Selling a junk car in North Carolina

Titles come from the state

NCDMV, a division of NCDOT, issues titles at the state level. You can handle North Carolina title paperwork at a license plate agency or send it to NCDMV by mail. Counties do not run it.

Sign the title's reverse with a notary present. The statute calls for signing "in the presence of a person authorized to administer oaths," and ownership does not pass until the assignment is signed and the car handed over.

On the back of the original title, seller and buyer together fill in:

• both parties' names and addresses
• the sale date
• the seller's signature plus a hand-printed name
• the odometer reading, where required
• the damage disclosure statement

State law also has every seller disclose known damage to the buyer on form MVR-181. Co-owned cars need every signature notarized, plus a photocopy of each other owner's ID or license.

Plates: surrender them before the insurance goes

Pull the plates at the sale. North Carolina plates you won't reuse go back right away. Plates from a North Carolina car go to a license plate agency, or by mail to NCDMV's "Renewal, Title and Plate Unit" in Raleigh. Do it before canceling liability insurance, to avoid fines. Turning a plate in can bring a prorated refund for the unexpired portion of the yearly plate fee.

After the sale

We found no required notice-of-sale form for private sellers. What protects you is the notarized assignment and the surrendered plate. Should the car remain on your registration file afterward, form MVR-46F, a notarized affidavit, asks NCDMV to take it off. See after you sell.

Lost title

Use form MVR-4 for a duplicate. The current form shows a $25.50 fee. The statute sets $25.00, and the sources do not explain the difference. In North Carolina this application needs a notary, and NCDMV must wait 15 days once it arrives.

A car going to scrap has a shortcut. If the North Carolina title is missing, the MVR-4 gets filled out and marked "JUNKED." No notary is needed and no title fee applies, but lien releases are still required. Our guide to selling with no title has more.

Junked titles and the 75% salvage test

Junking a title works like this. JUNKED is marked on its face, the assignment is notarized, and NCDMV issues no new title. Ownership changes only on the records, and the 3% highway use tax applies. With an unregisterable title, a car "may only be sold for parts, scrap or recycling."

Salvage here is a numbers test. Once road-safe repairs, parts and labor, would run past 75% of fair retail market value, the car is a salvage motor vehicle, with or without an insurer's total-loss call. Brands include Salvage Motor Vehicle, Salvage Rebuilt Vehicle and Flood Vehicle. If an insurer covers the car, the owner can keep it by completing the insurer's owner-retained salvage form.

A junk brand from another state blocks the car here: it cannot be titled or registered in North Carolina. Read our nonrepairable and junk title guide.

Local junk-car ordinances

North Carolina lets its cities outlaw abandoned cars on public streets and on public or private land by ordinance, and haul off junked or abandoned vehicles. Counties have the same power, and both have to give owners a hearing.

Under North Carolina's city law, an abandoned car is a "junked motor vehicle" when one of these is also true:

• partly dismantled or wrecked
• unable to move under its own power
• over five years old and worth under $100, or $500 where the ordinance sets it
• missing a current plate

For private land, the city rule counts a car as abandoned once it sits there over two hours without the owner's consent. Still, a North Carolina city leaves a car on private land alone unless the landowner makes a written request or it is declared a health or safety hazard. 45 of our North Carolina town pages quote the local code.

State rules on abandoned and derelict cars

State law calls a car "abandoned" when it stays illegally on public or private property over 10 days without consent. A "derelict vehicle" covers cases like these: expired registration with the owner gone, major parts stripped, identification numbers removed, an owner who disclaims it, or an age over 12 years with no current license.

The state tags these cars. Five days after the tag date, a car still in place is removed for sale, and written notice goes to the last registered owner and any lienholders. When it is worth under $100 and the owner cannot be found, the sale needs no further notice.

Safety and emissions inspections

A safety inspection is due every year statewide, passed within 90 days before registering or renewing. Nineteen counties add an emissions (OBD) test: Alamance, Buncombe, Cabarrus, Cumberland, Davidson, Durham, Forsyth, Franklin, Gaston, Guilford, Iredell, Johnston, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, New Hanover, Randolph, Rowan, Wake and Union.

Emissions exemptions cover some light-duty cars under 3 years old or under 70,000 miles, plus any car 20 or more years old. Antique-plate cars, 30 years and older, are exempt from both tests.

North Carolina charges a late fee on expired registration: $15 under a month, $20 from one to two months, and $25 past two months. Selling the car ends the renewal question.

The sale, in order

1. Locate the title, or file MVR-4.
2. Request an offer, and say where the car is parked.
3. Sign the title with a notary and complete MVR-181.
4. Take off the plates and turn them in before dropping insurance.

North Carolina's largest cities

Every one gets free pickup. Populations come from Census estimates.

North Carolina towns with their own page

Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, Durham, Winston-Salem, Fayetteville, Cary, Wilmington, High Point, Concord, Greenville, Asheville, Gastonia, Apex, Jacksonville, Huntersville, Chapel Hill, Kannapolis, Burlington, Wake Forest, Mooresville, Rocky Mount, Holly Springs, Wilson, Fuquay-Varina, Hickory, Indian Trail, Monroe, Garner, Salisbury, Leland, Cornelius, Goldsboro, New Bern, Sanford, Matthews, Clayton, Morrisville, Statesville, Mint Hill, Kernersville, Asheboro, Thomasville, Shelby, Knightdale, Waxhaw, Clemmons, Mebane, Carrboro, Harrisburg, Lexington, Graham, Pinehurst.

Have a question first? Call (877) 421-6008.

Cities and towns in North Carolina

• Apex
• Asheboro
• Asheville
• Burlington
• Carrboro
• Cary
• Chapel Hill
• Charlotte
• Clayton
• Clemmons
• Concord
• Cornelius
• Durham
• Fayetteville
• Fuquay-Varina
• Garner
• Gastonia
• Goldsboro
• Graham
• Greensboro
• Greenville
• Harrisburg
• Hickory
• High Point
• Holly Springs
• Huntersville
• Indian Trail
• Jacksonville
• Kannapolis
• Kernersville
• Knightdale
• Leland
• Lexington
• Matthews
• Mebane
• Mint Hill
• Monroe
• Mooresville
• Morrisville
• New Bern
• Pinehurst
• Raleigh
• Rocky Mount
• Salisbury
• Sanford
• Shelby
• Statesville
• Thomasville
• Wake Forest
• Waxhaw
• Wilmington
• Wilson
• Winston-Salem