Cash for Junk Cars in Alabama | Free Towing Statewide

1-800-We-Junk-Cars buys junk, damaged, and non-running vehicles across all 67 Alabama counties. We pay cash on the spot and tow your car for free, whether you’re in Birmingham, Mobile, or a small town in the Wiregrass. Most sellers get paid within 24 to 48 hours of accepting our offer. No hidden fees. No haggling at pickup. Just a cash offer based on your car’s actual value.

How Selling Your Junk Car Works in Alabama

The whole process usually takes 24 to 48 hours from first call to cash in hand. We pick up statewide—from Huntsville down to Mobile, from the Shoals to the Chattahoochee Valley.

What Is a Junk Car Worth in Alabama?

Most junk cars in Alabama sell for between $150 and $1,500, with the average payout around $350 to $550. Your specific offer depends on a few things we can see and verify.

Scrap metal weight matters most for truly junked vehicles. A full-size pickup weighs more than a compact sedan, so it brings more money. Current scrap steel prices in Alabama typically run $180 to $220 per ton, though this shifts monthly based on global metal markets.

Catalytic converters can add $50 to $250 to your offer if they’re intact. Thieves target these because they contain platinum, palladium, and rhodium. If yours is missing, expect a lower offer.

Title status affects your payout. A clean title means a smoother transaction and often a better offer. No title? We can still buy your car in many cases, but it involves extra steps.

Vehicle Type	Typical Payout Range
Compact Sedan (Civic, Corolla, Focus)	$150 – $450
Full-Size Sedan (Camry, Accord, Malibu)	$200 – $600
SUV or Minivan	$250 – $800
Pickup Truck (F-150, Silverado, Ram)	$300 – $1,500
Non-Running / Parts Only	$100 – $350

Scrap prices change every month based on supply and demand. We pay current market rates, so your offer reflects real-time value—not some outdated estimate.

Alabama Junk Car Laws and Title Requirements

Last reviewed 2026-10-05 against Alabama state sources. Fees and forms change; the official links below are authoritative.

Who Actually Issues an Alabama Title

The Alabama Department of Revenue issues every certificate of title in the state, but you file through a designated agent: your county’s probate judge, license commissioner or revenue commissioner. ADOR’s Vehicle Licensing Offices list covers all 67 counties. Code of Ala. 32-8-44(a) puts two duties on the seller: sign the assignment and warranty of title on the certificate, and deliver that certificate to the buyer. The assignment is itself the transfer document, so a car that already carries an Alabama title needs no separate bill of sale, and ADOR confirms no notary is required on the signature.

The Two Ways to Sell an Alabama Car With No Title

First, age: Section 32-8-31(13) bars ADOR from titling a vehicle more than 35 model years old, recalculated each January 1. For all of 2026 that line sits at model year 1990 and older, and those cars move on a bill of sale. Second, scrap value: under 32-8-87(s)(2) an owner who never titled the car in their own name can sign a sworn statement instead, but only if it is worth $1,000 or less, is at least 12 model years old (2014 or older now), lien-free, and going to a licensed automotive dismantler or secondary metals recycler. The buyer files it as form MVT 5-18 through ADOR’s SCRAP Portal under Rule 810-5-75-.48 within 72 hours, and may not crush or shred the car for 48 hours not counting Saturday and Sunday. A false statement is a Class C felony.

Replacing a Lost Alabama Title

Rule 810-5-75-.15 puts the replacement on form MVT 12-1, completed in ADOR’s public title portal or by a county designated agent. Section 32-8-6 sets the fee at $15, non-refundable; subsection (b) lets the agent retain $1.50. ADOR normally issues in 10 to 15 business days. Where ADOR still shows a lienholder, that company must fill out the application itself unless you supply a separate release.

Salvage, “Parts Only,” and the Title Alabama Never Prints

Alabama issues no junk title and no certificate of destruction. A vehicle becomes salvage at damage of 75 percent of pre-damage fair retail value, and 32-8-87 gives the owner 72 hours to apply on form MVT 41-1. Marked “Junk” or “Sold For Parts Only,” Rule 810-5-75-.57 issues it with a “Parts Only – Non-Rebuildable” legend that no Alabama title can ever follow. Rebuilding instead costs a $75 inspection application plus the $15 title fee.

Plates, Odometer Readings and Loose Catalytic Converters

Alabama stopped transferring ordinary plates between owners on January 1, 1998. Under Code of Ala. 40-12-260, searchable in the Code of Alabama 1975, you pull the plate and keep it, and the buyer has 20 calendar days to register or pay a $15 penalty. Vintage plates are the carve-out: a “vintage vehicle” plate under 40-12-290, for a car over 30 years old, stays with the vehicle. On mileage, model year 2010 and older vehicles are exempt from federal odometer disclosure, as is anything rated 16,000 pounds or heavier; 2011 and newer must be disclosed for 20 years on form MVT 5-5. A loose converter triggers 13A-8-37.3: the buyer needs the donor VIN, part number, your ID and proof of ownership, and 13A-8-31.1 caps a recycler’s cash payment at $50.

Abandoned Cars and the City Rules That Move Faster

A car goes unclaimed after 48 hours; the holder has five calendar days to report it to ADOR’s portal, ADOR freezes the title record for 60 days, and the owner gets certified-mail notice with 30 days to redeem before 32-13-1 calls it abandoned. Section 32-13-8 leaves municipal power untouched, which is why a car in your own driveway runs on a city clock: Huntsville makes you put an inoperable vehicle inside a walled, roofed building, and Montgomery counts it as junk and runs a ten-day abatement notice before a $150 fee attaches.

Cities We Serve in Alabama

Alabama is 67 counties and we quote in all of them. I-65 is the spine, running south from the Tennessee line through the Tennessee Valley at Decatur, down through Birmingham and Jefferson County, past Montgomery, and on to Mobile and the Gulf Coast. Huntsville is not actually on it: the city hangs off I-565, a roughly 22-mile spur that leaves I-65 near Decatur and runs east along the south edge of Cummings Research Park into town, which is why a Madison County pickup and a Jefferson County pickup are dispatched from different directions. I-20 and I-59 cut west to Tuscaloosa, I-85 runs east through Auburn and Opelika toward the Chattahoochee Valley, and US 231 carries Wiregrass traffic up from Dothan. Our two deepest markets have their own pages: Montgomery in the Black Belt and Huntsville in the Tennessee Valley. Beyond those we tow regularly in Birmingham, Mobile, Tuscaloosa, Dothan, Gadsden, Decatur, Auburn, Opelika and the Shoals, and out to farm roads in Conecuh and Sumter counties.

One Alabama-specific thing to check before you call. Hurricanes off the Gulf and the Mobile and Alabama river systems put a lot of water into cars here, and Code of Ala. 32-8-87(q) brands any insurer-declared water total loss a “flood vehicle” on that title and on every certificate issued for the car afterward. The brand never washes off, and 32-8-87(q)(2) requires you to disclose it in writing, in type no smaller than 10 point, whenever you transfer the vehicle.

Beyond Montgomery and Huntsville, we regularly pick up vehicles in Birmingham and the surrounding Jefferson County suburbs, Mobile and the Gulf Coast communities, Tuscaloosa and its university area, Auburn-Opelika in Lee County, Dothan in the Wiregrass region, and Gadsden in Etowah County. Rural pickups are no problem—we’ve towed junk cars from farms in Conecuh County and hunting camps in the Bankhead National Forest.

Frequently Asked Questions: Selling a Junk Car in Alabama