How to sell a junk car in Alabama

Who issues Alabama titles

In Alabama, the Department of Revenue (ADOR) issues titles, through its Motor Vehicle Division. Your county's license-issuing office deals with tags and registration only.

ADOR's answer on notarizing the title assignment is no. Two other things get checked closely instead:

• Odometer. You certify the mileage, and the buyer's application has to show that same figure, digit for digit.
• Names. The buyer's paperwork must spell the owners exactly the way your title does.

The title requirement stops at 35 model years. Anything older sits outside it, and ADOR's FAQ lists the exemptions.

Your plates leave with you

When you sell, the plates come off. They belong to the registrant, not the car. You may be able to move them to a vehicle you buy next; ask your county license office.

Don't sit on that move. ADOR adds "$15 plus interest" when a valid plate is not shifted to a newly acquired vehicle in time.

Is there a release of liability?

We could not verify a seller's release-of-liability filing in ADOR's published guidance. So keep your own proof: a photo of the signed title and a bill of sale with the date, the buyer's name and the VIN.

Lost the title?

Replace it. Either the titled owner or a recorded lienholder can apply, online at ADOR's Public Title Portal or with help from a designated agent. Expect a $15 fee you won't get back.

Or use the scrap route. Alabama has a narrow path for old, cheap cars. It takes two things: a value no higher than $1,000, and a car whose model year is 12 or more back. Then a dismantler, crusher or scrap recycler can take it even though no title is in your name. The yard records the purchase on MVT 5-18, a notice kept in ADOR's SCRAP system, and holds onto the originals for 5 years.

Any other car needs the real thing. Outside that route, a dismantler or secondary metals recycler must get "the current properly transferred title" and file a notice of cancellation through the SCRAP portal. Once the car is crushed, taken apart or destroyed, its title is suspended or revoked. More in our no-title guide.

Salvage and parts-only brands

Alabama's total-loss line is 75 percent. Once repairs reach that slice of what the car was fairly worth at retail, and the insurer settles, the title turns salvage.

• Flood. A flooded car's salvage title carries the "Flood Vehicle" legend, and so will each title issued later.
• Parts only. With a "Parts Only - Non-Rebuildable" brand, rebuilding is off the table for good; parts are all it is worth.
• Rebuilt. No rebuilt title, no tag and no road use.

See the salvage title guide for selling a branded car.

Junk cars on your property

In Alabama, junk cars sitting in a yard are mostly a city matter. Towns regulate them by ordinance. The City of Semmes is one example: its ordinance makes it a violation for whoever controls a property to let a junk vehicle stay there, and dated photos proving a car hasn't moved in 90-plus days count as "conclusive proof" it was abandoned in place.

That ordinance cites Code of Alabama sections 11-40-30, 11-47-131, 11-53B-1 and 11-67-20 (each "et seq.") as its authority. Look up your own town in the list near the bottom of this page.

When a car is towed and left

ADOR calls a car "unclaimed" once it sits past 48 hours on any public road or highway, or past 48 hours on private or other public land without the owner's consent.

What happens next:

1. Whoever holds the car tells ADOR within five calendar days. ADOR then flags the title record with a hold lasting 60 days.
2. It becomes "abandoned" once 30 calendar days have run since the owner and lienholder were notified.
3. The holder advertises a public auction weekly, two weeks running. Day 35 after the owner notice is the earliest sale date.

To fight the sale, an owner or lienholder files an appeal notice with the circuit court of the county holding it. And a holder that never reported the car, or never notified the owner and lienholder, gives up any claim for storage and garaging.

No emissions or inspection test

ADOR states that "Alabama law does not provide for emissions testing." A dead car never needs a test before you sell it.

What a parked car does collect is registration debt. Miss the month your tag is due and ADOR adds $15, plus interest. A lapsed registration also owes back ad valorem tax, which ADOR calls "escaped", reaching back up to two years on top of this one. Selling the car stops that from growing.

Selling in four steps

1. Check the title. Names and mileage must line up, or apply for a $15 replacement.
2. Tell us about the car. Does it start, what is missing, where is it parked.
3. Sign the title over. No notary needed.
4. Take your plates. Keep them for your next car.

Alabama's largest cities

Pickup is free anywhere in the US, including every city here.

Every Alabama town page

Local junk-car ordinances differ, so start from your town.

Huntsville · Mobile · Birmingham · Montgomery · Tuscaloosa · Hoover · Auburn · Dothan · Madison · Decatur · Florence · Prattville · Phenix City · Vestavia Hills · Opelika · Alabaster · Athens · Gadsden · Northport · Daphne · Enterprise · Foley · Homewood · Trussville · Fairhope · Pelham · Bessemer · Albertville · Helena · Oxford · Mountain Brook · Anniston · Cullman

Have a question about your car first? Call (877) 421-6008.

Cities and towns in Alabama

• Alabaster
• Albertville
• Anniston
• Athens
• Auburn
• Bessemer
• Birmingham
• Cullman
• Daphne
• Decatur
• Dothan
• Enterprise
• Fairhope
• Florence
• Foley
• Gadsden
• Helena
• Homewood
• Hoover
• Huntsville
• Madison
• Mobile
• Montgomery
• Mountain Brook
• Northport
• Opelika
• Oxford
• Pelham
• Phenix City
• Prattville
• Trussville
• Tuscaloosa
• Vestavia Hills