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The bottom line: To sell a junk car in Michigan, get a few online quotes, then hand over the signed title when the tow truck arrives. Most sales finish in two to three days.
Peddle, Wheelzy, and CashForCars all buy non-running cars here. Most junk cars bring $200 to $700. Heavier trucks and SUVs go higher.
You need the title and a photo ID at pickup. Notarization is not required.
If your title is lost, replace it before you book a pickup. online service is fastest. Mail takes up to 14 days. Same-day instant title is available at any SOS office for $20.
You can compare offers from multiple buyers in one place.
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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Most people land here with one specific problem. Jump straight to yours.
How to Sell a Junk Car in Michigan, Step by Step
Six steps, and only the paperwork one can slow you down. Everything else runs on the buyer’s schedule.
Step 1: Get quotes from several buyers
Online quote forms ask for the year, make, model, mileage, and what’s wrong with the car. Some ask for the VIN, which sits on a plate at the bottom of the windshield on the driver’s side, or on the sticker inside the driver’s door frame.
These are firm offers rather than estimates. How long each one holds is set by the buyer, so check the window before you sit on a number.
Offers for the same car vary by a couple hundred dollars between buyers, because each one runs on scrap weight, parts demand, and which tow partners work your area.
Rather than filling out three separate forms, enter your details once and compare offers from multiple buyers side by side. Same numbers, about ten minutes saved.
Top junk car buyers in Michigan. All three quote anywhere in the state and arrange pickup through local towing partners.
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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
- Quote stays valid for 7 days
- 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
You need two things in hand: the Michigan title, signed over at pickup, and a photo ID. Here’s what the state does and doesn’t ask for.
- Title required to sell: yes
- Emissions test to sell: no testing required
- Safety inspection to sell: not required
- Bill of sale: recommended
Odometer disclosure is required for model year 2011 and newer vehicles, with model year 2010 and older, trailers, and vehicles over 16,000 lbs GVWR exempt. When it applies, you write the mileage on the title itself.
Michigan publishes no official bill of sale form, so any written record works. You can make one with our bill of sale generator.
If the title is missing, fix that before you book anything. Start at getting a replacement title.
If your registration expired
An expired registration doesn’t stop a junk sale. Ownership is proved by the title, not the tab, and the car is leaving on a truck rather than being driven.
You don’t need to renew anything first.
Every form you might need
Most junk sales need no forms at all. These come up when something is missing or the car isn’t straightforwardly yours.
Replacement title
Form: Form TR-11L
Use this when the title is lost, stolen, or too damaged to read. See the section.
Odometer disclosure
Form: Form BDVR-108 (Odometer Mileage Statement)
Only needed if the title has no space for the mileage. See step 2.
Inherited vehicle
For a car left by someone who died. See the section.
Selling without a title
Form: none; the buyer applies for an original certificate of title at the SOS office
This route needs both people at a branch. See why that matters.
Step 3: Accept an offer and book the pickup
Once you accept, the buyer passes your details to a local tow company. Someone calls or texts within a few hours to set a window, usually one to two days out.
Arrival times move around, so plan on a window rather than an exact hour.
Whoever is named on the title has to be there to sign. If two names are on it, ask the buyer whether both signatures are needed before you set a time.
Step 4: Get the car ready for the tow truck
Flatbeds need room to back in and winch. If the car sits behind a fence, in a hard to reach spot, or under snow, clear the path and tell the buyer when you book.
Empty the car first. Check the glovebox, the center console, under the seats, and the trunk, because whatever you leave goes with it.
Plates stay with the seller, so take them off the car before the driver loads it.
If you lost the keys
A flatbed can winch the car on without keys, so most buyers still take it. Say so on the quote form.
It can change the number. Without keys the driver may not be able to check the odometer or move the car under its own power, and buyers price that in. Flagging it upfront means the offer you get is the offer you keep.
Step 5: Sign the title and take payment
The driver checks that the car matches what you described and looks over your paperwork. Then you sign the title over.
Notarization is not required.
Payment is usually cash or check. It depends on the tow company.
For the full walkthrough of which line to sign and how joint ownership works, see our guide to selling a car in Michigan.
Step 6: Close it out
Now that the plates are off the car, you can transfer them to another vehicle you own, or destroy them. Moving them to another car you own costs $10.
Once the car is gone, call your insurer and drop the coverage. Do that after pickup, not before, so you’re never uninsured while the car still sits in your driveway.
Michigan Junk Car Checklist
Before the Sale
At Pickup
After the Sale
What Your Junk Car Is Worth in Michigan
Most junk cars bring $200 to $700. Complete trucks and SUVs land higher, sometimes past $1,000, and stripped shells fall below the bottom of that range.
Weight drives the floor, because scrap is bought by the ton. Everything above that floor comes from parts a recycler can pull and resell.
The exception is a car that still runs. Even a rough running car is worth several times what the same car brings dead, so check a regular offer before you treat it as junk.
A complete car beats a picked-over one. Buyers price on the assumption that the engine, transmission, wheels, and catalytic converter are all there. Pulling parts to sell separately usually costs you more on the offer than you make back.
A missing catalytic converter drops the number the most. The metals inside it are worth more than any other single part on an old car. Say upfront if it’s gone.
Heavier vehicles are worth more. A full-size pickup carries far more steel than a compact sedan, and the offer follows the curb weight.
Newer junk cars carry better parts. A ten-year-old car with a blown engine still has body panels, electronics, and wheels people want. A twenty-five-year-old car is closer to pure scrap.
Describing damage accurately keeps the number steady. The driver looks the car over at pickup, and anything that doesn’t match the description can mean a lower price at pickup.
For a wider look at how buyers price these cars, see who gives the most cash for junk cars.
Companies That Buy Junk Cars in Michigan
All three of these buy cars that don’t run, and none of them ask you to get it started or bring it anywhere. Towing is free in every case.
Peddle
Peddle buys junk, salvage, and non-running cars
- Quote stays valid for 7 days
- 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% 4/5
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Vehicle acceptance 15% 5/5
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Process ease 15% 5/5
Peddle quotes cars in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Warren, Ann Arbor, Lansing, and Flint, with pickup run through local tow partners.
You answer a short set of condition questions and get a firm number back. The offer holds for seven days, which is enough time to check the others.
One limit worth knowing: they only take cars with a clear title, so a car you still owe money on is out until the lien is released.
Wheelzy
Wheelzy is best for older, junk or damaged cars
- 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% 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
Wheelzy covers Detroit, Sterling Heights, Kalamazoo, Saginaw, Ann Arbor, and Grand Rapids through independent towing contractors.
You can get the offer online or by phone, and it stays valid for seven days. Pickup usually lands within 24 to 48 hours of accepting.
They take wrecked cars, cars already stripped for parts, and old cars with lots of miles.
CashForCars
CashForCars runs on Copart's nationwide auction yards
- Over 200 locations nationwide
- Drop off your car at any yard
- Backed by Copart auction yards
- Pays a check right at pickup
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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 works through yard locations serving Detroit, Flint, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Muskegon, and Traverse City.
After you accept, the nearest location calls to arrange the tow and tell you what to have ready. The quote is good for seven days and they handle the title transfer paperwork on their end.
Because they run physical yards, dropping the car off yourself is an option if you can get it there.
All three take the same kinds of cars, so there’s no wrong pick. They just run different numbers on the same vehicle.
That’s why it’s worth seeing all three side by side rather than accepting the first one. One form does it.
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Selling a Junk Car Without a Title in Michigan
State law lets you transfer a lost title without getting a duplicate first, under MCL 257.229. It works when the seller and buyer both appear in person at a Secretary of State office, the seller proves identity and ownership, and the buyer applies for a new original title in their name.
Both people have to be standing at the counter together. An online buyer who sends a tow truck to your driveway can’t do that, so this route only fits a private sale where the buyer will drive to a branch with you.
For a junk sale, replacing the title takes one trip instead of coordinating two schedules. Start at getting a replacement title.
Learn more: How to Sell a Car Without a Title
Getting a Replacement Title in Michigan
A duplicate costs $15 by mail or $20 same-day in person.
You can apply online through your Michigan Secretary of State account, or in person at a branch office. The form is Form TR-11L, and you’ll need your driver’s license and the VIN.
Apply for it and get quotes at the same time. There’s no reason to wait on the paperwork before finding out what the car is worth.
Official page: Michigan SOS Online Services
If a lender still holds the title
You can’t sign over a title with an active lien on it. The loan has to be paid off and the lien released first.
Call the lender and ask what they need to release it and how they send the clear title. That step runs on their timeline, so start it early.
If the payoff is more than the car is worth, our guide to selling a financed car covers the options.
If your title is electronic
Electronic title records mainly come up when a lender is involved. Once the loan is cleared, the paper title goes out to you.
If you’re not sure which you have, the replacement process above sorts it out either way.
If the car is titled in another state
An out-of-state title is fine. You don’t need to retitle the car in Michigan just to junk it.
Say which state issued it when you get quotes. Buyers work with out-of-state titles regularly, but the paperwork on their side changes slightly.
If that title is also lost, you replace it through the state that issued it, not Michigan.
Selling a Junk Car That Isn’t in Your Name
You can only sign a title that has your name on it. Everything here is about getting it there first.
For a car left by someone who died, the title moves to you before any sale. Bring the affidavit and the original title to a Secretary of State branch office to transfer the title into your name first.
Which affidavit applies depends on the size of the estate and whether probate is involved. Call the branch before you go so you bring the right one.
A car someone left on your property is a different problem entirely, with its own process. See our guide to selling an abandoned vehicle.
What Counts as a Junk Car
There’s no single line where a used car becomes a junk car. What matters in practice is whether the repair bill has passed what the car would be worth fixed.
Here’s how the common situations tend to land.
| Condition | Usually sells as | Best route |
|---|---|---|
| Runs, but needs a repair worth less than the car | Used car | Regular instant offer |
| Won’t start, engine or transmission gone | Junk car | Online junk buyer |
| Wrecked, airbags deployed | Junk or salvage | Online junk buyer |
| Heavy rust, frame compromised | Scrap | Online junk buyer or yard |
| Already stripped of engine and wheels | Bare scrap | Local yard, by weight |
| Flood or fire damage | Junk car | Online junk buyer |
If the car is on the line between the first two rows, get both kinds of quote before deciding. A running car sells for several times what the same car brings once it’s dead.
Local Yards vs Online Buyers
A local yard pays by weight. You call around, get a per-ton number, and often arrange your own towing, which comes out of what you make.
Online buyers price the whole car, parts included, and the tow is free. For a complete car that’s usually the bigger number.
Yards make more sense when the car is already picked over. Once the engine, converter, and wheels are gone, it’s bare steel, and weight is all that’s left to pay for. Selling for parts yourself is a third option, though it takes far longer.
Storing a Junk Car Until It Sells
Michigan winters are hard on a car that isn’t moving. Water gets in, rust spreads, and the offer drifts down the longer it sits.
Keep it on your own property and off the street. Local rules on inoperable vehicles vary by city, and street parking is where they usually come up.
If it’ll be a while, our guide on how to store a junk car covers keeping it from getting worse.
Michigan Motor Vehicle Resources
Michigan Secretary of State: Michigan Department of State (Secretary of State)
Vehicle ownership and transfers: Michigan Secretary of State, Vehicle Ownership
Replacing a lost title: Michigan SOS Online Services
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to sell a junk car in Michigan?
Two to three days if you have the title. Quotes come back fast and pickup usually lands within one to two days of accepting.
Without the title, add the time it takes to replace it. That’s the only step that can stretch the timeline.
Do I need a title to sell my junk car in Michigan?
Title required to sell: yes
Online junk buyers won’t complete a pickup without one. The workaround in state law needs the buyer at the branch office with you, which doesn’t fit a tow truck pickup.
Replacing the title is the practical answer.
How much does a replacement title cost in Michigan?
A duplicate costs $15 by mail or $20 same-day in person. Faster service at a branch office costs $20.
For a junk sale the faster option is usually worth the difference, since it saves waiting before you can hand the car over.
Does the title have to be notarized in Michigan?
Title notarization: not required
Bill of sale notarization: not required
You sign in pen when the driver arrives, and that’s it.
Is a bill of sale required to sell a junk car in Michigan?
Bill of sale: recommended
Any written record with both names, the price, and the date works. It matters more than usual here, because it’s part of the proof you’re told to keep after the sale.
Learn more: What Is a Bill of Sale for a Car
Does my junk car need an emissions test or safety inspection in Michigan?
Emissions test to sell: no testing required
Safety inspection to sell: not required
Nothing has to pass a test before the car leaves your driveway.
What paperwork do I file with the state after selling in Michigan?
A photo of the signed title on your phone is enough. The reason for keeping it is that the record stays in your name until the buyer transfers it.
Do I remove my license plates before pickup in Michigan?
Plates stay with the seller, so take them off before the car is loaded.
After that you can transfer them to another vehicle you own, or destroy them. Moving them to another car you own costs $10.
Can I sell a junk car with a loan on it in Michigan?
Not until the lien is released. Junk buyers need a title with no lender listed on it.
Pay off the balance, get the clear title from the lender, then get quotes. If the payoff is larger than the car’s value, our guide to selling a financed car without paying it off covers what’s left.
How do I sell a junk car that belonged to someone who died?
The title has to move into your name first. Bring the affidavit and the original title to a Secretary of State branch office to transfer the title into your name first.
Bring the death certificate too, and call ahead. Which affidavit applies depends on the estate, and checking first saves a second trip.
Learn more: How to Sell a Car of a Deceased Person
Do junk car buyers charge for towing in Michigan?
No. All three buyers above tow free, whether the car runs or not, and the cost is already built into the offer.
Local yards are different. Some tow free and some deduct it, so ask before you agree to a number.
What if the offer changes when the driver arrives?
The driver confirms the car matches what you described. Details left out of the quote form can mean a different number at pickup.
You’re not obligated to hand over the car. If the revised number doesn’t work, decline and go with another quote, which is exactly why holding more than one offer is useful.
Article Update History
Originally posted and shared with our readers.
Sources
"not required" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
How to Apply for a Replacement Title
"online service is fastest. Mail takes up to 14 days. Same-day instant title is available at any SOS office for $20." Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Emissions Testing Required to Sell?
"no testing 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 TR-11L" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Separate Odometer Disclosure Form
"Form BDVR-108 (Odometer Mileage Statement)" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"Generic (no state form)" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Inherited Vehicle Title Transfer Form
"Form TR-40a (Certification for the Heir to a Vehicle) or Form TR-40b, which replaced the older Form TR-29" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"none; the buyer applies for an original certificate of title at the SOS office" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"$10" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
How to File Release of Liability
"No filing is required. Keep a copy of the signed title and bill of sale for at least 18 months as your proof of sale." Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Inherited Vehicle Form Requirements
"Bring the affidavit and the original title to a Secretary of State branch office to transfer the title into your name first." Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"Michigan Department of State (Secretary of State)" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
