Junk or dead car sales in New Hampshire

Titles from the state, registration from your town

Titles are the job of the state Division of Motor Vehicles. Registering happens locally, through the clerk in your town or city. That office checks where you live and can finish everything there when a title exists or none is required.

Selling a titled car, per the DMV:

• On the reverse, enter the buyer's name and home address. Add today's odometer reading too.
• You sign, and so does the buyer.
• The title goes home with the buyer.

RSA 261:14 frames this as an "assignment and warranty of title" the owner makes on delivery.

Model year 2000 is the dividing line

RSA 261:3 skips titles for any car built before the 2000 model year. Heavy trucks above 18,000 lb still need one.

Paperwork for a pre-2000 car:

• TDMV 22A, a bill of sale made for untitled cars
• plus a filled-out TDMV 19A VIN verification, or else an earlier registration or title (a copy works)

Our bill of sale guide has more.

Plates and the lapsed registration

You keep the plates. State law ends the registration as soon as the car changes owners. Save that lapsed registration: it is worth transfer credit, so a like vehicle can use what is left of the term for nothing extra, as long as its fee does not exceed the old one. The town clerk does the plate move.

The DMV adds that a car whose plates have gone to another vehicle is no longer legally registered and must stay off the road.

Is there a release of liability?

Not for a titled car. You sign the title over at the sale, and the registration expires on its own. A pre-2000 car changes hands on the TDMV 22A bill of sale instead. Snap a photo of whatever you sign.

A missing title

Model year 2000 or later and no title in the drawer? Form TDMV 18 asks the DMV for a duplicate. Joint owners all sign it, and a recorded lien means attaching a TDMV 20 lien release. The fee went from $25 to $35 on January 1, 2026 (RSA 261:20). Plan on roughly 30 to 50 calendar days of DMV processing once your application lands.

Older cars skip this, since they never had a title. See selling with no title.

Salvage titles

New Hampshire ties no damage percentage to salvage. The trigger is an insurer calling a non-exempt car a total loss. Within 20 days of paying out, the insurer applies for the salvage title, at $10 (RSA 261:22). Papers that pass the car to the insurer can be signed without a notary.

Before a salvage car goes back on the road it must pass a salvage inspection, or it can't be registered.

The same section covers crushers. A crushing, shredding, baling or shearing facility receives the title assigned to it, except for cars that never needed one. Read the salvage title guide.

The state junk yard law

RSA chapter 236 treats any spot holding the bulk of 2 or more cars that are no longer fit or meant for legal road use as a "motor vehicle junk yard". Cars bought to strip for parts or scrap count too.

Running one needs both a license and a location approval certificate, and you apply through the selectmen, the council or the board of aldermen. Four of our town pages also quote local junk-car code.

Cars held by a storage company

RSA chapter 262 sets how long a storage company waits before it may dispose of a car left with it:

• Older than 5 model years: 20 days unclaimed, then disposal after notice, with no newspaper publication.
• 5 model years or newer: 30 days unclaimed, then disposal after notice.
• Under $1,000 in value, or good only for salvage: 15 days, with a verified-mail notice of the sale sent at least 10 days before it.

Car stuck in a storage lot? See towed or impounded.

Inspection is on hold

New Hampshire has no annual state inspection right now. A DMV notice dated Feb. 13, 2026 suspended the program after a federal court blocked it and the contractor was lost. Stations can't hand out state stickers in the meantime. The state calls this open to change and is appealing.

Unsafe cars are still off limits. RSA chapter 266 holds the safety rules every driver must follow.

Selling in New Hampshire: the steps

1. Check the model year. Before 2000 means a bill of sale; 2000 or newer means a title.
2. Tell us about the car for an offer: what works and what doesn't.
3. Fill in and sign the title or the TDMV 22A.
4. Keep the plates and the lapsed registration.

Largest New Hampshire cities

Free pickup reaches all of them.

Town pages across the state

Manchester · Nashua · Concord · Dover · Derry · Rochester · Salem · Merrimack · Londonderry · Hudson · Bedford · Keene · Portsmouth

Call (877) 421-6008 to sell the whole car as it sits.

Cities and towns in New Hampshire

• Bedford
• Concord
• Derry
• Dover
• Hudson
• Keene
• Londonderry
• Manchester
• Merrimack
• Nashua
• Portsmouth
• Rochester
• Salem