Selling a junk or dead car in Mississippi

Who handles what

Titles belong to the Mississippi Department of Revenue (DOR), through its Motor Vehicle Services office. Tags are a county job, handled by each county's Tax Collector. The mailing address for title forms is P.O. Box 1383, Jackson, MS 39215-1383, attention Motor Vehicle Services.

When you sell, assign the title to the new owner. Complete the whole assignment on a Mississippi title, leaving blank only the buyer's printed name and signature. Filling in the buyer's name later is not allowed; the DOR calls a blank buyer name "a violation of Mississippi law."

Selling to family? If the buyer is your parent, child, spouse, brother, sister, grandparent or grandchild, the DOR says an Affidavit of Relationship should be filled out.

Registration is then the buyer's job, due within 30 business days of buying.

Pull the tag and turn it in

The tag stays with you, not the car. Remove it when you assign the title, then surrender it at the county Tax Collector. The office credits the unused part of the tag fee.

Two details matter here:

• The credit clock starts when the tag reaches the Tax Collector, not on the sale date. Turn it in soon.
• The credit can be used in any county.

After the sale: no release form

We found no seller notice-of-sale form on the DOR pages we read. Surrendering the tag is the seller's step, and no deadline is stated for it.

Keeping the tag also helps with toll bills. If a toll company charges you after the sale, the DOR will write to the company for you, as long as you kept the plate rather than leaving it on the sold car.

When the title is missing

You cannot sell first and sort out the title later. The DOR says a missing title must be replaced "before the sale can proceed."

The replacement costs $9.00. Mississippi owners fill out Form 78-006, the "Application for Replacement Certificate of Title", and send it by mail to Motor Vehicle Services. See selling a junk car with no title.

Salvage and other brands

There is no damage percentage in Mississippi. What makes a "salvage vehicle" is an insurer paying a total loss claim and taking the car from its owner, whatever caused the loss: collision, fire, flood, accident, hail, theft or something else.

Two kinds of cars are left out, even then:

• a car at least 10 years old whose value is $1,500 or less
• a car needing just 5 or fewer minor component parts repaired or replaced

Mississippi's branded titles: rebuilt, salvage, hail-damaged and flood-damaged. Any title marked salvage has to be inspected by the Highway Patrol's Salvage Inspection Division.

Once a car is destroyed, dismantled or scrapped, the paperwork is a "Junked Certificate of Title." It is issued when the owner surrenders the Mississippi title (Miss. Code Ann. 63-21-39). Read more in our salvage title guide.

Mississippi's abandoned vehicle rules

The state rules we can cite are the DOR's abandoned vehicle rules. Under them, any of these makes a car abandoned:

• left at a Mississippi wrecker, repair shop or dealer past the agreed pickup date, or past 40 days
• sitting unattended at least 5 days on a public street, road, highway or other public property
• towed by law enforcement and left unclaimed for 40 days

If the car has "no market value," the tow company, dealer or repair shop holding it may get rid of it once two licensed dealers sign written statements calling it worthless. The DOR publishes a checklist for scrapping, dismantling or parting out such a car.

Junk cars kept on private land fall under local codes. 16 Mississippi town pages on this site quote their city's own junk-vehicle code; find yours below.

Towing and impound

Whoever ends up selling an abandoned car has 7 days from receiving it to notify the owner and lienholder. Unless claimed within 30 days, the car is sold or destroyed.

Other rules on the DOR page:

• Before a sale or disposal, every notice step must be done, and at least 30 days must pass after the car was taken off a public street, road or highway.
• A car towed onto a lot by law enforcement and then abandoned can be sold at public auction, which clears all claims on it.
• Since July 1, 2026, towing companies and repair shops have to send their certified-mail notices through an approved third-party vendor.

No emissions test or inspection sticker

Registering a car in Mississippi needs no emissions test, per the DOR. Annual safety inspection stickers ended July 1, 2015, according to a news report.

What a parked car can cost you is a late tag. Penalties start accruing the 16th day of the next month after the tag expires: 5% for the next 15 days, then 5% for every 30 days overdue, up to 25 percent. At that cap, the Legislative Tag Credit is lost.

Selling in Mississippi, step by step

1. Replace the title first if it is lost.
2. Get an offer. Tell us what works and what does not.
3. Assign the title, leaving only the buyer's name and signature blank.
4. Remove the tag and take it to the county Tax Collector.

Mississippi's biggest cities

Every one gets free pickup. Populations are U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Our Mississippi town pages

• Jackson
• Gulfport
• Southaven
• Hattiesburg
• Biloxi
• Olive Branch
• Tupelo
• Meridian
• Pearl
• Madison
• Oxford
• Horn Lake
• Clinton
• Greenville
• Brandon
• Starkville
• Columbus
• Pascagoula

Have a Mississippi car to sell? Call (877) 421-6008.

Cities and towns in Mississippi

• Biloxi
• Brandon
• Clinton
• Columbus
• Greenville
• Gulfport
• Hattiesburg
• Horn Lake
• Jackson
• Madison
• Meridian
• Olive Branch
• Oxford
• Pascagoula
• Pearl
• Southaven
• Starkville
• Tupelo