Selling a junk or dead car in Montana

Where Montana titles are handled

The Motor Vehicle Division (MVD), part of the Montana Department of Justice, keeps the title records. In Montana, the buyer gets the car titled and buys plates at the county treasurer's office in their home county.

Since October 1, 2025, no notary is involved. House Bill 165 struck the rule that a seller's signature be acknowledged before a notary or county treasurer. Older titles with a blank notary block are still accepted.

Getting the title right matters more than the stamp ever did:

• You must be the owner named on the title.
• Use only blue or black ink. A title with white-out or scratched-out words is void.
• Write in who is buying and where they live. Only that same person may sign as buyer.
• Vehicles newer than nine years need the odometer disclosure filled in.

Under MCA 61-3-220, you sign the transfer on the title and hand the assigned title to the buyer when the car is delivered. The buyer then has 40 days to title and register it, and may not drive it in that window without a temporary permit.

Plates belong to you

MCA 61-3-334 says the seller "shall immediately remove the license plates." If you have another vehicle, the plates can go on it, and the sold car's registration ends. The buyer gets new plates at the treasurer's office.

The MVD's reason is practical. Plates left on a sold car can leave you answering for its later parking or traffic tickets.

Montana has no release form

Sellers in Montana don't file any release-of-liability or notice-of-transfer form. Along with removing the plates, the MVD suggests a written record, such as a photocopy of the reassigned title. Once the car is in someone else's name, your registration fees and taxes stop building up. A bill of sale on form MV24 is another good record.

Check the title status online at mvdmt.gov first to confirm any lien shows as released. The release of lien form is MV37A.

Lost title: order a replacement

To sell a vehicle you need its title. If yours is gone, the owner of record applies for a replacement from the state that last titled the car.

For a Montana title that is form MV7, the Application for Replacement Certificate of Title. File it at a county treasurer's office, or mail it to Helena: Vehicle Services Bureau, PO Box 201431, 59620. The statute set the replacement fee at $10 until June 30, 2026, and at $5 from July 1, 2026.

A buyer who never got an assigned title can apply for one by sworn affidavit. If the car is worth more than $1,000 and is less than 30 years old, a surety bond for its value is also required. See selling a junk car with no title.

Salvage certificates and rebuilt titles

MCA 61-3-210 makes a Montana car salvage when the owner or insurer judges it too costly to fix after damage from a collision, fire, flood, accident, trespass or other event. No percentage is written into the law. Flood is one of the causes inside that definition, not a separate brand.

• An insurer that totals a car less than 15 years old applies for a salvage certificate. At 15 years and older, a regular certificate of title issues instead.
• An owner who keeps a salvage car surrenders the title and gets a salvage certificate for $5. The owner may then keep it, sell it or dispose of it.
• Putting it back on the road takes a VIN and parts inspection ($18.50) and a new title marked "rebuilt salvage."

Breaking these rules is a misdemeanor with a fine up to $500. Our salvage title guide has more.

Montana's junk vehicle law

Under MCA 75-10-501, a junk vehicle is one that is "discarded, ruined, wrecked or dismantled," is not lawfully licensed, and stays inoperative.

The rule that matters at home is 75-10-505. Even a single junk vehicle has to be hidden from public view. The other choice is hauling it, once the owner releases it, to a motor vehicle graveyard or a licensed wrecking facility.

• Public view is measured from 6 feet above the middle of a public road. If the cars show from there, they are in view.
• Shielding means fencing or other barriers that hide them.
• Four or more in one spot count as prima facie evidence that you are running a wrecking facility without a license.

Counties run motor vehicle recycling and disposal programs. A "motor vehicle graveyard" is a county collection point, and you can deliver a junk car there yourself with the title or a written release. Most of our Montana town pages also quote the city's own code, such as Missoula.

Abandoned and towed cars

Montana police may remove a car sitting 48 hours or longer on a public highway, or 5 days or longer on a city street, public property or private property. A private landowner can ask the sheriff or city police to remove and hold one.

The registered owner and lienholder get a certified letter at least 30 days before any sale, or 60 days if the driver was arrested. If the car is not reclaimed within 30 days of that notice, it can go to public auction, and the former owner loses any claim. A junk car worth $500 or less can skip the auction and go through the county recycling program. See towed or impounded cars.

No emissions test, no inspection

Montana has no emissions testing and no periodic vehicle inspection. The MVD's buying and selling guide lists no inspection step for a private sale. A car that would fail a test elsewhere sells here on title, odometer, plates and records alone.

Steps for a Montana seller

1. Check the title status online and clear any lien.
2. Get our offer. Say what works, what doesn't, and the town it sits in.
3. Fill in the title in ink, buyer's name and address included.
4. Remove the plates and keep a two-sided copy of the title.

Montana's biggest cities

Populations below are Census estimates. Each city gets free pickup.

Montana town pages

Each of these Montana towns has its own page: Billings, Missoula, Great Falls, Bozeman, Helena and Kalispell.

Want to talk it through? Call (877) 421-6008.

Cities and towns in Montana

• Billings
• Bozeman
• Great Falls
• Helena
• Kalispell
• Missoula