Cash for Junk Cars in Indiana | Free Towing Statewide
1-800-We-Junk-Cars buys junk, damaged, and non-running vehicles throughout Indiana. We serve Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Evansville, South Bend, and every county in between. Free towing with same-day or next-day pickup in most areas. Cash payment when we pick up your vehicle. No hidden fees, no waiting for checks to clear. We buy cars, trucks, SUVs, and vans regardless of condition or age.
How Selling Your Junk Car Works in Indiana
Get Your Quote
Call us at 1-800-935-8652 or fill out our online form with your vehicle details. Give us the year, make, model, mileage, and condition. Indiana residents get instant quotes based on current market values and local scrap metal prices. No obligations, no pressure to accept.
Schedule Free Pickup
Accept your offer and pick a time that works for you. We offer same-day pickup in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, with next-day service available throughout Indiana. Our tow trucks come directly to your location—driveway, parking lot, or mechanic shop. Towing is always free.
Get Paid Cash
Our driver shows up at the scheduled time, checks your vehicle info, and does a quick inspection. Sign over your Indiana title or approved documentation, and we hand you cash on the spot. The whole pickup takes 15 to 30 minutes.
What Is Your Indiana Junk Car Worth?
Most junk cars in Indiana sell for $150 to $800, with some trucks, SUVs, and newer models bringing $1,000 or more. Your vehicle’s value depends on several factors: weight sets the base scrap price, while working parts like catalytic converters, transmissions, and engines add real value. Indiana’s winters mean vehicles often show rust damage from road salt, which can lower offers. But the state’s strong used parts market helps offset this, especially for popular domestic brands like Ford, Chevrolet, and Dodge that stay in demand across the region.
Scrap steel prices set the floor for any junk car in Indiana. When steel prices climb, junk car offers go up too—even for vehicles with no working parts. Current market rates shift based on domestic demand and international trade. The live scrap price tracker below shows today’s rates, so you can see what your vehicle’s raw materials are worth before factoring in reusable parts.
Indiana Junk Car Laws and Title Requirements
Last reviewed 2026-10-05 against Indiana state sources. Fees and forms change; the official links below are authoritative.
| Who issues titles | The Indiana BMV issues every Indiana title statewide. No county clerk or county title office is involved. source |
|---|---|
| Duplicate title form and fee | State Form 205, Application for Certificate of Title for a Vehicle. $15, plus $25 for an optional speed title. source |
| Can you sell without a title? | Only on a Certificate of Authority, State Form 55018, $4. A bill of sale cannot transfer a titled vehicle. source |
| Notary required? | No. BMV title forms are signed under penalties for perjury, and the BMV states a bill of sale need not be notarized. source |
| Odometer disclosure required | Yes, at any age. IC 9-17-2-6 requires the reading on every title application; only over-16,000-pound and non-vehicle classes are exempt. source |
| Who keeps the license plates | The seller. Registration expires at transfer; plates are not returned and may be reused, but stay bureau property under IC 9-18.1-4-7. source |
| Deadline to report the sale | None. IC 9-18.1-4-6 lets the seller send the registration and proof of transfer within 30 days, but does not require it. source |
| Abandoned / inoperable vehicle statute | IC 9-13-2-1(7): three or more model years, inoperable, on private property in view from public property past 20 days. Tarps count. source |
| Salvage or junk title trigger | IC 9-22-3-3: within seven model years, on insurer total loss, flood damage, or 70%-of-value repairs if self-insured or bought wrecked. source |
| Catalytic converter sale limits | Detached converters: used parts dealers and auto repair companies only, unless a law officer's affidavit says it came to you lawfully. source |
Who Issues an Indiana Title
Every Indiana title is issued by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles itself: one statewide procedure, no county office. IC 9-17-3-3.4 tells you to endorse the title with warranty of title, hand it over when the car does, and fill in the buyer’s name, address and sale price. A blank buyer block is a Class B infraction. No notary involved; State Form 205 is signed under penalties for perjury. Watch the odometer box: 49 CFR 580.17 waives written disclosure on a 2010-or-older car transferred in 2026, but IC 9-17-2-6 requires the reading on every Indiana application at any age.
Selling a Junk Car Without the Title: State Form 55018
IC 9-22-5-18 gives you two things to hand an automotive salvage recycler: the endorsed title, or a Certificate of Authority. A bill of sale will not substitute: the BMV rejects one for any vehicle the law requires to be titled, allowing it only in narrow listed cases — a sheriff’s bill of sale, a municipal abandoned-vehicle auction — and only with State Form 39530. The certificate is State Form 55018, costs $4, and an electronic application must be processed in five business days under IC 9-22-5-3. IC 9-32-9-29 lets a recycler buy a car at least fifteen model years old on that certificate; doing it on a newer car with no paperwork is a Level 6 felony.
Replacing a Lost Indiana Title
A duplicate runs on the same State Form 205: $15 on the BMV fee chart, $25 more for a speed title. Two limits bite junk sellers: no duplicate against an electronic title, and lifting a lien takes an amendment instead. With no ownership document, the court order packet routes you through an Indiana court.
Plates, Registration and the 45-Day Deadline
IC 9-18.1-4-6 expires the registration at transfer and directs the seller to pull the plate and the registration certificate. Indiana does not take plates back and lets you reuse yours, though IC 9-18.1-4-7 keeps the plate bureau property. Reporting the sale is optional: within 30 days you may send in the registration certificate and proof of transfer. The buyer’s 45-day deadline under IC 9-17-2-14.7 is not, and a $30 administrative penalty attaches after it.
When Indiana Calls a Parked Car Abandoned
IC 9-13-2-1 catches parked junk cars: three or more model years old, mechanically inoperable, and left on private property in view from public property past the twentieth day. On public ground 24 hours is enough; on another’s private property without consent, 48. After an officer tags a vehicle, IC 9-22-1-11 allows 72 hours to move it — 24 in the right-of-way of an interstate or any road in the state highway system under IC 8-23-4, meaning every US and state route here. Subsection (b), added in 2025, lets Indianapolis, the only consolidated city, set a street-parking window up to 14 days. A towing service may dispose of it 30 days after removal, and IC 9-22-1-13 lets an officer send a junk car valued under $1,000 straight to a storage yard, skipping the tag; Evansville has lowered that floor to the $750 municipal maximum.
Salvage Titles, Converters and the Two Emissions Counties
IC 9-22-3-3 requires a salvage title only within the last seven model years, and then only on an insurer’s total-loss settlement, flood damage, or repairs above 70% of pre-loss value where the owner self-insures or bought the car wrecked. Failing to apply is a Class A infraction. The fee chart sets it at $4, $10 more if late. IC 25-37.5-1-9 bars selling a detached catalytic converter as scrap unless you are a used parts dealer or an automotive repair company; the lone exception is a law officer’s affidavit that it came to you lawfully. In Lake and Porter counties a post-1975 vehicle at 9,000 pounds GVWR or less must pass a Clean Air Car Check to renew registration.
Official Indiana sources
Cities We Buy Junk Cars in Indiana
We buy junk cars in all 92 Indiana counties, and the state breaks into a handful of distinct hauls. The Calumet Region sits in the far northwest along I-80/94; Michiana runs east along the Michigan line from South Bend through Elkhart and LaGrange; the northeast corner is anchored by Fort Wayne, where I-69 meets US-24 and US-30 in Allen County; the Wabash Valley follows US-41 down the Illinois border; and the Ohio River counties finish at Evansville in the southwest pocket. The donut counties around Indianapolis — Hamilton, Hendricks, Boone, Johnson and their neighbors — fill the middle.
Indianapolis, South Bend, Carmel, Bloomington, Gary and Hammond are all served areas; call for a quote on any of them. One Indiana quirk shapes a lot of these calls. Gary and Hammond sit in Lake County, which with neighboring Porter County is the only part of the state where a vehicle has to pass a Clean Air Car Check before its registration will renew. A car that no longer starts cannot be tested, so the plate simply lapses and renewal is off the table until the car is gone. Abandonment is a separate track and it runs the same in all 92 counties: under IC 9-13-2-1(7) a car three or more model years old that does not run and sits on private property in view from public property for more than 20 days is abandoned, plate or no plate.
🏙️ Evansville
Don’t see your city? We serve all of Indiana—call 1-800-935-8652 to confirm pickup at your location.
Frequently Asked Questions — Selling a Junk Car in Indiana
Do I need a title to sell my junk car in Indiana?
Almost always, but Indiana gives you one legal alternative. IC 9-22-5-18 says you must hand a salvage recycler either the endorsed certificate of title or a Certificate of Authority from the BMV, applied for on State Form 55018 for $4. A bill of sale will not substitute outside the narrow cases the BMV lists, such as a sheriff's bill of sale. A recycler may file the certificate on your behalf at the point of sale.
What does replacing a lost Indiana title cost?
Fifteen dollars. The BMV fee chart prices issuing, duplicating or replacing a title at $15, and a speed title adds $25 on top. You apply on State Form 205 at myBMV.com, any branch, a BMV Connect kiosk, a Partial Service Provider, or by mail with an unexpired photo ID. Two catches: the BMV cannot issue a duplicate against an electronic title, and a duplicate cannot strip off a lien.
When does Indiana treat a car in my own driveway as abandoned?
After 20 days, if the car is three or more model years old, does not run, and sits where it can be seen from public property. IC 9-13-2-1 counts a tarped vehicle as visible, so covering it changes nothing. On public ground the threshold is 24 hours, and a car parked on someone else's property without permission qualifies after 48 hours.
Who keeps the license plate when I sell a junk car in Indiana?
You do. IC 9-18.1-4-6 expires the registration at transfer and tells you to take both the plate and the registration certificate off the vehicle before it leaves. The BMV does not want the plate returned and lets you move it to another vehicle you own. Sending the registration certificate and proof of transfer to the BMV within 30 days is allowed but not required.
Does an Indiana junk car need an emissions test or an odometer statement?
No emissions test is tied to the sale, and 90 of Indiana's 92 counties have no test at all; Lake and Porter test post-1975 vehicles rated 9,000 pounds GVWR or less, but only at registration. The odometer runs the other way. Federal law waives written disclosure on a 2010-or-older car transferred in 2026, yet IC 9-17-2-6 still requires the reading on every Indiana title application regardless of age, and a blank one is a Class B infraction.
Can I cut the catalytic converter off before you tow the car?
You can remove it, but Indiana makes it close to unsellable. IC 25-37.5-1-9 bars a valuable metal dealer from buying a detached catalytic converter unless the seller is a used parts dealer or an automotive repair company. The one way out in subsection (b) is an affidavit from a law enforcement officer stating the converter lawfully came into your possession. Leaving it bolted on and calling 1-800-935-8652 is the simpler path.