Alaska rules for a dead or junk car sale

One state DMV issues every Alaska title

The Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles issues every title from one central system. Boroughs and cities play no part. DMV has offices in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau, among other places.

The seller's jobs:

• Sign in each spot the title marks for the owner, then complete the "Assignment of Vehicle Title by Owner."
• Fill every line. Under federal law, a blank in the assignment or the mileage statement stops the sale from going through.
• At delivery, give the buyer the original title. The statute adds the registration certificate.

Look at how owner names on the title are linked. On an Alaska title, AND, another joining word, or no word at all between the names means every owner signs. OR means a single owner can sign alone. No notary appears in the Alaska DMV's seller steps.

Mileage disclosure still applies to many cars. Model-year 2011 and newer cars drop out of it at 20 years old.

A bill of sale won't transfer ownership on its own. DMV recommends one anyway as a shield against later tickets: list the VIN, describe the car, and add both names, the date and both signatures. Our bill of sale guide has more. The Alaska buyer then has 30 days to retitle it in their name.

Standard plates go with the car

AS 28.10.271(a) keeps plates with the vehicle, and the registration ends when ownership changes. Standard plates also can't follow you to another car.

Personalized and specialty plates are different. Those come off with you, and DMV issues the buyer a replacement set free of extra charge. Moving a personalized plate to your next car costs $5, recorded on Form V1.

File the sale with DMV inside 10 days

AS 28.10.271 gives the seller 10 days from the transfer to tell DMV, and that notice by itself counts as a valid transfer. Two ways to send it:

• Remove the Notice of Vehicle Sale for Transfer strip from the bottom of your original Alaska title. Mail it, drop it off or email DMV.
• Use the online "Report the Sale or Transfer of a Vehicle" service. Have the VIN ready.

No strip, or the buyer already holds the Alaska title? File a Notice of Transfer Pending in its place. After DMV learns a sale is pending, it stops renewing that registration.

Ignoring the rule is a crime: a class B misdemeanor under AS 28.10.493.

Replace a lost title first

We found no exception for old or scrap cars in Alaska. Ownership can't move until the owner of record holds a duplicate, even if the buyer or someone else lost the original.

The duplicate costs $15. File Form 809, the notarized lost-title affidavit, by mail or at any DMV office. Only the record owner may apply, or the lienholder when a lien shows.

With no ownership papers at all, Alaska offers a surety bond: three years, at 1.5 times the appraised value. But the car must pass an inspection as operational, which rules out a dead car. More on selling with no title.

Junk, Salvage and Reconstructed brands

An insurer that takes title to a car beyond repair marks "junk" on it and turns the title in to DMV. Alaska uses no damage percentage. It calls the car a "constructive total loss" when repairs would top its worth or its insurance value.

Starting 08/01/2025, a junk-branded car can get a Salvage title (Form 857, $15). That paper lets the owner hand the car to an insurer or salvage company, or free it from impound. The title reads SALVAGE with model code SVG, and registration waits until the car is reconstructed.

We found no flood brand in Alaska. An incomplete vehicle skips the salvage title; a bill of sale or other contract moves it. See the salvage title guide.

The state definition of a junk vehicle

Under AS 28.11.020(c), the car has to be unregistered first. Then it needs one of these:

• stripped, wrecked or inoperable
• not repaired because the fix costs more than its fair market value
• two or more of: broken glass, no wheels or tires, missing body panels, missing drive-train parts

In Alaska, a wrecked or junk car sitting on someone else's land over 24 hours without consent may be hauled off as abandoned.

Your own land is a local question. Alaska has no statewide junk car ban there, but AS 28.11.100 allows municipalities to call wrecked, dismantled or inoperative cars a nuisance, after notice and a hearing.

Abandoned, towed or held for a lien

Without consent, a car counts as abandoned after:

• Alaska: 48 hours parked within 10 feet of a highway
• 24 hours on private property
• 30 days on other public property

For a wrecked or junk car, 24 hours is the limit everywhere.

In Alaska, whoever stores the car gets 30 days to tell the owner and any lienholders. Fifteen days after that notice, an unclaimed car belongs to the state or municipality. It then goes to a scrap processing yard or auto wrecker, or to public auction after 20 days of newspaper notice. Removal and disposal costs land on the owner of record.

A landowner can claim a car left on their property 30 days without consent. Title vests in them if nobody reclaims it 30 days after notice.

Tow yards have a lien under AS 28.10.502. In Alaska, a car left unclaimed 30 days may be sold after 20 days' notice, and storage drops out of the lien after 60 days unless the owner got notice in that span. A repair shop can sell once a bill has gone unpaid 3 months. See towed or impounded cars.

Emissions testing ended in Alaska

No part of Alaska tests emissions. Fairbanks' program stopped being an active control measure under an EPA final action on March 22, 2010. Anchorage's followed with EPA approval on January 10, 2012, and the Anchorage Assembly stopped the tests on March 1, 2012. Each program survives only as a contingency measure.

Alaska registrations last two years. Lapsed under a year: you pay the full two-year fee counted from the old expiration month. Lapsed over a year: a new period starts, with no back fees.

An Alaska sale in five steps

1. Find the title. Lost? File Form 809 for a duplicate.
2. Get an offer from us. Send the form for your Alaska car.
3. Complete the assignment, leaving nothing blank.
4. Leave standard plates on. Personalized plates come with you.
5. Notify DMV within 10 days, online or with the title strip.

Alaska's largest cities

Free pickup reaches each one. Population figures are Census estimates.

Every Alaska town page

Each lists the nearest DMV office:

• Anchorage
• Juneau
• Fairbanks

Car somewhere else in Alaska? Call (877) 421-6008.

Cities and towns in Alaska

• Anchorage
• Fairbanks
• Juneau city and