How to Fill Out and Mail Texas VTR-146: Vehicle Address Change

The Texas VTR-146 form is the state’s Change of Address for Texas Motor Vehicle form. You use it to update the owner address printed on your Texas certificate of title, or to record the physical location where your vehicle is kept. It is free, and it goes directly to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles in Austin rather than to your county tax office.¹

When You Actually Need the Paper Form

VTR-146 handles two address changes that the TxDMV website cannot process online: the owner address on your title, and the physical location of the vehicle (which the state wants on file if your owner address is a P.O. Box).²

If all you want to do is redirect where your registration renewal notice gets mailed, skip the paper. That single change can be made online at renew.txdmv.gov and takes effect within two business days.²

Typical reasons to file VTR-146: you moved within Texas, you brought a vehicle in from another state after registering it here, or the address originally entered on your title was wrong. Fixing the title address is what the paper form is for.

How to Fill Out VTR-146

Download the current version of the form from txdmv.gov. The PDF is fillable, so you can type entries before printing, though handwriting is accepted too. The form has five sections; which ones you complete depends on what you are changing.¹

Owner Information

This section is your new address as it will appear on the title. Enter your first name (or the entity name if the vehicle is owned by a business), middle name, last name, and suffix. Then the new current address, city, state, county, ZIP code, email, and phone. Complete this section any time you are changing the owner address on the title.¹

Vehicle Information

Enter the year, make, body style, current Texas license plate number, and the full 17-character Vehicle Identification Number. You can find the VIN on a plate visible through the driver’s side of the windshield, on your current registration receipt, or on your insurance card. Check every character. One wrong digit means TxDMV cannot match the form to your record.¹

Vehicle Location

If your owner address is a P.O. Box, you have to enter the physical location where the vehicle is parked. Even with a street address in the owner section, filling this in is worth doing when the car is normally kept somewhere else, like a workplace garage or a second property.¹

Registration Renewal Mailing Address

Fill this in only if you want renewal notices sent somewhere other than the owner address above. Leave it blank and renewal notices default to the owner address.¹

Certification and Signature

Sign and date at the bottom. You are certifying the information is true and correct; the form notes that falsifying it is a third-degree felony under Texas law.¹

Where to Mail It

Send the completed form to the address printed on the form: Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, Vehicle Titles and Registration Division, P.O. Box 26417, Austin, TX 78755-0417.¹

Do not take it to your county tax assessor-collector. No fee is listed on the form or in TxDMV’s online instructions for this address change. If you are updating more than one vehicle, use a separate VTR-146 for each one, since every form ties to a single VIN and plate.

Changing Only the Renewal Notice Address

If the title address is already correct and you just need renewal notices to arrive at a new mailbox, use the online tool at renew.txdmv.gov. Have your license plate number and the last four digits of the VIN ready. Both appear on your insurance card, a previous renewal notice, or last year’s registration sticker receipt. The change takes effect within two business days.²

The online tool only touches the renewal-notice mailing address. It does not update the owner address on your title or the vehicle location record. For those, you need the paper VTR-146.²

What VTR-146 Cannot Do

VTR-146 is strictly an address change. It does not correct a name, add or remove an owner, or fix other errors on the face of the title. Those go on the Application for Texas Title and/or Registration (Form 130-U), which has a checkbox for a corrected title and is filed at your county tax assessor-collector’s office rather than mailed to Austin.³

A lost or damaged title is handled through Form VTR-34, the Application for a Certified Copy of Title, again through the county tax office. VTR-146 cannot replace a missing title or transfer ownership.

Your driver’s license address is a separate matter handled by the Texas Department of Public Safety, not TxDMV. Updating your vehicle record through VTR-146 does not update your license, so plan to handle that through DPS as well.

1
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Change of Address for Texas Motor Vehicle (Form VTR-146)
2
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Address Change for Texas Vehicle Registration
3
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Application for Texas Title and/or Registration (Form 130-U)