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The bottom line: To sell a junk car in Utah, sign the title over to the buyer, with no notary needed. A bill of sale isn’t required, but it records the price, and without one the buyer’s sales tax is based on the car’s market value.
If you lost the title, sign Parts 1 and 2 of Form TC-123 and give it to the buyer instead. A duplicate title costs $6 and takes 10 to 14 business days.
If the car had a loan, an electronic lien clears on its own once it’s paid, and on a paper title the lender signs it off.
Within 20 days, return the plates to the DMV or move them to another car you own. Report the sale online, by phone at 1-800-DMV-UTAH, or with Form TC-502. Until you do, tickets on the car can still reach you.
In Utah, the typical offer in our data for a junk car 10 years or older is $495.
What would buyers pay for your junk car in Utah?Fill in one form, including whether you have the title, and see which buyers make an offer.
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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
- Free towing
- Fast payment
- Buys non running cars
- Pays by 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
- Buys cars without keys
- Buys cars missing parts, engine and transmission in
- Pays cash or check at pickup
- 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
- Free towing from nearly 200 locations
- Buys any vehicle with a motor, running or not
- Backed by Copart auction yards
- Pays a check right at pickup
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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Start With Your Situation
Choose the card that fits your car.
How Do You Sell a Junk Car in Utah?
The sale takes six steps. Five come before the tow truck leaves, and the report to the DMV comes after.
Step 1: Get quotes from several buyers
Have the year, make, model and mileage to hand, along with your ZIP code. Each form also asks whether the car starts and drives.
If a form asks for the VIN, read it through the windshield at the lower left corner, or copy it from the registration card.
Say what the car is missing and what is broken on it, including the catalytic converter and the wheels. A driver compares the car with your answers before paying.
Get at least three quotes. None of them commits you to anything.
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.
- Odometer reading: required unless the vehicle is 20 years old or older.
Every form you might need
A sale with a clean title in your name needs none of these. They are for a lost title, a car with no Utah record, and a car whose owner has died.
Replacement title
Form TC-123 (Application for Utah Duplicate Title)
For a lost or damaged Utah title. Fee and wait.
Junking without a title
Signed in place of the title. How it works.
Inherited car
Form TC-569C (Survivorship Affidavit), or the court documents a probate produces
Puts the car in the heir’s name. What to bring.
Step 3: Accept an offer and book the pickup
Accept the offer on the buyer’s site or by phone. The buyer passes the job to a tow company near you, and that company contacts you 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 truck has to get close enough to pull the car on. A steep driveway or a car on a dirt lot out of town is worth describing when the tow company calls.
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 you. Take them off before the truck arrives.
Lost keys do not stop the pickup, because the driver winches the car on. Mention it on the quote form, and see our guide to selling a car with lost keys for the rest.
Step 5: Sign the title and take payment
The driver looks the car over and you sign the back of the title. Sign as your name appears on the front, and fill in the odometer line where the back of the title asks for it.
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. When you report the sale, use the company’s name and address from your offer confirmation, not the driver’s.
Step 6: Report the sale and deal with the plates
When to report it: as soon as the car changes hands; no deadline is published.
Liability until you report it: you may be liable for any parking or traffic violations that happen while the plate remains on the car.
Cancel the insurance after the report is in.
Utah Junk Car Checklist
Before the Sale
At Pickup
After the Sale
What Is Your Junk Car Worth in Utah?
In Utah, a typical junk car is offered $495 (cars 10 years and older, 140 offers, ranked 24 of 44 states). Across the country, half of all offers on old cars fall between $375 and $1,075.
Cars 15 years and older are offered $430, and 29% of offers here are under $400, 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 -76%. 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 -48%. Our guide to selling a non-running car goes into it.
Companies That Buy Junk Cars in Utah
Peddle
Peddle buys junk, salvage, and non-running cars
- Buys junk cars anywhere in Utah
- Describe the car online and view the offer
- Takes clunkers, lemons and damaged cars
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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 buys cars in any condition, running or not
- Free removal from any Utah location
- Branches in 14 Utah cities, American Fork to West Jordan
- No title-transfer or removal fees in Utah
- Cashier's check you can cash the same day
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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 Utah a replacement takes 10 to 14 business days.
CashForCars
CashForCars is owned by Copart and buys cars in any condition
- Yards in Ogden and Salt Lake City
- The offer comes back in 60 seconds, by form or by phone
- Payment happens at pickup, not afterwards
- Buys trucks, SUVs, motorcycles, RVs and boats, not just cars
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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 Utah 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 $346 apart.
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Can You Sell a Junk Car Without a Title in Utah?
Yes. Utah has a route for a lost Utah title and another for a car with no Utah record.
Option 1: Sign the duplicate title application over to the buyer. How Utah handles a sale with no title: for a lost Utah title, sign Part 1 and Part 2 of Form TC-123 and give it to the buyer in place of the original. For a vehicle with no Utah record, complete the Insufficient Evidence of Ownership process with an Ownership Statement and a possible surety bond.
Say on the quote form that the title is lost and that you will sign the duplicate title application instead, and let the buyer answer whether it takes the car that way.
Option 2: Order the duplicate first, then sell. Every buyer can then quote the car.
Option 3: Sell the parts one by one. A starter or a set of wheels changes hands with no title. It takes weeks, and our guide to selling a car for parts covers it.
Getting a Replacement Title in Utah
What a replacement title takes in Utah:
- Application: Form TC-123 (Application for Utah Duplicate Title)
- Rush option: no
- Fee: $6
- Processing time: 10 to 14 business days
Order the duplicate on the day you ask for quotes. A buyer quotes the car without seeing the title.
An old title that turns up after the duplicate is issued is no longer valid. Destroy it and sign the new one.
If a lender still holds the title
How the lien comes off: an E-Lienholder removes their interest from the title automatically once the loan is cleared; on a paper title the lienholder signs off and the owner applies for a corrected title at a DMV office
A junk buyer cannot take a car while a lender is still named on the title. Get the payoff figure from the lender before you accept a quote, because a balance larger than the offer is yours to cover.
The payoff and the lien release are laid out in our guide to selling a financed car.
If your title is electronic
Utah runs an e-lien program, and a lender in it removes its interest from the title automatically when the loan clears The driver leaves with the paper title, so book the pickup once it is in your hands.
If the car is titled in another state
A car still on an Idaho or Nevada title can be junked in Utah on that title. Name the state on the quote form and sign where that title asks for the seller.
Signing the duplicate application over works for Utah titles only. A lost title from another state is replaced by that state, on its own form.
Selling a Junk Car That Isn’t in Your Name
The buyer pays whoever is named on the title. When that person has died, the title passes to the heir before a buyer can pay them. The paperwork Utah asks for: Form TC-569C (Survivorship Affidavit), or the court documents a probate produces.
Once the title is in your name, the junk sale is the same as any other.
Utah’s rule on a gifted car: No separate gift transfer form. Utah has no family or gift exemption to claim, so the price actually paid is reported on the title and bill of sale.
A car someone left on your land is not yours to sign over. It goes through the abandoned vehicle process, which begins with the police or the city rather than with a buyer.
Local Dismantlers vs Online Buyers in Utah
Selling to a local yard
A yard works its price out from the weight of the car and that week’s scrap price. What it tells you on the phone is not a written offer, and it can drop once the car is weighed.
Ask whether the yard sends a truck, and whether the tow comes out of the price.
Ask for the name of the business as it appears on its license, and write it on your bill of sale.
Selling to an online buyer
An online buyer gives its number in writing before a truck is booked, so three offers can sit side by side before you pick one. Its price counts the parts it can sell again, not only the steel.
Our guide to how online buyers work out an offer goes through what moves the number.
When selling it yourself makes sense
A truck or an SUV with a sound engine can bring more from a mechanic or a hobbyist than from a scrap buyer. Expect it to take weeks, and expect the buyer to arrive with a trailer.
Storing a Junk Car in Utah
Each city and county sets its own rule on an inoperable car kept in view, and its code enforcement office acts on it. Enforcement can run from a written notice to a fine, and then to a tow you pay for.
Along the Wasatch Front, winter road salt sits on the underside of a parked car until spring. In the south of the state, heat damages the dashboard and the tires.
Everything else a waiting car needs is in our guide on how to store a junk car.
Utah Motor Vehicle Resources
- Motor vehicle agency: Utah Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV)
- Selling a vehicle: Utah DMV, Buying and Selling Responsibilities
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to sell a junk car in Utah?
The offers come back within minutes. The pickup day is set by the tow company when it calls, and an address a long way from the nearest town can take longer.
A duplicate title, if you need one, has its own wait on top.
Is a bill of sale required to junk a car in Utah?
Bill of sale: not required.
State form: Form TC-843 (Bill of Sale).
Write one anyway, since it puts the price and the date on paper with both names. Our bill of sale generator fills one in from the title.
Handing plates back releases you from liability: no, you must separately report the sale to the Utah DMV to release liability.
Does anything have to be notarized to junk a car in Utah?
Title notarization: not required.
Bill of sale notarization: not required.
Does a junk car need an emissions test or an inspection to sell in Utah?
Emissions test to sell: not required (buyer needs a passing test to register in Cache, Davis, Salt Lake, Utah, and Weber counties).
Safety inspection to sell: not required.
Junk buyers do not ask for test results.
Can I junk a car with expired registration in Utah?
Yes. The registration lets a car be driven on the road, and a junk car leaves on a truck. You don’t need to renew it first.
Hold on to the old registration card. It shows your name next to the VIN.
What happens to my junk car after I sell it in Utah?
The buyer sends it on to a salvage yard or an auction lot. Parts worth selling are pulled, the fluids are drained, and the rest is crushed and sold as scrap metal.
What if the junk car offer changes when the driver arrives in Utah?
A driver can lower the offer when the car is not as the form described it, such as a converter or a wheel that is gone. 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 Utah?
Put three numbers side by side: the repair estimate, the junk offer, and what the car would be offered once fixed. When the repair costs more than the gap between the offer now and the offer once fixed, it loses money.
Article Update History
The page now covers the Utah route for selling on a signed duplicate title application, and what the DMV asks once the car has gone.
Originally posted and shared with our readers.
Sources
"yes" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"with you" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Duplicate Title Application Form
"Form TC-123 (Application for Utah Duplicate Title)" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"Form TC-123 for a lost Utah title; Form TC-569A (Ownership Statement) for a vehicle with no Utah record" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"$6" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"Form TC-843 (Bill of Sale)" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Emissions Testing Required to Sell?
"not required (buyer needs a passing test to register in Cache, Davis, Salt Lake, Utah, and Weber counties)" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"No separate gift transfer form. Utah has no family or gift exemption to claim, so the price actually paid is reported on the title and bill of sale" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"Utah Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV)" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"required unless the vehicle is 20 years old or older" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Inherited Vehicle Title Transfer Form
"Form TC-569C (Survivorship Affidavit), or the court documents a probate produces" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
What to Do With License Plates
"within 20 days of the transfer the plates go to the Utah DMV to be destroyed, or onto another vehicle you own, unless the plate was included in the sale" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
"an E-Lienholder removes their interest from the title automatically once the loan is cleared; on a paper title the lienholder signs off and the owner applies for a corrected title at a DMV office" Accessed Sep. 10, 2026
Junk Car Value Statistics, Sell Car Advisor
"On this page: 6 figures from 17,628 instant cash offers, and 3 figures from same-day quotes by several buyers" Accessed Oct. 2, 2026
