.
Forms and signing details change over time. Check with your state’s DMV for the current version before you use any form.
| State | State DMV POA Form |
|---|---|
| Alabama | Form MVT 5-13 |
| Alaska | Form 847 |
| Arizona | Form 48-1001 |
| Arkansas | Power of Attorney for Vehicle Transactions |
| California | Form REG 260 |
| Colorado | Form DR 2175 |
| Connecticut | Form A-83 |
| Delaware | Form MV386 |
| Florida | Form 82053 |
| Georgia | Form T-8 |
| Hawaii | Form DMVL-596 |
| Idaho | Form ITD 3368 |
| Illinois | Form RT-5 |
| Indiana | Form 1940 |
| Iowa | Form 411021 |
| Kansas | Form TR-41 |
| Kentucky | Form TC 96-336 |
| Maryland | Form VR-470 |
| Michigan | Form TR-128 |
| Mississippi | Form 78-003-21-8-1-000 |
| Missouri | Form 4054 |
| Montana | Form MV65 |
| Nebraska | DMV Power of Attorney |
| Nevada | Form VP136 |
| New Jersey | MSC POA&DAA |
| New Mexico | Form MVD-11020 |
| North Carolina | Form MVR-63 |
| Ohio | Form BMV 3771 |
| Oregon | Form 735-500 |
| South Carolina | Form MC-25 |
| South Dakota | Form MV-008 |
| Tennessee | Form RV-F1311401 |
| Texas | Form VTR-271 |
| Virginia | Form VSA 70 |
| Washington | Form TD-420-050 |
| Washington D.C. | Form DMV-VSPA-01 |
| West Virginia | Form DMV-9-TR |
| Wyoming | WYDOT Limited Power of Attorney |
Form MVR-63 is the North Carolina DMV power of attorney form named in the table above, so it is the form to ask for first if your vehicle business is with NCDMV.
This page gives no North Carolina signing rule. Read the signing lines printed on the form and ask NCDMV about anything they leave open.
A state form is written for that state’s DMV and the FormsPal template is a general one, so start with your state’s form when the table lists it.
If you plan to use the template instead, ask the DMV office handling the vehicle whether it takes the template before your agent makes the trip.
A dealer or auction house can hand you its own power of attorney form for a sale, so read what it lets the agent do before you sign it.
Check that it names the right vehicle and the right person, and that its powers stop at the sale you have in mind. Keep a copy of what you sign.
Use a vehicle power of attorney when your car needs registration, a title transfer or a sale and you can't be at the DMV to complete the paperwork yourself.
There are lots of reasons you might not be available, including:
A medical reason needs one more check, because the authority may not last through an illness. Under Fla. Stat. § 709.2109, a power of attorney terminates when the principal becomes incapacitated, if the power of attorney is not durable. Under Wash. Rev. Code § 11.125.040, it terminates upon the incapacity of the principal unless the writing contains words showing the principal’s intent that the authority continue despite incapacity.
In many other states the default runs the other way. Under Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 1337.24 and N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 564-E:104, a power of attorney created under the state’s act is durable unless it expressly provides that it is terminated by the incapacity of the principal, so check your own state’s section.
In a state with a wording rule like the two above, read the template’s powers paragraph, because the steps on this page do not show that wording. If you find none, look at a durable power of attorney before the procedure.
It also suits a sale you cannot handle in person. Say you’re moving and haven’t sold the vehicle yet. You might want to designate someone local to sell it for you instead of bringing the vehicle with you.
You may also want this type of limited power of attorney if you are relying on someone with more expertise to take care of the vehicle.
A motor vehicle power of attorney covers a vehicle and its paperwork, so a different document fits when you want authority beyond the car or want to hand over ownership itself.
You can get a vehicle power of attorney from your state’s DMV, from an attorney, or from the free FormsPal template on this page, and each route ends with a signed form.
Filling out the FormsPal template for a vehicle power of attorney runs from your names on the first page to the acknowledgment on the last, one blank at a time.
The steps below follow the FormsPal template that this page hands out (PDF). Work through it in order, from page 1 to page 3. Have these details ready:
The screenshots under each step show the FormsPal Motor Vehicle Power of Attorney template filled with sample entries in blue, so you can see where each answer goes. The names, addresses, dates and amounts are examples only.
Enter your name and address, then your agent’s name and address, in the blanks of the opening sentence. Start with the opening paragraph on page 1. Your agent is also called your attorney-in-fact.
The form has room for a single vehicle, so fill in these details for it, copying each one from the vehicle’s title or registration where you can:
On the “Other Identifying Characteristics” line, add the color and license plate number. Stickers, dents and scratches can also help tell your car apart from others of the same make and model.
Write the state whose Department of Motor Vehicles your agent will deal with in the powers paragraph. Then fill in your Social Security Number or Tax ID Number and your date of birth. The Effective Date line below is preprinted, so you don’t need to enter anything there.
The template asks for your birth date and tax identification number to help identify you as the owner and to distinguish you from others who might share your name. Your tax identification number is usually your social security number, though you may have a different tax identification number in some circumstances.
Those entries are sensitive, so give the signed form only to the people who need it.
On page 2, repeat your agent’s name, then enter the alternate agent’s name and address.
A successor attorney-in-fact is authorized as your agent only if your primary agent is unavailable, if you revoke their responsibility, or if they choose not to act.
Having a successor attorney-in-fact can help make your POA more effective, but it isn’t a requirement. You can leave this section blank if you don’t want to designate an individual here.
Enter the day, month and year on the “Signed this” line, then add your signature and your printed name, once every other blank on pages 1 and 2 is filled in. The template ends in an acknowledgment, so do this when you are in front of the officer who takes it.
The last page of the template is the acknowledgment, with blanks for the state, county, date, the officer’s name and title, and your name as the person who appeared.
Leave the officer’s lines for the officer who takes your acknowledgment.
Sign the form in front of the officer who takes your acknowledgment, once every other blank is filled in and you have read it through again, then make the copies and hand the signed document to your agent.
Notary and witness rules for a power of attorney differ by state, and the table below gives the rule in the state’s own section for a few states.
Only the Arizona and Pennsylvania rows mention vehicles. Arizona leaves them out, and Pennsylvania leaves out the dealer’s power its row names. The other rows speak of powers of attorney in general, so read them as a guide for the template. On a state agency’s own form, follow the signing lines printed on it first.
| State | What the section says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona | The section’s signing, witness and notary rules apply to a financial power of attorney, other than a motor vehicle power of attorney. | Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 14-5501 |
| Florida | A power of attorney must be signed by the principal and by two subscribing witnesses and be acknowledged by the principal before a notary public or as otherwise provided in s. 695.03. | Fla. Stat. § 709.2105 |
| Maine | A power of attorney is not valid unless it is acknowledged before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments. One created under this Part is durable unless it expressly provides that it is terminated by the incapacity of the principal, and a durable power of attorney is not valid unless it contains the section’s notices. The Part applies to all powers of attorney except those it lists, among them a power created on a form prescribed by a government agency for a governmental purpose. | Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 18-C, § 5-905; Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 18-C, § 5-904; Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 18-C, § 5-903 |
| New Hampshire | A general power of attorney must be signed (not by electronic signature) and acknowledged before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments. A power of attorney to convey real estate is acknowledged the same way. Any other power of attorney needs only the principal’s signature. | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 564-E:105 |
| New York | A power of attorney must be signed, initialed and dated by a principal with capacity, or in the principal’s name by another person, other than the agent or successor agent, in the principal’s presence and at the principal’s direction. That signature is acknowledged in the manner prescribed for the acknowledgment of a conveyance of real property and witnessed by two persons who are not named in the instrument as agents or as permissible recipients of gifts. Any agent acting for the principal signs and dates it, with the agent’s signature acknowledged the same way. Its wording must substantially conform to the section’s “Caution to the Principal” and “Important Information for the Agent”. | N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 5-1501b |
| Pennsylvania | A power of attorney shall be dated and signed by the principal. If executed on or after the paragraph’s effective date, the signature shall be acknowledged before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments, who shall not be the agent, and witnessed by two individuals, each 18 or older, who are not the agent, the notary or anyone who signed for the principal. It shall include a notice signed by the principal, and the agent has no authority to act until the agent has executed and affixed an acknowledgment. The acknowledgment, witness, notice and agent’s acknowledgment rules do not apply to the powers the section lists, among them a power given to a dealer and used with a sale, purchase or transfer of a vehicle as authorized by 75 Pa.C.S. § 1119, and a power created on a form prescribed by a Commonwealth agency. | 20 Pa.C.S. § 5601 |
| Washington | A power of attorney must be signed and dated by the principal. The signature must be either acknowledged before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments, or attested by two or more competent witnesses who are not the principal’s home care or facility care providers and are unrelated to the principal or agent by blood, marriage or state registered domestic partnership. | Wash. Rev. Code § 11.125.050 |
The template steps on this page show only your signature and the officer’s acknowledgment, so they do not cover everything in the rows for Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 18-C, § 5-905, N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 5-1501b and 20 Pa.C.S. § 5601. If you would use the template in one of those states, have an attorney prepare the document instead, or ask the DMV office whether it has its own form, which the Maine and Pennsylvania rows except.
This page cannot say whether N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 5-1501b reaches a vehicle power of attorney, so ask the New York DMV office handling the vehicle.
Other states are left out of this table, which does not mean they set no rule. Ask your state’s DMV office what it wants to see on a vehicle power of attorney before you sign.
These vehicle power of attorney mistakes are worth checking before you sign, because each one can leave your agent at the DMV counter with paperwork that does not match.
You can create a motor vehicle power of attorney online by answering a few questions, then saving, downloading and printing the finished document.
Prefer the blank template? Download the PDF from this page and fill it in with the FormsPal PDF editor.
A motor vehicle power of attorney raises practical questions about copies, notaries, car titles and how the authority ends, and the short answers follow.
Plan on a signed copy for yourself, a copy for your agent and any successor, and a copy for the local DMV. Ask the office whether it wants to keep the original.
Whether a motor vehicle power of attorney needs a notary depends on your state and on the form, so read the signing lines printed on it and the table above.
Notarizing can still help. In Ohio, a signature on a power of attorney is presumed to be genuine if the principal acknowledges the signature before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments (Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 1337.25).
A Florida owner can name an agent for a sale with the Florida form in the DMV forms table or with the template, but the template needs a closer look at the signing.
Fla. Stat. § 709.2105 says a power of attorney must be signed by the principal and by two subscribing witnesses and be acknowledged by the principal before a notary public or as otherwise provided in s. 695.03. The template steps on this page cover only your signature and the officer’s acknowledgment.
This page cannot say whether the section reaches a vehicle power of attorney, so plan on two subscribing witnesses under Fla. Stat. § 709.2105 if you use the template, and ask the Florida motor vehicle office handling the title whether it takes that form.
A vehicle power of attorney can let your agent sign title paperwork when you are selling the vehicle, if the form gives your agent that power, but the mileage disclosure on the transfer has its own federal rule.
Under 49 C.F.R. § 580.13, if otherwise permitted by the law of the jurisdiction, a seller may grant the buyer a power of attorney for mileage disclosure only when the seller’s physical title is held by a lienholder or lost, or the electronic title is held or controlled by a lienholder or cannot be accessed. Under the same section, the seller then discloses the mileage on the form issued by the jurisdiction in which the transfer occurs, so the FormsPal template does not stand in for that form.
If your agent would sign a mileage statement for you, ask your state’s DMV first whether it accepts that and which form it wants. Its own title rules may add more.
The power of attorney alone does not change who owns the car, because the title paperwork does that. If you are giving the car to a family member or a friend, ask your state’s DMV which title paperwork it wants.
Under Fla. Stat. § 709.2109, a power of attorney terminates when the principal dies, when the principal revokes it, or when its purpose is accomplished, among other events the section lists.
Other states have their own sections on this. If you cancel the authority, tell your agent, the DMV office and anyone else holding a copy, and ask for the signed copies back.
Under Wash. Rev. Code § 11.125.100, N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 564-E:110 and Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 1337.30, termination of an agent’s authority or of a power of attorney is not effective as to the agent or another person that, without actual knowledge of the termination, acts in good faith under the power of attorney.
Use the state links near the top of this page to open a state-specific form. The table of DMV forms above also lists the name of each state’s own DMV form where this page has one.
General information, not legal or tax advice.
