What paperwork you need to junk a car

What paperwork do you need to junk a car?

The paperwork to junk a car depends on the state. In Indiana, the sale needs the title or a BMV certificate of authority, whatever the car’s age. In Illinois, the law lists the ownership papers a scrap processor must collect, so tell us which papers you have and we’ll confirm on the call.

Everything below comes from statute pages and BMV pages we opened and list under Sources. Where the wording matters, it’s quoted, because a loose paraphrase of title law is how sellers end up with a car nobody can take.

Illinois and Indiana side by side

	Illinois	Indiana
The title	First paper on the scrap processor’s list	One of two papers a recycler must get
No title	Other listed papers; we confirm yours on the call	Only at 15+ model years, with a BMV certificate of authority
The car’s age	No age exemption from the paper list in the statutes quoted here	Title or certificate needed at any age
Plates	Owner removes them, returns or reassigns them	Seller removes plate and registration
Who files	Whoever holds the junk car applies for a junking certificate	Seller gets the certificate of authority from the BMV
A loan on the car	No lienholder, or a valid lien release	Seller signs that there’s no lien

What Illinois law says about junking a car

Two sections of the Illinois Vehicle Code speak directly to the paper side of a junk sale. Neither one is long, and neither sets an age past which a car can go without ownership papers.

625 ILCS 5/3-117.1: the junking certificate

Under subsection (a), a person who possesses a junk vehicle has 15 days to surrender “the certificate of title, salvage certificate, certificate of purchase, or a similarly acceptable out-of-state document of ownership” to the Secretary of State, along with an application for a junking certificate. Once that certificate is issued, the statute says “a certificate of title shall not again be issued for such vehicle.” A junked car stays junked.

The same subsection lets the owner skip surrendering the title in two cases: there’s no lienholder on it, or the owner has a valid lien release and matches the current title record. (The section opens with exceptions for Chapter 4 and Section 3-117.3, which don’t come up in an ordinary junk sale and aren’t covered here.)

625 ILCS 5/5-401.3: what a scrap processor has to collect

This is the section that decides what changes hands at the curb. For an ordinary owner (anyone not licensed under that chapter of the Vehicle Code), subsection (a)(2) says the person disposing of the vehicle must give the scrap processor documentary proof of ownership in one of these forms:

• a Certificate of Title or a Salvage Certificate
• a Junking Certificate
• a Secretary of State Junking Manifest
• a Certificate of Purchase, “or other similar documentary proof of ownership”

The processor “shall not acquire a vehicle, junk vehicle or vehicle cowl without obtaining one of the aforementioned documentary proofs of ownership.” The seller’s identity is recorded too, from at least two sources of identification, one of which must be a driver’s license or State Identification Card. Those records are kept for 3 years.

So which papers work for an Illinois sale?

The list ends with “other similar documentary proof of ownership,” and the statute doesn’t define it. We won’t guess on a web page. Tell us which papers you have (the title, a registration card, a bill of sale, an insurance card, anything that shows your name next to the VIN) and we confirm on the call whether they’ll do, before anyone books a truck.

Indiana’s rule: title or certificate of authority

Northwest Indiana pickups, from Hammond as far as Gary and the towns touching it, follow Indiana law, and Indiana spells the rule out more tightly.

IC 9-22-5-18 says that before you sell, give or dispose of a vehicle to an automotive salvage recycler, you hand the recycler one of two papers: a BMV certificate of authority that authorizes scrapping or dismantling, or a certificate of title. Knowingly breaking that rule is a Class C misdemeanor.

IC 9-32-9-29 adds the age line. A recycler may buy a car without a title only when the car is at least 15 model years old, it’s bought for scrap metal or parts, and the seller presents a certificate of authority. Then subsection (d): a recycler that knowingly buys a vehicle under 15 model years old “without a certificate of title or certificate of authority” commits a Level 6 felony. For a newer Indiana car with neither paper, that ends the conversation, however good the rest of the deal looks.

When a sale goes through on a certificate of authority, the recycler has its own records to keep under the same section: a copy of the seller’s ID, the seller’s signed statement that they have the right to sell, that the car “is not subject to a security interest or lien” and that it will be dismantled or destroyed, plus photos of the seller and the vehicle.

What the Indiana papers cost

The BMV fee chart lists $15 to issue, duplicate or replace a title, and the original becomes void once a duplicate is issued. A certificate of authority (State Form 55018) has a $4 application fee. Our Indiana pickup page lists the towns we reach across the state line and how this rule plays out there.

License plates after the sale

Plates don’t go with a junk car in either state.

In Illinois, 625 ILCS 5/3-501 says the registration expires when the owner transfers the vehicle, and “the owner shall remove the registration plates and registration stickers” and forward them to the Secretary of State, or have them assigned to another vehicle on payment of the required fees.

Indiana’s IC 9-18.1-4-6 works much the same way. The registration expires on transfer, and the seller removes the license plate and the certificate of registration. Within 30 days, the seller may give the BMV the registration and proof of the transfer, so its records show the car has left your hands. Take the plates off before the truck shows up, not after.

A loan still on the car

If a lender’s name is printed on the title, deal with that first. Illinois only lets an owner skip surrendering the title when there’s no lienholder or the owner holds a valid lien release. Indiana’s certificate route asks you to sign that the car isn’t subject to a lien at all.

Paid the loan off years ago? Then the paper you’re hunting for is the lien release from that lender, not a new title.

Do you need a bill of sale to junk a car?

Not by name. Illinois’ list in 5-401.3 doesn’t mention a bill of sale, and Indiana asks for the title or the certificate of authority. Keep one for your own records if you like, but don’t count on it standing in for a title. If a bill of sale is all you’ve got, say so, and we’ll tell you on the call where that leaves you.

When your papers don’t fit the usual pattern

A few situations get their own guide:

• Title or keys missing? The guide to selling with no title or no keys walks through both states’ no-title routes in order and what to tell us when the keys are gone.
• If the car sits in Chicagoland on a Wisconsin or Michigan title, or you’ve moved away and left it here, read junking a car with an out-of-state title before you start hunting for forms.
• Thinking of donating instead of selling? Whether a junk car can be written off sets out the IRS rules, including when a charity has to send you Form 1098-C.
• People still ask about trading a car in for a federal credit. What happened to Cash for Clunkers explains when it closed and what’s left.

Selling inside the city limits? How to junk a car in Chicago puts the papers into the full order of steps, from the first photo to the plates coming off.

Once you know what you’ve got

Gather what you have, then send the car’s details or call (708) 663-1010 any day between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. The offer doesn’t expire, so it still stands if you need a few weeks to get a lien release or a duplicate from the BMV. Nothing comes off it for the tow, and payment happens when the car is loaded. How we buy junk cars covers the area and the rest of the process.

Sources for this guide

• 625 ILCS 5/3-117.1 on FindLaw: junking certificate, the 15-day application, out-of-state ownership documents, the lien exception.
• 625 ILCS 5/5-401.3 on FindLaw: the ownership papers a scrap processor must collect, seller ID, 3-year records.
• 625 ILCS 5/3-501 on FindLaw: registration expires on transfer; plates and stickers removed.
• IC 9-22-5-18 on FindLaw: title or certificate of authority to an Indiana recycler; Class C misdemeanor.
• IC 9-32-9-29 on FindLaw: the 15 model year rule, the recycler’s records, the Level 6 felony.
• IC 9-18.1-4-6 on FindLaw: Indiana plates and registration on transfer.
• Indiana BMV fee chart (PDF): $15 title and duplicate title, $4 certificate of authority.
• Indiana BMV duplicate title application: duplicate title fee and the original becoming void.
• Indiana BMV certificate of authority packet (PDF): State Form 55018 and its $4 fee.