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The bottom line: A junk car in Maine is one where the repair bill would be higher than any offer for the car. That covers a frame the road salt has eaten through, a blown engine, a wreck, and a car that has not moved in two winters. One like that is offered $515, against $565 across the country, and 35% of the junk cars quoted here are offered under $400.
To sell a junk car in Maine, start with quotes. Enter the car details once in our comparison tool and a few online buyers quote it in minutes.
Accept the best quote, and that buyer sends a tow truck. Before it comes, have the title in your name and a photo ID ready. A lost title takes time to replace: 5 to 8 business days by mail.
When the truck arrives, you sign the title over to the driver and are paid before the car is loaded. Notarization is not required. Plates stay with the seller.
Maine has no release of liability form. Your protection is the signed title and a bill of sale, so keep copies of both. Cancel the insurance last, once the paperwork is done.
Automated assistant: general info, not legal advice
Answers come from our state paperwork data and published guides. Confirm anything binding with your state DMV.
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How Do You Sell a Junk Car in Maine?
There are six steps. The first five are done before the truck leaves, and the last one is done once the car has gone.
Step 1: Get quotes from several buyers
A quote form wants the basics first: year, make, model, mileage and your ZIP code. Then it asks whether the car starts and what is wrong with it.
A few buyers want the VIN too. It is stamped on a plate at the bottom of the windshield on the driver’s side, and it is printed on your registration card.
The form also asks whether the wheels, the engine and the catalytic converter are still there. Answer exactly, because the number you get is based on what you typed.
Get at least three quotes. None of them commits you to anything, and these are the three to start with.
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Offer amount 30% 5/5
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Quote speed 20% 5/5
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Pickup speed 20% 4/5
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Vehicle acceptance 15% 5/5
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Process ease 15% 5/5
- Seven days to send photos once you accept
- Handles all the paperwork too
- Buys cars that are missing keys
- Pays cash or check at pickup
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Offer amount 30% 5/5
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Quote speed 20% 5/5
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Pickup speed 20% 5/5
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Vehicle acceptance 15% 4/5
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Process ease 15% 4/5
- Assists with replacement titles
- Buys cars stripped for parts
- Driver pays you before loading
- Quote often needs a phone call
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Offer amount 30% 4.5/5
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Quote speed 20% 5/5
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Pickup speed 20% 4/5
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Vehicle acceptance 15% 4/5
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Process ease 15% 2/5
- Over 200 locations nationwide
- Drop off your car at any yard
- Backed by Copart auction yards
- Pays a check right at pickup
Step 2: Check your paperwork
Get the title and a photo ID out before you accept anything. The name on the title has to be yours, and no lender can still be listed on it.
Title required to sell: yes (vehicles more than 25 model years old exempt).
Odometer line on the title: required for model year 2011 and newer vehicles, with model year 2010 and older, trailers, and vehicles over 16,000 lbs GVWR exempt.
Fill it in before the truck comes, from the details on the title, and keep a copy. Our bill of sale generator does it in a couple of minutes.
The back of the title is explained line by line in our guide to selling a car in Maine.
Every form you might need
With the title in hand, the bill of sale is the only one of these you fill in. The other two come up when the title is missing or the owner has died.
Bill of sale
Maine Motor Vehicle Bill of Sale
Print it and fill it in before pickup day. Your copy is your record.
Inherited car
Form MVT-22 (Affidavit of Surviving Spouse or Personal Representative)
When the owner on the title has died. Who can use it.
Step 3: Accept an offer and book the pickup
You can accept the quote on the site or on the phone. The buyer passes the job to a tow company near you, and that company calls to set a pickup window.
You meet the driver, sign the title, and take the money. If someone else will do that for you, tell the buyer when you book.
Step 4: Get the car ready for the tow truck
The driver backs the truck up to the car and winches it on from behind, so the car needs clear ground on that side. A car parked in by other vehicles, up a soft dirt driveway or behind a snowbank is something to say when you book.
Take everything out of the car before the truck comes: glovebox, trunk, door pockets, under the seats and the spare tire well. Take off any toll pass or parking permit.
Plates stay with the seller. Take them off before the truck arrives.
Lost keys do not stop the pickup, because the driver winches the car on. With no key and a dead battery the odometer cannot be read, so put the last mileage you know on the quote form. There is more on that in our guide to selling a car with lost keys.
Step 5: Sign the title and take payment
The driver looks the car over and you sign the back of the title. Payment is usually cash or check. It depends on the tow company.
You are paid before the car goes on the truck, so count the cash or read the check before it moves.
Keep any paper the driver leaves with you, and check your inbox, because some buyers email the bill of sale and the confirmation instead. The bill of sale asks for the buyer’s name and address: use the company’s, from your offer confirmation, not the driver’s.
Step 6: Deal with the plates and the insurance
Cost to move them to another car: $8.
Cancel the insurance after the truck has left, not before. A pickup that slips a day would otherwise leave the car on your land with no cover.
Put your copy of the bill of sale, a photo of the signed title and the driver’s paperwork in one place. Between them they carry the date the car stopped being yours.
Maine Junk Car Checklist
Before the Sale
At Pickup
After the Sale
What Is Your Junk Car Worth in Maine?
In Maine, a typical junk car is offered $515 (cars 10 years and older, 65 offers, ranked 23 of 44 states). Across the country, half of all offers on old cars fall between $380 and $1,080.
Of the requests here, 14% get no offer at all, from our own quote data.
Nothing moves the offer more than the catalytic converter. With the converter gone, and age and mileage matched, the offer against a comparable car with it moves by about -68%. If it is missing, say so on the form.
Whether the engine starts is the next thing. Against a comparable car that drives, once age and mileage are matched, a car that won’t start moves the offer by about -47%.
Companies That Buy Junk Cars in Maine
Peddle
Peddle buys junk, salvage, and non-running cars
- Buys junk cars anywhere in Maine
- Describe the car online, view the offer, get paid
- Buys used cars no matter what shape they are in
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Offer amount 30% 5/5
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Quote speed 20% 5/5
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Pickup speed 20% 4/5
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Vehicle acceptance 15% 5/5
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Process ease 15% 5/5
Peddle buys a car with a blown engine, a failed transmission or crash damage.
Wheelzy
Wheelzy is best for older, junk or damaged cars
- Free towing from any city or town in Maine
- Branches in Bangor, Lewiston and Portland
- No title-transfer or removal fees on a Maine sale
- Buys sedans, coupes, trucks, vans and SUVs
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Offer amount 30% 5/5
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Quote speed 20% 5/5
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Pickup speed 20% 5/5
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Vehicle acceptance 15% 4/5
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Process ease 15% 4/5
When the title is missing, get the quote from Wheelzy first, because it helps with the replacement. In Maine a replacement takes 5 to 8 business days by mail.
CashForCars
CashForCars runs on Copart's nationwide auction yards
- Yards in Lyman and Windham
- Offer in 60 seconds, from the form or one phone call
- Free towing when it comes for the car
- Takes cars, trucks, SUVs, motorcycles, RVs and boats
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Offer amount 30% 4.5/5
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Quote speed 20% 5/5
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Pickup speed 20% 4/5
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Vehicle acceptance 15% 4/5
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Process ease 15% 2/5
CashForCars is owned by Copart. The cars it buys in Maine are sold on through Copart’s auction yards.
Collect all three numbers even if the first one looks fine. When two or more buyers quote the same car on the same day through our own quote form, the highest and lowest offers are typically $328 apart.
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Can You Sell a Junk Car Without a Title in Maine?
Yes, and Maine sets two age lines for it. Which one applies to your car depends on its model year.
Option 1: Sell it without the title. Maine allows a sale without one on these terms: vehicles more than 25 model years old can be sold with just a bill of sale; vehicles at least 20 model years old can be sold to a licensed recycler, salvage vehicle dealer, or scrap processor with no title required. The statute behind that: 29-A M.R.S. §652, sub-§13 and sub-§18.
The paperwork for that route: Maine Motor Vehicle Bill of Sale for vehicles more than 25 model years old; for a sale to a licensed recycler there is no seller form, and the buyer reports the destruction to the Secretary of State.
Whether an online buyer can take that route depends on the yard it sends the car to. Say on the quote form that there is no title and let the buyer answer.
Option 2: Replace the title, then sell it. Every buyer can then quote the car.
Option 3: Sell the parts one by one. A single part is sold without any title.
It takes weeks, and it only pays on a car with a good engine or a part other owners are looking for. Our guide to selling a car for parts covers it.
Learn more: How to Sell a Car Without a Title
Getting a Replacement Title in Maine
What a replacement title takes in Maine:
- Application: Form MVT-8
- Where to submit: online (eligible vehicles), by mail to the Maine BMV Title Section in Augusta, or in person at any BMV branch
- Fee: $33
- Processing time: 5 to 8 business days by mail
- Rush option: yes, rush processing in 3 to 5 business days
Send the application on the day you start asking for quotes. The wait for the title and the wait for the best offer then run at the same time.
If the old title turns up later, destroy it and use the replacement.
If a lender still holds the title
A car with a lien on the title cannot go to a junk buyer until the lender has cleared it. Ask the lender for the payoff figure before you accept a quote, because when the balance is higher than the offer you pay the difference.
Your lender does it one of these ways: the lender releases the lien using Form MVT-12 (Release of Lien) or signs the lien release directly on the title. Maine uses an Electronic Lien Titling system for participating lenders. Contact your lender to request the release before listing the car for sale.
The payoff and the release are covered in our guide to selling a financed car.
If your title is electronic
Electronic titles: ELT for lienholders only. If a lender holds your title electronically, contact your lender to release the lien and convert your title to paper before selling. The driver takes the paper title away with the car, so book the pickup only once it has arrived.
If the car is titled in another state
You can sell the car in Maine on a title another state issued. Name that state on the quote form, because the buyer works from the title you hold.
If that title is lost, the replacement comes from the state that issued it, on that state’s form and at that state’s pace. Maine does not replace a title it never issued.
Selling a Junk Car That Isn’t in Your Name
The buyer pays whoever is named on the title. When the owner has died, the form Maine uses to move the title is Form MVT-22 (Affidavit of Surviving Spouse or Personal Representative). Once the title is in your name, the junk sale is the same as any other.
Maine’s rule on a gifted car: No form is named. The recipient must pay nothing at all, including taking over a loan balance.
A car that a stranger abandoned on your land is not yours to sell. It goes through the abandoned vehicle process, which starts with the town or the police rather than with a buyer.
Local Dismantlers vs Online Buyers in Maine
Selling to a local yard
A yard prices the car by its weight, and the price of scrap steel moves. A number given over the phone is not written down anywhere.
Ask about the tow before you agree to anything. A yard that collects the car may take the cost of the tow off the price.
Ask what license the yard holds, and note the name of the person who gave you the number.
Selling to an online buyer
An online buyer puts its number in writing before any truck is booked, and three of those numbers can be on your screen in an afternoon. The price takes in the parts that can be sold again, not only the weight of the shell.
The truck it sends belongs to a local tow company, the same kind a yard would send. What differs is that the number was agreed before the truck was booked.
Our guide to how online buyers work out an offer goes through what moves the number.
When selling it yourself makes sense
A car with a good engine or a common model name can bring more from a mechanic or a hobbyist than from a scrap buyer. That sale takes weeks, and the buyer has to bring a trailer.
Storing a Junk Car in Maine
Your town sets its own rule on an unregistered car kept in view, and the town office enforces it. A written notice can be followed by a fine, and then by a tow at your expense.
Park it where a flatbed can still reach it in February, not where the plow piles the snow. Salt and damp work on brake lines and floors all winter, and mice move into the wiring.
The rest of what a stored car needs is in our guide on how to store a junk car.
Maine Motor Vehicle Resources
- Motor vehicle agency: Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV)
- Titles and selling: Maine BMV Vehicles and Titles Information
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to sell a junk car in Maine?
An offer comes back within minutes. The tow company sets the pickup day, and an address far from any town can wait longer than one in it.
A replacement title, if you need one, adds its own wait before any of that.
Does anything have to be notarized to junk a car in Maine?
Title notarization: not required.
Bill of sale notarization: not required.
Does a junk car need an emissions test or an inspection to sell in Maine?
Emissions test to sell: not required (buyer needs a passing test to register in Cumberland County).
Junk buyers do not ask for test results.
Do I have to tell Maine I sold the car?
Can I junk a car with expired registration in Maine?
Yes. Registration is for driving the car on the road, and this car leaves on a flatbed. You don’t need to renew it first.
Keep the old registration card if you still have it. It is one more paper with your name and the VIN on it.
What happens to my junk car after I sell it in Maine?
The yard takes off what it can sell again: the converter, the wheels, the engine, the doors. The shell is crushed and goes out as scrap steel.
What if the junk car offer changes when the driver arrives in Maine?
The driver can offer less when the car does not match the form: a converter that is gone, wheels that are missing, or a car that was said to run and does not.
Nothing obliges you to accept the lower number. Until you sign the title the car is still yours, so you can send the truck away and use one of your other quotes.
Is it worth repairing my car instead of junking it in Maine?
Get a repair estimate and set it against two numbers: the junk offer and what the car would be offered once it runs. When the repair costs more than the difference between those two, the repair loses money.
The other route for a car with a good engine or a hard-to-find part is selling it for parts.
Article Update History
Added Maine's two age lines for selling without a title, and what to keep when the state asks for no release form.
Originally posted and shared with our readers.
Sources
Replacement Title Processing Time
"5 to 8 business days by mail" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"not required" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"required for model year 2011 and newer vehicles, with model year 2010 and older, trailers, and vehicles over 16,000 lbs GVWR exempt" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Duplicate Title Application Form
"Form MVT-8" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"Maine Motor Vehicle Bill of Sale" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Inherited Vehicle Title Transfer Form
"Form MVT-22 (Affidavit of Surviving Spouse or Personal Representative)" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"$8" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Conditions to Sell Without Title
"vehicles more than 25 model years old can be sold with just a bill of sale; vehicles at least 20 model years old can be sold to a licensed recycler, salvage vehicle dealer, or scrap processor with no title required" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"the lender releases the lien using Form MVT-12 (Release of Lien) or signs the lien release directly on the title. Maine uses an Electronic Lien Titling system for participating lenders. Contact your lender to request the release before listing the car for sale." Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV)" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
How to Complete a Gift Transfer
"No form is named. The recipient must pay nothing at all, including taking over a loan balance" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Junk Car Value Statistics, Sell Car Advisor
"On this page: 6 figures from 18,326 instant cash offers, and 3 figures from same-day quotes by several buyers" Accessed Sep. 21, 2026
