Selling a dead or junk car in Wisconsin

WisDOT issues every title

Wisconsin titles come from the state, not a county. WisDOT DMV, the motor vehicle division of the state's Department of Transportation, is in charge.

One rule comes first: the title must already carry your name. Reselling a car that is titled to another person is something only a dealer holding a state license may do.

Turn the title over. The seller's block asks for:

• your signature, plus the date
• the odometer reading
• any brand disclosure
• what the buyer paid
• the buyer's name and street address

Look at the joining word on the owner line. AND means everyone listed must sign. OR means one signature is enough.

A lien printed on the title needs clearing paperwork. The buyer needs two papers from you: the title and a lien release from your lender. The statute calls the seller's part an "assignment and warranty of title," handed over with the certificate at delivery. Our lien release guide has more.

Plates stay off the car

Plates never ride along on a sold or junked auto or light truck. The only exceptions WisDOT lists are heavy trucks, mopeds and trailers.

What to do with them:

• switch unexpired plates over to a similar vehicle that you, your spouse or your domestic partner has titled
• or destroy them

The DMV does not want them mailed back. Unused registration time is not refunded when plates are not moved over. If a set went out on the car by accident, file form MV2514, the License Plates Cancellation Application.

The seller notification

In Wisconsin, the seller's step is the seller notification, required by Wis. Stat. 342.41 when one person sells to another person. A junk car sold with only a bill of sale still counts. File within 30 days.

The report covers four facts: sale date, sale price, buyer's identity and VIN. The online version works only for an individual seller, never a business. It asks for your license or ID number, date of birth, the VIN and your SSN's last 4 digits.

Form MV2928, the state's Instructions for Selling a Vehicle, carries an optional bill of sale. See our bill of sale guide for what goes on one.

Lost title? Junk it anyway

Wisconsin is easy here. A missing title need not be replaced when the car is going to junk.

For a normal sale, a replacement costs $20. Use form MV2119, Wisconsin Title or Registration Application, and tick the Replacement Title Fee box. Once the new title arrives, that is the one you sign over, even if the old one shows up later; destroy the old one. More in selling a junk car with no title.

Junk status is permanent

Chapter 342 gives the holder of a junk vehicle 10 days to tell the department and send back its title. It also says "no title may be issued" for a junk vehicle.

WisDOT spells out what that means. Repairs make no difference: once junked, a car is shut out of titling and registration for good. When an auto is junked, its owner pulls the plates, then either keeps them for a same-type vehicle or destroys them (342.34).

Salvage at 70 percent

Wisconsin draws its salvage line at 70 percent. Picture an insurer settling a claim where the payout, deductible and all, passes 70 percent of fair market value, while the owner holds on to the car. That insurer then has to write to the department within 30 days. An owner holding a salvage vehicle without a salvage title has to apply for one promptly.

Brands a Wisconsin title may carry besides salvage:

• flood damaged vehicle
• manufacturers buyback
• previously salvage
• transferred to insurer
• hail-damaged, unless fixed with replacement parts

The salvage title guide covers what a brand does to a sale.

Abandoned and towed cars

State law bars parking a vehicle anywhere it "reasonably appears" abandoned. First-class cities set the clock at 48 hours unattended; after that the car is abandoned and a public nuisance. Other places let the local governing body pick the period. Cities, villages, towns and counties may all adopt their own removal ordinances.

Two exceptions apply. Cars parked out of ordinary public view fall outside this rule, and neither is one a municipal or county official has designated as not abandoned.

Impounded cars wait in storage until claimed or disposed of. Within 24 hours of ordering the tow, the officer gives the towing company the names of the registered owner and lienholders. Where the tow and storage bill would exceed what the car is worth, the law allows junking or an early sale. Substantially complete cars older than 19 model years are handled under a different disposal provision. Every abandonment, impound and disposal cost lands on the owner. Read towed or impounded cars.

Letting registration lapse can cost you too. Reapply later and you owe fees back to the end of the last registered period. Two exceptions: someone else owned it in between, or 12 months or more have passed and you file a written statement saying the car sat unused.

Emission tests in seven counties

Testing is limited to seven southeastern counties. They are Milwaukee, Waukesha, Washington, Ozaukee, Sheboygan, Racine and Kenosha. WisDOT sends a notice when your car needs one.

Cars that must test:

• 1996 to 2006 models under 8,501 pounds GVWR on gasoline, natural gas or hybrid power
• anything from model year 2007 on, through 14,000 pounds GVWR

If your car doesn't run, you can sell the whole car as it sits. See failed emissions.

Selling in Wisconsin, in order

1. Make sure the title is yours. No title? Junking still works.
2. Ask for an offer. Say where the car is parked and what is wrong.
3. Fill in the title, or mark it Junk, and attach any lien release.
4. Keep the plates, then send the seller notification inside 30 days.

The six largest cities

All Wisconsin town pages

Pickup is free anywhere in the US, including every town here: Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha, Racine, Appleton, Eau Claire, Waukesha, Oshkosh, Janesville, West Allis, La Crosse, Sheboygan, Wauwatosa, Fond du Lac, Brookfield, Menomonee Falls, Wausau, New Berlin, Sun Prairie, Oak Creek, Greenfield, Franklin, Beloit, Manitowoc, Fitchburg, West Bend, Mount Pleasant, Neenah, Superior, Stevens Point, Muskego, De Pere, Caledonia, Mequon, Middleton, Watertown, Howard, Pleasant Prairie, Germantown, Onalaska, South Milwaukee and Oconomowoc.

Each town page covers its local junk-car rules. Want to talk first? Call (877) 421-6008.

Cities and towns in Wisconsin

• Appleton
• Beloit
• Brookfield
• Caledonia
• De Pere
• Eau Claire
• Fitchburg
• Fond du Lac
• Franklin
• Germantown
• Green Bay
• Greenfield
• Howard
• Janesville
• Kenosha
• La Crosse
• Madison
• Manitowoc
• Menomonee Falls
• Mequon
• Middleton
• Milwaukee
• Mount Pleasant
• Muskego
• Neenah
• New Berlin
• Oak Creek
• Oconomowoc
• Onalaska
• Oshkosh
• Pleasant Prairie
• Racine
• Sheboygan
• South Milwaukee
• Stevens Point
• Sun Prairie
• Superior
• Watertown
• Waukesha
• Wausau
• Wauwatosa
• West Allis
• West Bend