Sell a junk or dead car in Virginia

Signing Section A

Titles go through the Virginia DMV: its service centers, DMV Select agents, the website, or the mail.

The seller's block is Section A, printed on the title's face:

• Print and sign your name. Every owner signs.
• The top line of the Virginia title takes the buyer's name and address.
• Enter the actual odometer reading. The DMV says not to guess or estimate.
• Fill in when the Virginia sale happened and what was paid.

Nowhere do the DMV's seller instructions mention a notary. The price you write on the title works as a bill of sale, though the DMV may ask for more in some cases, such as a statement signed by both of you or a Vehicle Price Certification.

Cars already titled in Virginia can also change hands entirely online, through electronic titling. The buyer pays 4.15% Sales and Use Tax, at least $75, when titling.

Take the plates off first

Take the plates off before handing over the keys. Then pick one:

• Put them on a replacement vehicle.
• Turn them in, or inactivate them online, at a customer service center or at DMV Select. Do this before you tell your insurer.

A Virginia registration with six months or more remaining may earn a refund when you send form FMS-210 along with the plates. Reservation fees and late fees are not refunded.

Report the sale

Every sale or trade gets reported to the DMV. Use the website, call, or visit a customer service center. Va. Code 46.2-604 says you do it by filling in the transfer-notice section of your registration card.

Skipping it can hurt. If your insurer cancels coverage on a car you sold and the DMV was never told, its records show a registered car with no insurance, and it may suspend your driver's license and registration. Tell your insurer after the plates are handled.

Replacing a lost title

A replacement title costs $15. Apply online or at a customer service center with the registration card and ID, on form VSA 67 (VSA 66 to add a lien). One co-owner can apply alone. With a lien still open, the lender on record receives the replacement, not you.

Some owners have only an electronic title. A one-time paper copy is free if no lien ever existed and no paper title was printed. Otherwise it costs $15.

How scrap yards take a car

A demolisher or scrap metal processor that buys a car for wrecking or demolition does not title it in its own name (46.2-1206). For a car bought from a person, the yard uses a Vehicle Removal Certificate, VSA 40, which you sign.

Yards prefer a title, a salvage certificate or a nonrepairable certificate, because that lets them demolish right away. Without one:

• A car at least 10 years older than the current model year needs a DMV record search first.
• A newer car must go through the Abandoned Vehicle Process.

The yard also collects your driver's license, the plate number and copies of the ownership papers, and keeps them five years. See selling with no title.

Salvage, rebuilt and nonrepairable

Va. Code 46.2-1600 draws the lines:

• A "late model vehicle" is the current model year and five years before it, or any car worth at least $10,000 before damage.
• A salvage vehicle is a late-model car an insurer acquires in a claim, or one damaged so badly that repairs would exceed its actual cash value less salvage value. With no insurer involved, salvage value is 25 percent of actual cash value.
• A "nonrepairable vehicle" has no value except as parts and scrap metal, by its insurer's or owner's call. Its only legal buyers are licensed auto recyclers and vehicle removal operators.
• A rebuilt vehicle is a repaired salvage car, or a late-model car fixed after repairs were estimated above 75 percent of its value. A seller must disclose that status in writing on the Commissioner's form.

When an insurer pays $3,500 or more on a water-damage claim, the DMV puts an indicator on the title for the next owner. More in our salvage title guide.

Local inoperable-vehicle ordinances

Virginia lets each locality write its own rule. Under Va. Code 15.2-904, a county, city or town may ban keeping an inoperable vehicle on residential, commercial or agricultural land unless it sits in a fully enclosed building or is "shielded or screened from view." That phrase means not visible from ground level outside the property. A locality may also cap how many such cars you keep.

After reasonable notice, the locality may remove the car itself. It may also set civil penalties. The law makes it "a Class 3 misdemeanor after three civil penalties in 24 months." Nearly every town page below quotes its local code.

Abandoned cars and towing

An abandoned motor vehicle, 75 pounds or more, is one left unattended over 48 hours on public property in violation of law, or on someone's private land over 48 hours without permission.

Counties, cities and towns may take such cars into custody by ordinance. The holder asks the DMV for the owner and any lienholder. The DMV then sends certified mail giving 15 days to reclaim and remove the car, longer in some cases. If no one does, the locality or its agent sells it at public auction, and Internet auctions count. An inoperable abandoned car can go straight to a licensed demolisher, without title or notice.

Inspection and emissions

Every registered vehicle needs a safety inspection at least every 12 months.

Only cars kept in the counties of Stafford, Prince William, Loudoun, Fairfax and Arlington, or in the cities of Manassas Park, Manassas, Falls Church, Fairfax and Alexandria, need Virginia emissions tests. Registration there costs $2 more. Each certificate or waiver lasts two years, counted from the end of its month of issue, and a sale does not cut that short. See failed emissions.

Registration lapsed while the car sat? Under 12 months, you renew with a $10 late fee unless it is waived. If the car was not driven since it expired, the fee is prorated. Past 12 months, you buy a new 1-, 2- or 3-year registration with no late fee.

Selling in Virginia: the steps

1. Find the title, or order a $15 replacement.
2. Request an offer. Tell us whether it runs, what parts are gone and where it is.
3. Complete Section A.
4. Pull the plates, then report the sale to the DMV.

Virginia's largest cities

Pickup costs nothing in any of them.

• Virginia Beach
• Chesapeake
• Richmond
• Norfolk
• Newport News
• Alexandria, inside the emissions area

All Virginia town pages

Virginia Beach · Chesapeake · Richmond · Norfolk · Newport News · Alexandria · Hampton · Suffolk · Roanoke · Portsmouth · Lynchburg · Harrisonburg · Leesburg · Blacksburg · Charlottesville · Manassas · Danville · Petersburg · Fredericksburg · Winchester · Staunton · Fairfax · Salem · Herndon · Waynesboro · Hopewell · Christiansburg · Culpeper

Phone (877) 421-6008 with questions about your car.

Cities and towns in Virginia

• Alexandria
• Blacksburg
• Charlottesville
• Chesapeake
• Christiansburg
• Culpeper
• Danville
• Fairfax
• Fredericksburg
• Hampton
• Harrisonburg
• Herndon
• Hopewell
• Leesburg
• Lynchburg
• Manassas
• Newport News
• Norfolk
• Petersburg
• Portsmouth
• Richmond
• Roanoke
• Salem
• Staunton
• Suffolk
• Virginia Beach
• Waynesboro
• Winchester