South Carolina rules for selling a junk car

The SCDMV issues every title

South Carolina titles come from the state's Department of Motor Vehicles, the SCDMV. Counties still matter to a buyer, since the county sends the property tax bill needed to register.

The first assignment on the title needs:

• the buyer's name and address
• any lienholder
• the odometer reading
• what the buyer paid and the day of the sale
• the seller's and buyer's signatures

No price line on your title? Then a bill of sale has to go with it. The buyer then has 45 days from the purchase date to register. The SCDMV also tells buyers to make sure the title is in the seller's own name.

Where the plate goes

The plate never goes with the car. It either moves to another vehicle of yours or goes back to the SCDMV. A plate cannot pass to someone who is not on the title.

To turn it in, send the plate with Form 416 and the License Plate Turn In form (Form 452), by mail or at a branch. Then cancel the liability insurance.

Form 416 protects the seller

South Carolina's seller notice is the "Notice of Vehicle Sold (Form 416)." The SCDMV says you must file it when you sell, at a branch or by mail. Keep a copy with your record of the sale.

When the title is gone

A duplicate title costs $15, by mail or in person. An optional $20 expedite fee speeds up an in-person request. In South Carolina, a recorded lien means the duplicate is mailed to the lender instead of you.

Older cars have a shortcut. State law lets a car go to a demolisher or secondary metals recycler with no title when it is:

• lawfully in your possession
• "twelve model years old or older"
• without a valid plate
• without an engine, or "totally inoperable"

You sign a form affirming those facts; the buyer holds on to it. The route applies to a car abandoned on your land, or one you own whose title is "faulty, lost or destroyed."

An owner who scraps or dismantles a titled car must normally hand the title and plates to the DMV (56-19-480). Selling to a demolisher or recycler is the exception. Read more on selling with no title.

Salvage at 75 percent

A car becomes salvage when the repair cost equals or exceeds 75% of its fair market value. Two groups are left out: vehicles worth $2,000 or less, and antique vehicles.

When an insurer takes a car after fire, flood, collision or another cause, or leaves it with the claimant as a total loss, the insurer sends the DMV the title and a damage report. Our salvage title guide explains what that means at sale time.

Abandoned and derelict cars

Chapter 56-5 defines two kinds of junk vehicle.

• An "abandoned vehicle" is left unattended on a highway past 48 hours, or for over seven days on other land, public or private, where the owner or whoever controls it did not agree.
• A "derelict vehicle" includes one missing its motor or major parts, one with its ID removed, one whose registration expired after the owner left, and one more than eight years old without current registration.

South Carolina lets both kinds be towed away from public or private ground. Officers, county and city code enforcement among them, may tag them. A colored tag is the notice that a car may be treated as derelict or abandoned. Most of the town pages below quote their own local codes.

Towed and stored

In South Carolina, both the tow firm and the storage lot write to the last known registered owner and each lienholder, by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested.

A car no one reclaims may be sold at public auction under S.C. Code 29-15-10. The buyer gets a magistrate's order of sale and takes title free of liens.

Inspections and late registration

The legislature's record of a 1993-94 bill reads "Motor vehicle inspections, repealed." An old bill record does not prove what the law says today, and we could not confirm current inspection or emissions rules. Ask the SCDMV if this matters for your car.

A parked car with a lapsed registration costs more the longer it waits. The delinquency penalty is $10 under 15 days late, $25 at 15 to 30 days, $50 at 30 to 90 days, and $75 past 90 days.

Steps for a South Carolina sale

1. Find the title, order a duplicate, or check the 12-year route.
2. Ask for an offer. Say whether it starts, what is missing and where it is parked.
3. Fill in the assignment and sign.
4. File Form 416 and deal with the plate.

South Carolina's biggest cities

Free pickup reaches all of them.

• Charleston
• Columbia
• North Charleston
• Mount Pleasant
• Rock Hill
• Greenville

Every South Carolina town page

Charleston · Columbia · North Charleston · Mount Pleasant · Rock Hill · Greenville · Summerville · Goose Creek · Greer · Sumter · Florence · Myrtle Beach · Spartanburg · Fort Mill · Hilton Head Island · Bluffton · Aiken · Mauldin · Anderson · Conway · Simpsonville · Easley · North Augusta · Lexington · Greenwood · Hanahan · North Myrtle Beach · Moncks Corner

Rather talk it through? Call (877) 421-6008 and sell the whole car as it sits.

Cities and towns in South Carolina

• Aiken
• Anderson
• Bluffton
• Charleston
• Columbia
• Conway
• Easley
• Florence
• Fort Mill
• Goose Creek
• Greenville
• Greenwood
• Greer
• Hanahan
• Hilton Head Island
• Lexington
• Mauldin
• Moncks Corner
• Mount Pleasant
• Myrtle Beach
• North Augusta
• North Charleston
• North Myrtle Beach
• Rock Hill
• Simpsonville
• Spartanburg
• Summerville
• Sumter