How to Sell a Junk Car in Montana? (Step-by-Step Guide)

The bottom line: To sell a junk car in Montana, get offers from a few buyers, hand over the signed title when the tow truck arrives, and take payment on the spot. Most people finish in two days.

If your title is missing, that timeline changes. A replacement is cheap, but Montana mails it, and processing runs up to four weeks.

Three buyers cover Montana: Peddle, Wheelzy, and CashForCars. Most Montana junk cars bring $300 to $700. Trucks and SUVs often reach $1,000 to $2,000.

On pickup day you need the title, a photo ID, and no loan on the car. You don’t need a smog test, a safety inspection, or a form to send the state afterwards.

Lost the title? A licensed Montana wrecking yard can still take the car, but a private buyer can’t.

One form gets you several offers at once, so you don’t have to fill in three. Compare offers from multiple buyers in about two minutes.

Most people land here with one specific problem. Jump straight to yours.

Quotes come back in minutes, and pickup usually happens 24 to 48 hours after you say yes. The title is the only thing that can stretch that out.

Quote forms ask for the year, make, model, mileage, ZIP code, and title status. Some ask for the VIN instead of the make and model.

Your VIN is on the driver side dashboard where it meets the windshield, on the sticker inside the driver door, and on your registration card.

Say whether it starts, what parts are missing, and whether the catalytic converter is still on the car. Get that wrong and the price changes at pickup.

A number comes back in about two minutes. It isn’t binding on either side, and all three buyers below hold their offer for seven days.

Filling in three separate forms takes about ten minutes. One form on our tool compares offers from multiple buyers instead.

Top junk car buyers in Montana. All three tow across the state, from Billings and Bozeman out to the eastern counties, where pickup can take an extra day.

You need two things: the Montana title in your name and a photo ID. Expired registration doesn’t stop the sale, and nobody asks to see your insurance.

Title required: yes. If two names are on it, both people sign, and both should be there at pickup.

Odometer rule: the seller discloses the odometer reading at transfer on the title or on Form MV90A, required for vehicles model year 2011 or newer and under 16,000 pounds.

Bill of sale: required. Our bill of sale generator fills one out if you’d rather not print the state PDF.

Missing the title is the one gap that costs real time. Everything else here can be handled the same day.

These are Montana state forms, the same in all 56 counties. Most junk sales need none of them beyond the bill of sale.

Accept online, and a local tow company calls you within a few hours to set a day. In Billings, Missoula, and Bozeman you can often get same-day or next-day pickup.

Smaller towns get fewer slots because one truck covers a long route. You get a window of about four hours, not an exact time.

Someone whose name is on the title has to be there to sign and take payment.

Lost keys are fine, but say so when you book. The driver brings a winch instead of expecting to roll the car onto the flatbed.

Without keys the driver can’t start the car to read the odometer. When the mileage can’t be confirmed, the offer can come in lower than the online quote.

The truck needs a straight run at the car. Move anything blocking the driveway, and clear snow if it has sat all winter.

Empty it out. Check the glovebox, under the seats, the trunk, and the visors, since anything left behind goes with the car.

The driver walks around the car, checks it against what you described, and looks at your title and ID. That takes 10 to 15 minutes.

Notarization is not required for a Montana title. Here’s why: Under House Bill 165, effective October 1, 2025, the signature acknowledgment requirement was stricken, so a notary is no longer needed to transfer a title between individuals.

You sign the title over right there and hand it to the driver. Payment is usually cash or check. It depends on the tow company.

For the section-by-section walkthrough of signing a Montana title, see our guide to selling a car in Montana.

Your plates stay with the seller, so pull them before the truck leaves. You can transfer your plates to another vehicle you own, or destroy them.

Montana has no release of liability form. Keep copies of the signed title and bill of sale as your proof of sale.

Cancel the insurance after the car is gone, not before. If you cancel early and the pickup slips a day, the car sits uninsured on your property.

The buyer then has 40 days from the date of sale to title and register it. That deadline is theirs, and it doesn’t affect you once you have your signed copies.

Most junk cars bring $300 to $700. Trucks, SUVs, and diesels run higher, often $1,000 to $2,000, and a heavy 4×4 in one piece can beat that.

Two things set the number. The first is scrap weight, which is why a Ford F-250 with a blown engine beats a Honda Civic that runs.

The second is the parts still bolted to it. Buyers resell the converter, the alternator, the wheels, and anything else that comes off clean.

Here’s what moved the number in our latest round of quote tests.

The catalytic converter is the biggest single swing. Still attached, it can be worth several hundred dollars on its own. Cut off, expect the offer to drop by roughly that much.

Weight beats condition. A 2007 Chevrolet Trailblazer that doesn’t drive, with exterior damage and 257,690 miles, was offered $355 by Peddle and $375 by CashForCars. A lighter sedan in similar shape came in lower.

A salvage title costs you less than people expect. A 2003 Honda Accord with 199,827 miles and a salvage title was offered $385 by Peddle and $387 by CashForCars. Junk buyers price on weight and parts, so the brand matters less here than it would in a private sale.

Running or not barely registers. Our 2008 Subaru Outback with rear damage and 168,000 miles was offered $385 by both Peddle and Wheelzy. Whether the engine turns over changes junk value far less than most sellers assume, which is good news if yours won’t start.

Distance costs money in Montana. Offers on the same car can differ between Billings and a ranch two hours from the nearest yard, because the tow eats into what the buyer can pay.

Missing wheels or a missing engine drops you to scrap. At that point the car is priced by the ton, and the ceiling is low.

For a state-by-state look at who tends to come in highest, see who gives the most cash for junk cars.

All three buy cars that don’t run. Nobody asks you to get it started, cleaned, or moved. They send a truck.

Peddle picks up in Billings, Missoula, Great Falls, Bozeman, Helena, and Kalispell, and reaches most towns along I-90 and I-15.

The form takes about two minutes. They buy cars with missing keys and handle the transfer paperwork with you at pickup.

Wheelzy covers Billings, Bozeman, Missoula, Butte, Great Falls, and Havre, with same-day pickup in several of those.

Your price locks at pickup as long as the car matches what you described. They don’t buy anything older than 1981, which rules out a fair few Montana barn finds.

CashForCars runs buying locations in Billings and Helena and tows in from Bozeman, Missoula, Great Falls, and Butte.

They’re owned by Copart, so offers are priced off recent auction results. Payment here is by check, and your bank may hold it for a day.

Start with Peddle if the keys are gone or the car is simply old and tired. Go to Wheelzy for a wrecked car, one that won’t start, or one already stripped for parts, and to CashForCars if you’re near Billings or Helena and want the shortest tow.

See all three anyway. In our testing the spread on the same car ran to about $35, and which one came out on top changed from car to car.

Montana gives you three ways forward when the title is gone.

1. Take it to a licensed wrecking yard. Conditions: a private sale needs the signed title, while a licensed junk or wrecking buyer can take the vehicle on a notarized bill of sale or release of ownership in place of a title.

You sign that document in front of a notary, so book one before pickup or meet the driver at a bank branch. Nothing gets filed with the state, because the yard keeps the record in its own books.

2. Apply for a replacement title first. This is the route that keeps every buyer available to you, including the three above. It’s the slower option, so start it today if you go this way.

3. Apply for a bonded title. This one is for cars bought years ago on a handshake, where the state has no record. Legal basis: MCA 61-3-208 authorizes a bonded title (Break/Bond, Form MV10) when no record of the title can be found, and Title 75, chapter 10, part 5 lets licensed wrecking facilities take a vehicle for parts or scrap.

Who that first route leads to is the part most people get wrong. It runs to Montana wrecking facilities licensed by the Department of Environmental Quality, not to national online buyers, and not to a neighbor who wants the car for parts.

That’s the trade-off. The yard takes it without a title but usually offers less.

Apply on Form MV7.

Where to send it: online through MVD Online Services, or by mail to the Vehicle Services Bureau, P.O. Box 201431, Helena, MT 59620-1431.

Send it off and get quotes the same day. Nothing about the offer depends on the title arriving first.

Is it worth it? If the car would bring $500 or more, yes, because the fee is a few dollars and the online buyers offer more than a yard taking it on a bill of sale. Below about $300, a licensed local yard is the better use of your month.

Peddle, Wheelzy, and CashForCars all decline cars with money still owed on them, so the lien has to come off first.

How the lender releases it: the lienholder completes a Release of Security Interest or Lien (Form MV37A) or provides a release on official letterhead, Montana is not a title-holding state so the owner holds the title while the lender holds a security interest filing.

Call your lender, pay the balance, and ask them to send the release.

Most Montana sellers have a physical title in a drawer somewhere.

Electronic titles: Title replacement is handled through Form MV7 by mail or through MVD Online Services as Montana moves toward electronic titling.

If you can’t find a paper title and you’re not sure one was ever issued to you, call the Vehicle Services Bureau before filing anything.

Sell it on the out-of-state title. Sign it over the same way you would a Montana one, and the buyer handles the rest on their end.

Moving it onto a Montana title first is a step you don’t need for a junk sale. VIN inspection: Montana has no mandatory periodic safety inspection program, a VIN inspection (Form MV20) is used only to verify out-of-state vehicles.

Whose name is on the title decides what you can do, and there are three common versions of this in Montana.

The owner died. Form: Form MV12 Application for Title of a Vehicle by Right of Survivorship or Inheritance, submitted with Form MV1.

Estate threshold: $50,000, with estates under that amount able to use an Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property and estates at or above it requiring a probate-appointed personal representative.

Get the title into your own name first. None of the online buyers can take a car still titled to someone who has died.

Someone gave it to you. Gift form: No separate gift transfer form. Montana has no general sales tax, so the donor assigns the title and the recipient files the standard title application.

It was left on your property. You can’t sell a car you don’t own. Start with your county sheriff or city police, who run the abandoned vehicle process in Montana.

Montana has an actual legal definition, which is unusual. It came out of the 1973 Motor Vehicle Recycle and Disposal Act, and it exists to keep dead cars out of view from the road.

None of it stops you selling your car. It does change what happens if the car sits in your yard for another year.

Local yards quote one car at a time, usually over the phone, and the number depends on what they need that week. You’ll get a different answer from each yard you call.

Online buyers quote from a national parts and scrap market, so the numbers land closer together. In our testing the three of them came within about $35 of each other on the same car.

The yard wins on one thing, and it’s the title. That matters if a replacement would take a month and the car isn’t worth much.

There’s a third option people forget. Your county will haul a junk vehicle away for free, funded by a small fee already built into your registration. You get no money, but you also make no phone calls.

If the car has usable parts on it, selling beats scrapping every time. Stripping it yourself first is another route, covered in our guide to selling a car for parts.

Cities and counties add their own nuisance rules on top of the state screening rule. Billings, Missoula, and Bozeman all have ordinances covering inoperable vehicles on residential lots.

Winter does the rest of the damage. A car sitting through two Montana winters loses value as the interior takes on water and the brakes seize, which makes it harder to load.

If you’re keeping it a while, park it on gravel rather than grass, pull the battery, and cover it. If you’re not, sell it before the next freeze.

Agency: Montana Motor Vehicle Division (MVD)

Official selling guide: MT MVD, Tips for Selling a Vehicle in Montana

For free county haul-away, call your county public works or solid waste office. Every Montana county runs one.

Two days if you have the title. The quote takes two minutes, and pickup is usually 24 to 48 hours after you accept.

Without the title it’s a month or more, because a replacement runs up to four weeks and comes by mail. A licensed Montana yard is the way around that.

Conditions: a private sale needs the signed title, while a licensed junk or wrecking buyer can take the vehicle on a notarized bill of sale or release of ownership in place of a title.

So it depends who is buying. The national online buyers all need the title in hand.

Fee: $10.30, dropping to $5 on July 1, 2026.

There’s no rush option. Montana mails every replacement title, so the wait is the same whatever you pay.

Notarization is not required. Older guides and forum posts still say otherwise, so check the date on anything you read.

The one place a notary still comes up is the no-title route through a licensed wrecking yard.

Use Form MV24, a fillable PDF from the MVD.

Notarizing it is not required for an ordinary sale. Keep your copy, since Montana has no other paperwork proving the car left your hands.

Emissions testing is no testing required and a safety inspection is not required.

Nobody will ask you for either one, whatever shape the car is in.

Form to file: None required.

That puts the weight on your own records, so photograph the signed title and the bill of sale before the car goes.

Plates stay with the seller, so take them off before the truck leaves.

Liability: no, removing your plates does not by itself release liability, the signed title and completed Form MV24 serve as proof of sale.

Not until the loan is cleared. Pay the balance, get the release from your lender, then sell like anyone else.

On a junk car the payoff is often more than the car is worth, so check that before you start.

Yes. Registration proves the car was road legal, and the title proves you own it. Only ownership matters here.

Nobody asks to see it, and you don’t need to renew anything before pickup.

The driver checks the car against what you entered online. If something wasn’t mentioned, most often a missing catalytic converter, the offer can be lower at pickup.

You can say no and keep the car. Describing the damage accurately in the quote form is the way to avoid it.