Selling a dead or junk car in Pennsylvania

PennDOT agents handle the title

Titles here come from PennDOT (pa.gov/dmv), not from a county office. Notaries, tag services and dealers act as PennDOT's authorized agents, and the transfer runs through one of them.

At the agent's counter you, as the seller:

• sign the title and hand-print your name
• write in the odometer reading
• have every owner sign, if more than one name is on the title

The buyer signs as well. With Section A (seller) and Section D (buyer) signed and notarized, the car is transferred. The statute requires the assignment to be "sworn to before a notary public or other officer empowered to administer oaths." After that, the buyer faces a 20-day deadline to get a new title.

There's one big exception for junk cars. Scrap metal processors and vehicle salvage dealers can take the assignment with no notarization at all.

Plates belong to the seller

When the car is sold, the plate stays with you. Send it back to PennDOT's Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Return Tag Unit, or move it to another vehicle. A plate transfer costs $11.00.

No seller notice in PennDOT's steps

PennDOT's instructions for sellers mention no sale report and no liability-release paperwork. The agent visit completes the transfer, and then you take off the plate and return or transfer it. Keep a copy of what the agent gives you.

Missing title options

The usual fix is a duplicate. File Form MV-38O, check the Lost/Destroyed box, and pay $72.00.

Pennsylvania law also has a narrow route for salvage cars. If a salvage vehicle sits on your property and its title is faulty, lost or destroyed, you may transfer it to a salvor or a municipal salvage program for storage or scrapping, as long as the salvor follows the statute. Details are in our no-title guide.

With a title in hand, scrapping is simple. You assign it to the scrap metal processor, which forwards it to PennDOT stamped nonrepairable. A vehicle salvage dealer that takes your title forwards it to PennDOT, either marked nonrepairable or together with a salvage certificate request.

Salvage, nonrepairable and flood

Under the Vehicle Code, a "salvage vehicle" is a car that doesn't run, or fails equipment and inspection standards, so badly that fixing it would cost more than it would then be worth. No percentage figure is used. Anyone who owns, holds or hands over a car like that has to apply for a salvage certificate.

A "nonrepairable vehicle" can't be driven safely, and its only value lies in its parts or its metal. Rebuilding, retitling and certification are all off the table for it. See our nonrepairable title guide.

Flood cars get their own marks. If the repairs would cost more than replacing the car, the certificate of salvage is branded flood. If not, the title carries a flood vehicle brand. Rebuild a flood car for the road and its new title carries two brands: reconstructed, and flood vehicle.

After an insurer total, the company has a fallback if your signed title doesn't reach it. Once 30 days pass from your acceptance of the offer, and after two written attempts, it can ask for a salvage certificate using a sworn form.

Abandoned vehicles under state law

The Vehicle Code presumes a car is abandoned once it can't run and sits unattended over 48 hours on a highway or public property. The owner can rebut that presumption.

On private land, the owner can have a car removed once it has stayed there past 24 hours without permission, after first reporting it to local police. That report starts a five-business-day clock for police to process the car. Rules on a junk car kept on your own property come from local codes; our Philadelphia and Pittsburgh pages quote theirs.

Getting it back after a tow

Once the notice goes out in the mail, the owner and any lienholder get 30 days to claim the car, and they pay the towing and storage. PennDOT can authorize disposal 30 days after the certified-mail notice (or the published notice).

Big cities move faster. In first and second class cities, police remove an abandoned car at once when both its registration and its inspection sticker expired more than 90 days ago. See towed or impounded.

Inspection and the 25 emissions counties

Every car needs a safety inspection each year, and some vehicle classes go twice a year. Emissions testing applies in 25 counties. PennDOT's regulation groups them into regions:

• Philadelphia Region: Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Philadelphia
• Pittsburgh Region: Allegheny, Beaver, Washington, Westmoreland
• South Central Region: Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Northampton, York
• Northern Region: Blair, Cambria, Centre, Erie, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, Mercer

PennDOT's publication words the South Central and Northern regions as pending certification. The remaining 42 counties have no emissions test, though the inspector still looks over light vehicles for anti-tampering. After a purchase, the new owner has ten days to drive the car before a current inspection certificate is needed.

A registration card shows a month, and the registration is good through that month's end.

Your Pennsylvania sale, in order

1. Have the title ready, or order a duplicate on MV-38O.
2. Get our offer and mention whether the car runs.
3. Sign the title, before an agent if the buyer isn't a salvage dealer or scrap processor.
4. Keep the plate, then return it or transfer it.

Pennsylvania's largest cities

We pick up free in each one. Populations are from our town data.

Town pages across Pennsylvania

Philadelphia · Pittsburgh · Allentown · Reading · Erie · Bethlehem · Scranton · Lancaster · Harrisburg · York · Wilkes-Barre · Altoona · State College · Penn Hills · Norristown · Chester · Mount Lebanon · Bethel Park · Easton · Hazleton · Monroeville · Williamsport · Lebanon · Plum · Chambersburg · Pottstown · Carlisle · New Castle · Murrysville · Baldwin · Phoenixville · Johnstown · Gettysburg

Want to talk first? Call (877) 421-6008. You sell the whole car as it sits.

Cities and towns in Pennsylvania

• Allentown
• Altoona
• Baldwin
• Bethel Park
• Bethlehem
• Carlisle
• Chambersburg
• Chester
• Easton
• Erie
• Gettysburg
• Harrisburg
• Hazleton
• Johnstown
• Lancaster
• Lebanon
• Monroeville
• Mount Lebanon
• Murrysville
• New Castle
• Norristown
• Penn Hills
• Philadelphia
• Phoenixville
• Pittsburgh
• Plum
• Pottstown
• Reading
• Scranton
• State College
• Wilkes-Barre
• Williamsport
• York