Junk and dead cars in Indiana: how a sale works

Filling in the Indiana title

Titles here come from the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles, not the county. Branches, self-serve BMV Connect kiosks and licensed Partial Service Providers all handle them.

What goes on the title from your side:

• a signature and printed name from each owner listed
• the mileage disclosure
• when you sold it and for how much
• who bought it

The BMV's checklist for sellers says nothing about a notary. Its bill of sale page goes further and says that paper needs no notarizing.

New title, new registration and new plate are the buyer's business. Indiana gives buyers 45 days to apply before an administrative penalty kicks in. The BMV warns buyers to look over both halves of the title before heading in, so leave no blanks in yours.

Plates come off and stay yours

Remove the plates before you sell. The state FAQ flags this as important. Indiana doesn't want sold plates back, and you may move them onto a different car registered to you.

Is there a release of liability?

The BMV's seller pages include nothing like a notice of sale or liability release. Title, registration and plate all belong to the purchaser's to-do list. For your files, photograph the finished title and keep a bill of sale.

Lost or faulty title

Duplicate: $15.00, with $25 more for speed processing. File State Form 205 with photo ID, online through myBMV.com, or in person. The lost original is void the moment the new one issues.

Certificate of Authority: Indiana's scrap path. If your title is lost, destroyed or faulty, the BMV can authorize you to sell, give away or junk the car with no fresh title printed. The paperwork is form 55018 (its title: "Certificate of Authority - Disposal of a Motor Vehicle"), the fee is $4.00, and a licensed salvage recycler is allowed to apply in your place.

Bring something showing ownership: a registration card in your name, or the paperwork from an insurance payout, will do. If a lender was involved, add its release. Only a car with no VIN needs the State Form 39530 inspection. More in selling with no title.

Salvage titles in Indiana

Indiana requires a salvage title on any of the seven newest model years once an insurer settles it as not worth fixing, or once it's flood damaged. When a self-insured business or a buyer of a damaged car is involved, the trigger is repairs costing over 70% of the car's value right before the damage.

Flood damage has a specific meaning. Either an insurer took the car in a water claim, or water rose above the door sills and got inside the cabin or trunk.

Indiana also refuses to title a car another state branded "JUNK," "DISMANTLED," "SCRAP," "DESTROYED" or something close. See our salvage title guide.

Indiana's abandoned vehicle rules

Two definitions in Title 9 matter most for a dead car:

• one sitting uninvited on someone's private lot past the 48-hour mark
• one sitting on public property missing its engine, transmission or differential, or otherwise stripped or unable to run

A landowner who thinks a car was dumped can call police to take it, or tag it and have it hauled once 24 hours pass with no owner action. If no VIN or other ID is left on the car, it can go without notice.

Some of our Indiana town pages quote a local junk-car code. Pick your town below, starting with Fort Wayne or Evansville.

Towing costs fall on the owner

Whoever owns an abandoned car pays to have it hauled, stored and disposed of. Indiana caps the storage bill at $2,000.

When neither owner nor lender shows up 20 days after notice goes out by mail, a mechanic's lienholder can auction it. Once the tow yard or storage lot sells it, the old owner owes no storage fees. See towed or impounded.

Emissions: Lake and Porter counties

Only two northwest Indiana counties, Lake and Porter, require emissions tests. IDEM runs it to cut ozone in that corner of the state. Outside those two counties, a sale needs no test. If a Lake or Porter car failed, read failed emissions.

Steps for an Indiana sale

1. Locate the title, or file State Form 205 or 55018.
2. Request an offer, with what's broken and where it sits.
3. Finish the seller section: signatures, names, mileage, date, price, buyer.
4. Unscrew the plates.

Indiana's largest cities

Indiana town pages

Biggest first: Fort Wayne, Evansville, Carmel, Fishers, South Bend, Bloomington, Noblesville, Hammond, Lafayette, Greenwood, Gary, Westfield, Muncie, Kokomo, Terre Haute, Anderson, Jeffersonville, Elkhart, Columbus, Mishawaka, Lawrence, West Lafayette, Portage, Plainfield, New Albany, Merrillville, Crown Point, Richmond, Valparaiso, Goshen, Brownsburg, Zionsville, Michigan City, Schererville, Hobart, Marion, Franklin, Greenfield, East Chicago, Avon, St. John, Munster, Highland, La Porte, Seymour, Clarksville, Shelbyville.

Sell the whole car as it sits. Call (877) 421-6008 to talk it through.

Cities and towns in Indiana

• Anderson
• Avon
• Bloomington
• Brownsburg
• Carmel
• Clarksville
• Columbus
• Crown Point
• East Chicago
• Elkhart
• Evansville
• Fishers
• Fort Wayne
• Franklin
• Gary
• Goshen
• Greenfield
• Greenwood
• Hammond
• Highland
• Hobart
• Jeffersonville
• Kokomo
• La Porte
• Lafayette
• Lawrence
• Marion
• Merrillville
• Michigan City
• Mishawaka
• Muncie
• Munster
• New Albany
• Noblesville
• Plainfield
• Portage
• Richmond
• Schererville
• Seymour
• Shelbyville
• South Bend
• St. John
• Terre Haute
• Valparaiso
• West Lafayette
• Westfield
• Zionsville