Selling a junk or dead car in Nebraska

County Treasurers handle the paperwork

The rules come from the Nebraska DMV. The counter work, titles and registrations alike, happens at County Treasurer offices.

The seller's list:

• Each person named on the title signs where it says Seller.
• Clear any lien before that.
• Complete the odometer certification.
• Supply either Form 6 or a bill of sale.

The DMV's seller steps list no notary.

The buyer's part can't wait. Their name, address and signature go on the title when the deal happens, and a husband or wife can't sign it as the other's agent. Leave that part empty and you have made an "open title". That breaks Nebraska's rules, and officials from the county, the DMV or the police can seize it.

Plates go back for a refund

Bring the County Treasurer the plates along with the registration and decals, no later than 60 days after you sell. That visit is how unused registration fees, motor vehicle taxes and motor vehicle fees come back to you.

What covers you once it is sold

Nebraska's transfer instructions list no notice-of-sale form. Your protection comes from three things: a buyer's section that is filled in, the bill of sale, and turning in the plates and registration. Photograph each one. More on the last steps in after you sell.

Signing a title to JUNK

Nebraska gives owners their own way to retire a car. A junk vehicle is one that can't run on any highway and is worth something only as scrap or parts. To junk it:

1. Every owner assigns the title to "JUNK". With a lien, the lienholder has to agree.
2. Turn that title in at the DMV or at any County Treasurer, along with the plates, registration and renewal tabs.
3. The DMV records the junked status and destroys the title.

From then on the car is parts only, and its title can never stand in as the title for an assembled vehicle. The state's registration manual calls this a "parts vehicle". Selling it to us instead? Then you sign the regular seller's section.

Title missing?

Replace it before anything else. Any County Treasurer's office takes the duplicate title application. The fee is $14.00, and how you pay is up to that treasurer. A lost title also has to be replaced before it can be signed over to JUNK. See no title.

Salvage and the other brands

Statute 60-171 labels a late-model car "salvage" once repairs would cost at least 75% of its retail value. An owner can also take a salvage title voluntarily, regardless of damage, age or value.

Four brands exist under 60-174. Besides salvage there is previously salvaged, then flood damaged, then manufacturer buyback. Trading a Salvage Certificate for a regular title takes a Sheriff's inspection. The new title reads "Previously Salvaged", and that brand carries forward. Read the salvage title guide.

Nebraska's abandoned-vehicle law

Statute 60-1901 runs the clocks. On private land, a car left unattended over seven days counts as abandoned if the landowner never allowed it, or allowed it and later took that back. On public land the limits are:

• 6 hours or more with no plates
• 24 hours or more in general
• 48 hours or more after parking there becomes illegal, where parking is allowed

Whether your own driveway counts is up to your city. Statute 18-1720 lets cities and villages define and abate nuisances by ordinance, inside city limits and in their extraterritorial zoning area. Seven of our Nebraska town pages quote their own city's junk-vehicle code.

After a tow

Some cars change hands the moment they are towed. Under 60-1902, a car with no current plates that is worth $500 wholesale or less belongs at once to the local authority or state agency holding it.

Everything else gets a notice. The authority must reach the last registered owner and the lienholder within 15 business days (60-1903). Five days after mailing, an unclaimed car may go to sale or auction. An authority that keeps it gains the title after 30 days. Removal and storage bills fall on whoever claims it. More in towed or impounded.

Inspections and registration on a parked car

The vehicle inspection on the DMV pages we read is the VIN inspection, done by the County Sheriff for $10 when one is required, such as for a car coming off a salvage certificate.

Old registrations can follow a parked car. Nebraska may bill every registration fee since the title's issue date or the last expiration. You avoid that only by proving storage and non-use in a notarized affidavit, showing the car stayed off Nebraska highways for at least one whole registration period. Lateness starts on the first of the month after expiration, not on the expiration day itself. See car sitting for years.

The Nebraska sale in five steps

1. Find the title, or order a $14.00 duplicate.
2. Send us the details for an offer: does it start, and what is gone.
3. Sign as seller with every owner and fill in the odometer.
4. Have the buyer complete their section before you hand it over.
5. Turn in the plates, registration and decals inside 60 days.

Nebraska's biggest cities

Figures are Census Bureau estimates. Every one gets free pickup.

All Nebraska town pages

Omaha · Lincoln · Bellevue · Grand Island · Kearney · Fremont · Norfolk · Columbus · Papillion · Hastings · North Platte

To sell the whole car as it sits, call (877) 421-6008.

Cities and towns in Nebraska

• Bellevue
• Columbus
• Fremont
• Grand Island
• Hastings
• Kearney
• Lincoln
• Norfolk
• North Platte
• Omaha
• Papillion