Connecticut Form H-110, the Abandoned Motor Vehicle Sale Notification, is filed by a licensed wrecker service or garage after it sells a vehicle that was abandoned in its custody. You complete the form once the sale has happened, email it with a copy of the sale receipt to DMV.reportsale@ct.gov, and give the original to the buyer at the time of sale.1State of Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles. Connecticut DMV Abandoned Motor Vehicle Sale Notification The form documents a transaction; it does not authorize one. Several steps under Connecticut General Statutes § 14-150 have to be finished before the sale is legal, and the form itself asks you to certify that you handled them.
Who Files the Form
The H-110 is built for licensed wrecker services and garages. The seller section asks for the wrecker service name, address, and wrecker service license number, so a filer without that license has nothing to put there.1State of Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles. Connecticut DMV Abandoned Motor Vehicle Sale Notification If you’re a private property owner who found a car dumped on your land, you don’t file this form. You hire a licensed wrecker, and the wrecker handles storage, notice, sale, and the H-110. You can download the current form (revision 01-2026) from the DMV’s business forms page.2Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles. DMV Forms for Businesses and Municipalities
What Has to Happen Before You File
The declaration you sign on the H-110 certifies that you mailed notice to the former owner and complied with the law. That compliance has three parts.
Certified-Mail Notice Within 48 Hours
Within forty-eight hours of taking the vehicle into custody, send written notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the registered owner and any lienholders listed in DMV records. The notice has to state that the vehicle is in storage, give the storage location, explain that it may be sold after the waiting period, and tell the owner they have ten days to contest the taking with the hearing officer named in the notice.3Justia. Connecticut Code 14-150 – Abandoned or Unregistered Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicles Which Are a Menace to Traffic
The Right Storage Period for the Value
How long you must hold the vehicle depends on fair market value:
- Market value of $1,500 or less: at least fifteen days of storage, and the DMV commissioner and the owner (if known) must be notified at least five days before the sale.
- Market value above $1,500: at least forty-five days of storage, and the sale must be a public auction rather than a private sale.
Both tracks also require a separate notice of intent to sell under subsection (h) of the statute.3Justia. Connecticut Code 14-150 – Abandoned or Unregistered Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicles Which Are a Menace to Traffic When the value is close to the line, treat it as the higher bracket.
Stop If the Vehicle Is Reclaimed
During the waiting period, the registered owner or a lienholder can reclaim the vehicle by paying the outstanding towing and storage charges. The owner can also contest the taking within ten days of the certified-mail notice. If the vehicle is reclaimed, there is no sale and no H-110.
Filling Out the Form
Type or clearly print every entry. The form is organized in short blocks.1State of Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles. Connecticut DMV Abandoned Motor Vehicle Sale Notification
Vehicle Information
Record the year, make, model, color, odometer reading, and full seventeen-character Vehicle Identification Number. The VIN is usually visible through the bottom-left corner of the windshield or printed on a sticker inside the driver-side door jamb. Check “Yes” or “No” on whether a notice of intent to sell was sent to the owner and lienholder of record. A “No” here is a signal that the sale may not be legally valid.
Seller Information
Enter the wrecker service’s name, street address, and Connecticut license number.
Lien Information
List storage charges, towing charges, repair charges, and any other charges on their own lines, then enter the total. If any sale proceeds were placed in escrow for the former owner, enter the escrow amount and the deposit date. Enter “0” if nothing was escrowed.
Purchaser Information
Enter the buyer’s full name and address, the date and place of sale, and the sale price. This block begins the new ownership chain in the DMV’s records.
Declaration and Signature
The declaration at the bottom certifies that you mailed notice to the former owner and followed all legal requirements. You sign under penalty of false statement as defined in CGS §§ 14-110 and 53a-157b, which carries criminal exposure for knowingly misleading the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles.1State of Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles. Connecticut DMV Abandoned Motor Vehicle Sale Notification
Submitting the Form
Email the completed H-110 and a copy of the sale receipt to DMV.reportsale@ct.gov. Give the original signed form to the buyer at the time of sale as proof of the transaction. The 01-2026 revision directs filers to use email rather than postal mail, and no filing fee is listed on the form or in its instructions.1State of Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles. Connecticut DMV Abandoned Motor Vehicle Sale Notification
Escrow and the Follow-Up Form H-110A
When the sale price exceeds the combined towing, storage, and repair lien, the surplus belongs to the former owner and goes into escrow. You then file Form H-110A on one of two timelines:
- Within fifteen days after the former owner collects the escrow funds.
- After the one-year anniversary of the sale date if the funds remain unclaimed.
Send the H-110A to DMV.reportsale@ct.gov.1State of Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles. Connecticut DMV Abandoned Motor Vehicle Sale Notification Keeping the surplus instead of escrowing it creates both civil and administrative exposure.
Mistakes That Invalidate the Sale
Three errors come up most often. The first is selling before sending the statutory notice of intent to sell. If the notice box on the H-110 is checked “No,” the DMV has a written record that a required step was skipped, which weakens your position in any later dispute.
The second is miscalculating the value and using the wrong track. A vehicle you estimated at $1,200 may actually appraise above $1,500, which means the sale needed forty-five days of storage and a public auction, not a fifteen-day hold and a private sale.
The third is failing to escrow surplus proceeds. Any amount above the lien belongs to the former owner, and that money must sit in escrow until it is either claimed or reported as unclaimed on the H-110A.