Selling a dead or junk car in Billings

Five days outdoors is the line

The zoning code counts days. Section 27-1803 defines outdoor storage as "The storage for a period of five (5) consecutive days or more of junk, salvage, trash, inoperable vehicles and/or merchandise outside of an enclosed structure."

Section 27-1307 covers every residential zoning district and any lot developed for residential use. It says outdoor storage of inoperable vehicles "for more than five (5) consecutive days as a primary use is a special review use". When the dead car sits beside a house as an add-on to it, the same section points you to the code's separate rules on accessory uses.

"Enclosed" has a precise meaning here. The nuisance chapter defines open storage as "exposed to the elements or not stored inside an enclosed structure which includes walls on all sides and a roof." Read plainly, a carport, a lean-to or a fitted car cover still leaves the car in open storage. Only a real garage takes it out.

Rolling the car to the curb does not move it off your lot, either. The same chapter defines premises to include "any portion of any street, right-of-way or alley lying between such lot or parcel of land and the center of such street, right-of-way or alley."

When a second dead car changes the label

Billings has a test that catches people who keep a donor car. Under section 27-1803, "The presence on any lot or parcel of land of two (2) or more motor vehicles, which, for a period exceeding thirty (30) days, have not been capable of operating under their own power and from which parts have been removed for reuse or sale, shall constitute a salvage or wrecking yard."

So two non-running cars in the backyard, one stripped to feed the other, can turn a home lot into a wrecking yard on paper after a month. The code's list of junk in 18-302 also names "vehicle parts or components, batteries" and "tires", so a stack of pulled parts counts on its own. If you are weighing whether to strip the car first, read part it out or sell it whole.

Montana paperwork from a Billings seller

Montana dropped the notary. House Bill 165 struck the requirement for the seller's signature as of Oct. 1, 2025, and the MVD accepts older titles whose notary block is left blank. What the seller still has to do, per the MVD's 2026 brochure:

• be the owner named on the title
• use blue or black ink for every field; white-out or a crossed-out entry voids the title
• write the buyer's name and address on it
• complete the odometer disclosure on any vehicle newer than nine years

Hand the signed title over with the car. From the sale date, your buyer gets 40 days to title and register the car at the treasurer's office in their home county, where they also pick up new plates.

Montana asks nothing more of you on paper. For your Billings records, photocopy both sides of the title after you sign it.

If the title is missing or still shows a loan

The replacement title form is MV7, and the statute set the replacement fee at $5 starting July 1, 2026. Yellowstone County's treasurer FAQ gives two ways to apply. Mail it to the Vehicle Services Bureau, PO Box 201431, Helena, MT 59620, or walk it into a county treasurer's office. A paid-off loan still showing on the title needs form MV37A, the release of lien. You can check a title's status online at mvdmt.gov first. More in junk car with no title.

Plates stay with you

In Montana the plates are yours, and they leave with you. State law, MCA 61-3-334, has you unscrew them right away when ownership changes. The MVD says plates left on the car can link later parking or traffic tickets to you. You can move them to another car you own; the old car's registration then ends.

Other Montana towns

Billings sits far from the rest of the Montana towns we cover. Bozeman is 120.8 miles away in a straight line, Helena 174.9 and Great Falls 176.1. For the statewide rules in one place, see Montana.

Getting an offer

For your Billings car, call (877) 421-6008 or send our offer form. We collect it anywhere, from a side yard with five days left to a downtown repair lot.