Selling a wrecked or dead car in White Bear Lake

After a crash: salvage and prior salvage

Many dead cars in White Bear Lake are dead because of one bad crash. DVS applies the salvage label in two cases: the insurance company calls the car a total loss (or pays out on one), or the damage tops 80 percent of what the car was worth. What follows:

• The brand. "Salvage" is printed inside a black-bordered box low on the title.
• Late-model cars. Salvage cars made within the last six model years (2021-2026) carry the salvage brand. Others carry the prior salvage brand.
• Clearing it. In White Bear Lake, the owner must pass a DVS anti-fraud inspection and pay a filing fee plus the $35 salvage inspection fee. Afterward the title reads prior salvage.
• Driving it meanwhile. A salvage-titled car gets a single registration renewal, no more.

When an insurer has ruled the car an unrepairable total loss, section 168A.151 says the person who gets it must turn in the title and ask for a junking certificate. That certificate allows only possessing and transporting the car. Salvage title and wrecked or totaled cover selling one either way.

Junk-car rules in White Bear Lake

We could not find White Bear Lake's city code online, so the test here is the state's. The state's junk test in 168B.011 stacks five conditions: three years old or more, serious damage to parts like the wheels, engine or transmission, no apparent ability to run, an expired or missing plate, and scrap-level value. A crash car with a ruined drivetrain gets close fast. White Bear Lake may regulate outdoor storage of such cars itself, so ask the city first.

Title offices we checked

Neither office we checked is in Ramsey or Washington County. Hennepin's, in downtown Minneapolis, is about 14 miles southwest of the center of White Bear Lake as the crow flies (Suite A-025, 300 S. 6th St.; call 612-348-8240). Olmsted's Rochester office, at 151 4th St. SE, is about 77 miles due south (507-923-2020). For a deputy registrar instead, Driver and Vehicle Services keeps the list on drive.mn.gov and answers 651-297-2005; any one of them can take the transfer.

Signing it over

Turn the title over and fill in the sale price where it asks for the sales tax figure, then the date and the disclosures. Every vehicle needs a damage disclosure, and on a crash car that line carries real weight. DVS's seller steps do not send you to a notary. An open loan does change things: include the lender's lien release card or a release that a notary has stamped.

Leave the plates bolted on. They transfer to the buyer, prepaid registration tax included, and they stop being yours to use. In White Bear Lake, the seller gets ten days to file the "Notice of Sale", either on the title's tear-off stub or online. It is your protection if a repaired version of the car gets driven later.

Nearby

Maplewood is 3.3 miles away, Oakdale 5.9, Shoreview 6.3 and Lino Lakes 7.7. See Minnesota for statewide rules.

Getting an offer

Use the form or call (877) 421-6008. Tell us the year, make, model and mileage, what the crash or breakdown did, and what the title says, whether clean, salvage or prior salvage. In White Bear Lake we pick up at houses, body shops and tow yards.