Unsigned MCO: What to Do & What NOT to Do (Legal Guide)

You just bought a brand new UTV, dirt bike, or trailer. You paid the dealer, shook hands, and waited by the mailbox for your paperwork. When the envelope finally arrives, you pull out the Manufacturer’s Certificate of Origin (MCO), also known as the Manufacturer’s Statement of Origin (MSO).

You look at it. It looks official. It has the VIN, the year, the make. But then you flip it over to the assignment section on the back, and your heart sinks.

It’s blank.

Or maybe the dealer signed it, but didn’t fill in your name. Or maybe they filled in your name but forgot to sign it.

Here is the hard truth: An unsigned or incomplete MCO is legally worthless. It does not transfer ownership to you. As far as the DMV (and the law) is concerned, that vehicle still belongs to the dealer or the manufacturer. If you try to send that document to the Montana MVD—or any state DMV—it will be rejected immediately.

At Zero Tax Tags, we see this every single day. We save our clients from months of bureaucratic purgatory by catching these errors before the paperwork hits the state’s desk. But if you are holding an unsigned mco right now, you need to know exactly what to do—and more importantly, what NOT to do—to avoid turning a paperwork error into a felony.

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The Problem: What an Unsigned MCO Actually Looks Like

An MCO is the “birth certificate” of a vehicle. It is the very first title document issued by the factory. To turn that birth certificate into a legal Title and Registration, there must be a clear “Chain of Ownership.”

When we say “unsigned,” we aren’t just talking about a missing squiggle at the bottom. An incomplete MCO can take several forms, all of which are fatal to your registration process:

1. The Missing Dealer Signature: This is the most common error. The dealer filled out the odometer reading and your name, but the authorized representative forgot to sign on the specific line verifying the transfer.
2. The Blank Assignment: The dealer handed you the MCO exactly as they received it from the factory. The back of the document (the “First Assignment” section) is completely empty. No buyer name, no date, no odometer, no dealer signature.
3. Incomplete Odometer Statement: Federal and state laws are incredibly strict about odometer disclosures. If the mileage isn’t written in, or if the “Actual Mileage” box isn’t checked, the DMV will reject it.
4. Missing Buyer Info: The dealer signed it but didn’t write your name (or your LLC’s name) as the purchaser.
5. Chain of Title Gaps: This happens when Dealer A sells to Dealer B, but Dealer A never signed the reassignment to Dealer B. Now Dealer B is trying to sell to you, but they don’t legally own the vehicle yet according to the paper trail.

If any of these fields are blank, the chain of custody is broken.

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Why Signatures Matter: It’s Not Just Red Tape

You might be thinking, “I have the Bill of Sale and the receipt, isn’t that enough?”

No. It is not.

The Bill of Sale proves you paid for the vehicle. The MCO (and the signatures on it) proves you own the vehicle.

The Legal Chain of Custody

DMVs operate on a strict chain of custody. The manufacturer assigns it to the dealer. The dealer must assign it to you. If the dealer does not sign the MCO, they haven’t legally released their interest in the vehicle. It’s like buying a house but the seller never signed the deed.

Fraud Prevention and Curbstoning

States are hyper-vigilant about “curbstoning”—the illegal practice of selling vehicles without a dealer license or jumping title to avoid taxes. If the MCO isn’t signed properly, the DMV assumes fraud or theft until proven otherwise.

The Montana MVD is Strict

While Montana is a fantastic place to register vehicles for tax savings, the Montana MVD is not a “wild west” operation. They are meticulous. They check every line. If a signature is missing, or if a correction was attempted with white-out, they will kick the application back. This adds weeks or months to your wait time.

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Common Scenarios: How You Got Stuck with This

How does this happen? Usually, it’s human error, but sometimes it’s negligence.

• The “Friday Afternoon” Special: The finance manager at the dealership was rushing to get the FedEx envelope out before the weekend. They put the documents in the envelope but missed the one crucial signature line.
• The Remote Transaction: You bought a UTV from a high-volume dealer three states away. They process hundreds of these a week. Your paperwork got lost in the shuffle of a busy back office.
• The “Open MCO” Private Sale: You bought a dirt bike from a guy on Craigslist. He hands you an MCO that was issued to the original dealer 10 years ago, and it’s totally blank on the back. He tells you, “Just write your name in, it’s fine.” (Spoiler: It is not fine).
• The Kit Car/Assembled Vehicle: You bought a chassis and an engine separately. You have an MCO for the frame, but the manufacturer didn’t sign the front.

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What NOT to Do (The Critical “Do Not Go To Jail” Section)

If you take nothing else away from this article, listen to this section. When people realize they have an unsigned mco, panic sets in. They want to get their tag now. They think, “I’ll just fix it myself.”

STOP.

1. DO NOT Sign it Yourself (Forgery)

This is a felony. It doesn’t matter if the dealer “meant” to sign it. It doesn’t matter if you paid for the car. If you pick up a pen and sign the dealer’s name, you are committing forgery. DMV clerks see thousands of signatures; they know what a shaky, hesitant forgery looks like. If you are caught, you aren’t just looking at a rejected title; you’re looking at legal trouble.

2. DO NOT Use White-Out or Correction Fluid

This is the kiss of death for any title document. If you write your name in the wrong spot, or if the dealer made a typo, do not use white-out.

“White-out or attempts to erase or scratch out entries void the title.” The same rule applies to MCOs. If you white it out, the document is void, and you have to get a duplicate MCO from the factory, which can take months.

3. DO NOT Fill in the “Dealer” Section

If the dealer left their section blank, do not try to fill it in for them. You don’t know their dealer license number, their authorized representative’s name, or the exact date they officially booked the sale.

4. DO NOT Submit It “Hoping They Won’t Notice”

They will notice. At Zero Tax Tags, we see clients try to sneak incomplete paperwork past us. We catch it because we know the MVD will catch it. Submitting bad paperwork just delays your registration by 4-6 weeks while the rejection letter travels through the mail.

5. DO NOT Accept “It’s Fine” from the Dealer

If you call the dealer and they say, “Oh, just sign it for me,” tell them absolutely not. They are asking you to commit a crime to cover up their administrative error.

WARNING: Forging a signature on an MCO is a felony in all 50 states. DMVs prosecute title fraud. Do not risk jail time to save a few days of paperwork.

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What TO Do: A Step-by-Step Recovery Plan

Okay, you have the unsigned mco. You haven’t panicked. You haven’t used white-out. Here is how you fix it.

Step 1: Identify Exactly What is Missing

Look at the back of the MCO. Is it the odometer reading? The date? The authorized signature? The buyer’s printed name? Knowing exactly what is missing will make the phone call to the dealer much shorter.

Step 2: Contact the Dealer Immediately

Do not wait. The longer you wait, the colder the trail gets. Employees quit, dealerships change ownership, and files get moved to storage. Call the Finance and Insurance (F&I) department or the Title Clerk at the dealership.

• Script: “I received the MCO for VIN ending in [1234]. The assignment section on the back was not signed by your authorized representative. I cannot title this vehicle. I need to return this to you for signature.”

Step 3: Send it Back with Tracking (FedEx/UPS)

Do not put the only proof of ownership for your $30,000 vehicle in a standard envelope with a 60-cent stamp.

• Use FedEx or UPS.
• Include a return prepaid envelope so they can send it back to you easily.
• Include a sticky note on the MCO pointing to the missing signature (use a sticky note, do not write on the document itself).

Step 4: Verify the Correction

When you get it back, check it again. Did they sign it? Did they notarize it (if required by their state)?

Note: Montana usually does not require the dealer’s signature on an MCO to be notarized unless the state the dealer is in requires it. However, if there are any alterations or corrections, a Statement of Fact might be needed.

Step 5: The “Power of Attorney” Option

In some very specific cases, if the dealer is far away, they may sign a Limited Power of Attorney (POA) granting you the right to sign the MCO on their behalf.

WARNING: You must have the physical, original, notarized POA document in your hand before you sign the MCO. You must sign it exactly as instructed (usually “Your Name as Attorney in Fact for Dealer Name”). You must then submit that original POA to the DMV along with the MCO. Do not do this without explicit written instruction and legal documents from the dealer.

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Worst Case Scenario: The Dealer Won’t (or Can’t) Sign

This is the nightmare scenario. You call the dealer, and the number is disconnected. Or they simply refuse to help.

The Dealer Went Out of Business

If the dealership is closed, you are in a tight spot.

1. Contact the Manufacturer: Sometimes the manufacturer can issue a duplicate MCO if you can prove the dealer is defunct and you paid for the vehicle.
2. Contact the State Dealer Licensing Board: Every state has a department that regulates car dealers. If a dealer closed without finishing their title work, the state often holds a “Dealer Bond” that can be used to resolve these issues.
3. Bonded Title: If the MCO is truly dead, you may have to pursue a Bonded Title in your home state (or Montana, though Montana’s bonded title process requires the vehicle to be in Montana for inspection). This is a last resort.

The Dealer is Uncooperative

If they are just being lazy, remind them that they have a legal obligation to provide a valid title. A complaint to their state’s DMV investigations unit usually lights a fire under them very quickly.

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The Private Party Trap: Buying an MCO from “Some Guy”

We see this often with dirt bikes and racing UTVs. A seller lists a bike as “MCO only, never titled.”

If you buy a vehicle from a private party and they hand you an MCO:

1. Check the Name: Is the MCO assigned to the seller? If it is assigned to “John Doe” and you are buying it from “Mike Smith,” Mike does not own that bike. This is a broken chain of title.
2. Check the Back: Is the back completely blank? If so, the original dealer never assigned it. The seller is trying to act like the dealer.
3. The Risk: If you buy a vehicle with an open or “skipped” MCO, you are inheriting a headache. You may have to hunt down the original dealer from five years ago to get a new MCO.

Our advice: If a private seller has an MCO, make them title it in their name before you buy it. If they can’t title it, you shouldn’t buy it.

Pro Tip: Never buy a vehicle with an “open” MCO from a private party. If the seller can’t produce a title in their name, walk away. You’re buying someone else’s title problem.

See other common MCO errors that delay titling:

• Common Certificate of Origin Mistakes That Delay Titling
• Certificate of Origin vs. Title: The Definitive Legal Guide

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How Zero Tax Tags Handles Incomplete MCOs

This is where we come in.

When you register a vehicle through a Montana LLC with Zero Tax Tags, we act as your firewall. We don’t just blindly stuff your paperwork into an envelope and mail it to the state.

Our Process:

1. The Pre-Check: When you send us your documents (Title, MCO, Bill of Sale), our experts review them for signature gaps, missing odometers, and broken chains of title.
2. The Catch: If we see an unsigned mco, we stop the process and notify you immediately. We tell you exactly what is missing so you can go back to the dealer with specific instructions.
3. The Solution: We know what the Montana MVD accepts. We know when a Statement of Fact can fix a typo and when a new document is required.

We cannot sign the MCO for you—that would be illegal. But we can prevent you from sending a doomed application to the state, saving you rejection fees and months of waiting.

Need Help?

If you are staring at an MCO and you aren’t sure if it’s valid, let the experts at Zero Tax Tags take a look. We handle the complexity of Montana LLC registration so you can focus on driving.

Don’t let a missing signature park your ride.