How to Complete the New York PD-7 Form: License Plate Surrender

The New York license plate surrender form is the PD-7, officially called the Plate Surrender Application. It is not the MV-2, which is a driver license renewal notice the DMV mails before your license expires.¹ You can download the PD-7 from the DMV website or pick one up at any DMV office. The form itself is short: three fields plus your signature.²

When You Need to File a PD-7

New York requires liability insurance for the entire time a vehicle is registered. Once insurance lapses on a registered vehicle, you are out of compliance, and the DMV finds out through electronic reporting from insurers. Surrendering your plates closes the registration and ends the insurance requirement.

The situations that call for a PD-7:

You sold, traded, or scrapped a vehicle and did not transfer the plates to another car.
You moved and registered the vehicle in another state. Your New York plates must come back to the DMV.³
You want to cancel insurance for any reason. Surrender the plates first. Cancel insurance on a still-registered vehicle and the DMV will suspend the registration and can suspend your driver license.³
You are storing the car seasonally and want to drop insurance during that stretch. The DMV has a separate seasonal surrender procedure for this.³
The registered owner has died. An executor or family member should surrender the plates, though that path works differently (see below).

Order matters. Always surrender the plates before canceling insurance, never after.

How to Fill Out the PD-7

The PD-7 asks for three pieces of information, all found on your current registration document:²

The license plate number.
The plate class. This is the three-letter code printed above the plate number on your registration (PAS for passenger, COM for commercial, TRL for trailer, MOT for motorcycle).
The first three letters of the last name or company name shown on the registration.

Sign the form. Then prepare the plates: remove frames and fasteners, and peel off the registration and inspection stickers from your windshield so no one can reuse them fraudulently.³

How to Submit the Form and Plates

You have two options: mail or in person. There is no online submission, since the physical plates have to reach the DMV either way.³

By Mail

Put the completed PD-7 and your plates in an envelope. The DMV specifies envelopes, not boxes. Send them to:

NYS DMV
6 Empire State Plaza
Room B240
Albany, NY 12228²

The postmark date becomes your official surrender date. Certified mail with return receipt is worth the small extra cost because it gives you a tracking number and proof of delivery if a penalty question comes up later.

At a DMV Office

Bring the plates and completed PD-7 to any local DMV office. Many offices have dedicated drop boxes for plate surrenders, so you can skip the service line. County motor vehicle offices may charge a $1 processing fee.³

If Your Plates Were Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed

You cannot mail in a PD-7 without plates. The path is different: it involves police paperwork and an in-person DMV visit.⁴

If the incident happened in New York, ask a state police agency to complete form MV-78B (Report of Lost, Stolen or Confiscated Motor Vehicle Items). Only law enforcement can issue this form; the DMV website does not host it. If the incident happened outside New York, get a police report on the letterhead of a police agency in that state.⁴

If a police agency refuses to provide an MV-78B, complete form MV-1441.3 (Certification of Lost License, Permit, or Plates) instead. It asks for the date you requested the report and the name of the agency that turned you down. Bring whichever document applies to a DMV office to surrender the registration.⁴

Get the FS-6T Receipt and Keep It

After the DMV processes the surrender, they mail you a plate surrender receipt, form FS-6T. Allow about 21 days for it to arrive.³

This receipt matters more than the form you filed. Your insurance company will typically want to see the FS-6T before removing the vehicle from your policy, and the receipt is your proof against any future insurance lapse claim tied to that plate. Hold onto it for at least two years. If the DMV owes you a registration fee refund, the check comes in the same envelope.³

Whether You Get a Refund

Most New York passenger registrations run on a two-year cycle. Whether you see money back depends on when you surrender:⁵

Within 60 days of the issue date, and only if the registration sticker was never attached: full registration fee minus $1.
Anytime during the first year: half the registration fee minus $1.
During the second year: nothing.

One-year registrations (motorcycles, snowmobiles, trailers) are not refundable at all. Plate fees, title certificate fees, and taxes paid at registration are also non-refundable.⁵

Instead of cash, you can apply the remaining time as a transfer credit toward a new original registration. Transfer credits do not work for renewals, and the new registration keeps the old expiration date. If you took a credit but later want cash, file form MV-215 (Request for Refund) within 14 months of the original issue date.⁶

Surrendering Plates for a Deceased Owner

When the registered owner has died, the executor or a family member should surrender the plates promptly. This one requires an in-person DMV visit; you cannot handle it by mail.⁷

At the counter, surrender the plates and ask specifically for a “transfer receipt,” not a “refund receipt.” To claim any refund, mail the transfer receipt with a completed MV-215 (write “deceased” on it) and a photocopy of the death certificate to the DMV Refund Section address shown on the form.⁷

What Happens If You Skip This Step

If insurance lapses while the vehicle is still registered, even sitting in your driveway, the DMV will suspend both your registration and your driver license.⁸

For lapses of 90 days or less, you can pay a civil penalty instead of serving out the suspension. The daily amounts climb the longer the lapse runs; a full 90-day lapse totals $900. The civil penalty buyout is available only once every 36 months.⁹ If the lapse runs longer than 90 days, the buyout disappears, and your license is suspended for a period equal to the length of the lapse. Lapses of seven days or fewer may draw no action, at the commissioner’s discretion.⁸

Filing the PD-7 before you cancel insurance prevents all of it.

1
New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. Renew a Driver License
2
New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. Plate Surrender Application PD-7
3
New York DMV. Surrender (Return or Turn-in) Your Vehicle Plates and Registration
4
New York DMV. Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed Plates
5
New York DMV. Refunds and Transfer Credits for Surrendered Plates
6
New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. Request for Refund of Fee Paid for Motor Vehicle Registrations, Driver Licenses and Titles MV-215
7
New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. If a Family Member Has Passed Away
8
New York State Senate. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 318
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New York DMV. Pay an Insurance Lapse Civil Penalty