How to Fill Out and Submit Texas Form VTR-340: Surrendered Ownership Evidence

Texas Form VTR-340, “Surrendered Ownership Evidence for Vehicles to be Dismantled, Scrapped, or Destroyed,” is the document a licensed Texas salvage vehicle dealer or used automotive parts recycler files with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles to permanently retire a vehicle from road use. Once a vehicle appears on a filed VTR-340, it is nonrepairable: it cannot be rebuilt, retitled, or returned to the road, and may only be dismantled for parts or sold as scrap.¹

If you are a vehicle owner whose title was lost or stolen, this is not your form. You want Form VTR-34, the Application for a Certified Copy of Title.² The similar numbers trip people up constantly.

Who Files Form VTR-340

Only two kinds of businesses use this form: licensed salvage vehicle dealers and licensed used automotive parts recyclers.¹ Individual owners, insurance companies, and unlicensed businesses cannot file a VTR-340. Metal recyclers use a separate form, VTR-340-M, which has its own 60-day filing window.³

Filing in error is costly. To undo the nonrepairable designation on a vehicle that should not have been listed, the dealer has to apply for a salvage vehicle title in its own name, which carries an $8 fee and its own paperwork.⁴

The 30-Day Filing Deadline

The completed VTR-340 must reach a TxDMV Regional Service Center before the 31st day after you acquired the salvage or nonrepairable vehicle for dismantling, scrapping, or destroying. The requirement comes from Transportation Code Section 501.1003 and Texas Administrative Code Section 217.86.¹ The clock runs from the acquisition date, not from when dismantling actually starts. Don’t let the deadline slide while a vehicle sits on your lot waiting for work.

Completing the Form

Download the current version from the TxDMV website. The form has three parts: your business information, vehicle details (up to ten vehicles per form), and a signed certification.

Dealer or Recycler Information

Enter your entity name exactly as it appears on your TxDMV or TDLR license, your license number, your phone number, and your full business address. A mismatch between the name on the form and the name on your license will hold up processing.¹

Vehicle Information

For each vehicle, you need:

The full 17-character VIN.
Year, make, body style, and model, matching the ownership document you are surrendering.
The title or ownership document number and the state that issued it.
License plate state and number, if plates are still on the vehicle. Leave blank if there are none.

Before filling in this section, confirm that the seller properly completed the title assignment to your entity. For any vehicle still subject to federal odometer disclosure, an odometer reading must appear on the title assignment and you must acknowledge the disclosure as the purchaser.¹ Model year 2011 and newer vehicles stay subject to odometer disclosure for 20 years from the model year; model year 2010 and older vehicles are exempt.

Certification and Signature

Your authorized agent signs and dates the form. The signature certifies three things: that all unexpired plates and registration stickers have been removed from each listed vehicle, that the ownership evidence was properly assigned to your entity and is being surrendered, and that you understand the listed vehicles can never be repaired or retitled.¹ The printed name must match the signature.

Ownership Documents to Attach

The form alone will not be accepted. You must attach the properly assigned certificate of title, or other acceptable ownership document, for every vehicle on the form.⁴ Other acceptable evidence includes a salvage vehicle title, a nonrepairable vehicle title, or a manufacturer’s certificate of origin. Whichever document you had when you acquired the vehicle must show a complete chain of assignment ending with your entity as the purchaser.

Make a photocopy of the front and back of every ownership document before you hand over the originals. You will not get them back, and you need the copies for your records.

Plates and Stickers

Pull all unexpired license plates and registration stickers from every vehicle before you file. Store them in a secure location at your business between removal and the day TxDMV acknowledges your VTR-340.¹ Once you have the acknowledged copy back, you can destroy them.

Where to File

Submit the completed VTR-340 and the attached ownership documents in person at a TxDMV Regional Service Center.¹ This form is not mailed in. The bottom of the form contains a Department Receipt block where a TxDMV employee signs and dates on receipt.

After processing, TxDMV flags each vehicle’s record as nonrepairable and returns an acknowledged duplicate (the Firm Copy) to you.⁴ Keep that acknowledged copy. It is your proof of compliance and you will need it for any downstream sale.

What You Can Do With the Vehicle After Filing

Once a vehicle is on a processed VTR-340, it can only move in two directions.⁵

Sold to a metal recycler. Use the Salvage Vehicle Dealer Bill of Sale for a Junk Motor Vehicle (Form VTR-203) and give the recycler a copy of your acknowledged VTR-340 so they can confirm the surrender.⁴
Sold to anyone other than a metal recycler. You must first apply to TxDMV for a nonrepairable vehicle title in your own name before transferring the vehicle.⁴

If you listed a vehicle on a VTR-340 by mistake, the correction path is to apply for a salvage vehicle title in your name before any further transfer. The application carries an $8 fee and requires the vehicle’s make, body style, model year, and VIN.⁴

Records You Must Keep

Texas law requires you to keep records at your business for every vehicle you dismantle, scrap, or destroy. At minimum, retain a photocopy of the front and back of each surrendered ownership document along with a copy of the acknowledged VTR-340 until at least the third anniversary of the submission date.⁴ Your purchase and sale records must also show the acquisition date, the seller’s name and address, a vehicle description with VIN, the ownership document number and issuing state, and, for sellers who are not themselves licensed, a photocopy of the seller’s photo ID.⁶

Penalty for False Information

The form carries a warning printed directly on its face: falsifying information on a VTR-340 is a third-degree felony under Texas law.¹ A third-degree felony in Texas carries two to ten years in prison and a potential fine of up to $10,000. Because the form permanently erases a vehicle’s title record and removes it from road use, verify every VIN and document number against the paperwork in front of you before you sign.

1
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Surrendered Ownership Evidence for Vehicles to be Dismantled, Scrapped, or Destroyed (Form VTR-340)
2
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Application for a Certified Copy of Title (Form VTR-34)
3
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Surrendered Ownership Evidence for Vehicles Permanently Destroyed (Form VTR-340-M)
4
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Salvage/Nonrepairable Motor Vehicle Manual
5
Legal Information Institute. Texas Administrative Code 43 TAC 217.86 – Dismantling, Scrapping, or Destroying Motor Vehicles
6
Legal Information Institute. Texas Administrative Code 43 TAC 221.73 – Content of Records