Kentucky junk car sales: what the law asks of a seller

County clerks run Kentucky title work

Kentucky handles titles, duplicates and registrations at the county clerk's office. The rules come from Frankfort, where the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet keeps its Division of Motor Vehicle Licensing, and drive.ky.gov publishes them.

Every signature on a Kentucky title being signed over needs a notary.

Your paperwork as seller, under the title statute:

• Assign the title to the buyer and warrant it.
• Complete Form TC 96-182, the vehicle transaction record.
• Make the odometer disclosure.

Use no white-out and scratch nothing out, because Kentucky rejects both. If your pen slips, a notarized affidavit that you sign corrects it.

Between Kentucky residents or businesses, the title must land in the new owner's name within 15 days of the sale.

The plate goes home with you

Starting January 2024, Kentucky sellers hold on to the plate, plus whatever registration time is left on it. Putting it on a different vehicle later is a one-time $11 charge.

Watch the calendar. Should the registration expire in the month your transfer gets processed, you face a choice. Renewing keeps the plate in service. Otherwise the county clerk takes it back.

The buyer needs a tag of their own. That means a temporary tag, a plate they already have with registration time left, or a fresh plate from their clerk.

If the buyer never files

Kentucky requires no release-of-liability form. An optional one exists, though: TC 96-3, titled "Affidavit of Incomplete Transfer."

KRS 186A.215 covers the timing. When 15 calendar days go by and your buyer still hasn't submitted the transfer, you can file the affidavit, notarized, in the county where you live. The clerk then flags the car in AVIS, the state's vehicle system, and registration transactions stay restricted until the transfer is processed. The form itself requests that the registration be revoked in the meantime.

Kentucky also taxes cars as property every year. The bill is due by the close of the month the registration renews. Pay within 30 days of going delinquent and the penalty is 3%. Later than that, it becomes 10%, plus 15% interest a year. If a car is sold before that tax is paid, the statute generally holds its January 1 owner liable, though it lists exceptions. Our car property tax guide has more.

Missing title

Start at the county clerk. Bring Form TC 96-182 with its owner and vehicle sections done, your title number or plate number, and photo ID. Kentucky charges $6.00 for the duplicate, and the notary costs extra. A $25 speed title is offered if you need it sooner.

One side route exists for very old cars, though it concerns titling, not selling. Picture a vehicle at least 25 years old that isn't roadworthy and has never held a Kentucky title. Kentucky will title it as a "classic project vehicle." Proof can be another state's title, a bill of sale or an ownership affidavit, together with a sheriff checking the VIN. That title is issued with no brands.

More in selling a junk car with no title.

When repairs pass 75%

Kentucky sets the salvage line with a number. Once the parts and labor to rebuild would top 75% of the car's retail value, it counts as salvage. Putting airbags back in is left out of that math.

Brands you may run into:

• SALVAGE marks the branded salvage title.
• "rebuilt vehicle" appears after repair and inspection.
• "water damaged" is printed on the title's face for a flood car. A water-damage brand from another state follows the car into Kentucky.

Another state's junking certificate reading "junk" or "unrebuildable" can still turn into a Kentucky salvage title, provided repair estimates stay below 75% of retail value. Speed titles aren't available for those. See our salvage title guide.

Abandoned cars under state law

Kentucky's statewide rule is about roads. Abandoning a car on a county road or a city street is punishable by 10 to 30 days or a fine between $25 and $100. If it stays put three straight days, the law presumes it was abandoned.

Whoever runs that road has a usable car towed off and disposed of under KRS 376.275. One that isn't fit for use may follow a different path.

On private land, junk cars are mostly left to local ordinances. Our town pages below quote each town's code.

Towing and impound

KRS sections 82.625 through 82.635 govern city and county impounds:

1. Nobody claims or challenges the car within 10 business days, so a certified-mail notice goes out.
2. Within 10 days of that, a hearing can be requested or the car picked up.
3. At 45 days after that notice, the local government takes the car as abandoned property.

Towing companies have a separate route to sell a car for unpaid charges. Ten days before any sale, they must notify the owner and the lienholder by certified mail. Money beyond the charges belongs to the owner.

No emissions test

We found no Kentucky emissions test in effect. Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties once had one; it ran six years and closed Nov. 2, 2005.

A buyer bringing a car from out of state does face a VIN inspection by the sheriff. Kenton County's clerk prices it at $15.

Kentucky sale checklist

1. Locate the title. If it's gone, get a duplicate at the clerk.
2. Request our offer. Mention whether it starts and what's missing.
3. Sign before a notary and fill in TC 96-182.
4. Unscrew your plate. Kentucky lets you keep it.
5. Give it 15 days. If the buyer hasn't filed, send in TC 96-3.

Biggest Kentucky towns

Free pickup reaches each of these. Population figures are the Census Bureau's latest estimates.

Every Kentucky town page

Kentucky town pages, each with that town's own junk-vehicle rule: Lexington-Fayette, Bowling Green, Owensboro, Covington, Georgetown, Richmond, Elizabethtown, Florence, Nicholasville, Hopkinsville, Independence, Jeffersontown, Frankfort, Henderson, Paducah, Ashland and Erlanger.

Questions about a Kentucky car? Call (877) 421-6008.

Cities and towns in Kentucky

• Ashland
• Bowling Green
• Covington
• Elizabethtown
• Erlanger
• Florence
• Frankfort
• Georgetown
• Henderson
• Hopkinsville
• Independence
• Jeffersontown
• Lexington-Fayette
• Nicholasville
• Owensboro
• Paducah
• Richmond