Junk Car Pickup Across Portland, Maine: From the Peninsula to Riverton, Paid at the Curb

Selling a junk car in Portland, ME usually comes down to two questions: where exactly is the car sitting, and do you still have the Maine title. Answer those on one call to 1-800-935-8652 and we can quote it, send a truck, and hand you cash when the car goes on the bed. There is no lot to drive to. The vehicle can be dead in a Munjoy Hill driveway, buried under a tarp behind a Deering Center garage, or sitting on a Riverton lawn with plates that expired two summers ago. The paperwork question in Portland has the same twist it has everywhere in Maine: the state’s title exemption moves forward one model year every January, and a lot of the cars people junk here are old enough that no title exists at all. This page walks through that, the city’s 30-day junked-vehicle notice, and what the truck can and cannot reach on the peninsula.

Call 1-800-935-8652 for a free offer on your vehicle in Portland. Free towing, cash on pickup.

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How to sell a junk car in Portland

The quote starts with the basics: year, make, model, whether it starts, whether it rolls, whether the catalytic converter is still bolted on, and whether anyone has pulled parts. Then we ask about access, because Portland’s peninsula was laid out for horses. On Munjoy Hill, in the West End and around India Street, a lot of cars live on the street or in a shared driveway that a flatbed cannot back into, so the driver needs a curb window and a plan for where the car will be when he arrives. Bayside and East Bayside have tighter lots and commercial traffic on Marginal Way. Off the peninsula it opens up: Deering Center, Oakdale, Rosemont and North Deering have real driveways, and Stroudwater, Nason’s Corner and Riverton have room to work a winch. Peaks Island is its own conversation, since anything leaving the island rides the ferry and we schedule that case by case. Keys help but are not required. Have the title, or tell us it is missing, and have a photo ID for the driver, because Maine requires the buyer to record it when a vehicle 20 or more model years old is scrapped without a title.

What is a junk car worth in Portland?

Most junk vehicles in Portland bring $150 to $700, and the spread is mostly weight. A full-size pickup, a work van or a body-on-frame SUV with the engine and transmission still in it sits at the top; a small four-cylinder sedan with the converter already gone sits near the floor. The converter matters more than people expect, and a car with the exhaust already cut is quoted as if it has none. Rust is the Portland-specific factor. This is a coastal city that salts every winter, so cars that have spent fifteen years here tend to have rotted rockers, brake lines and subframes even when the drivetrain is fine, which drops the parts value that would otherwise lift an offer above scrap weight. The flip side is that a Maine car with a good engine and transmission is worth more to us than its body suggests, so tell us if it ran when parked. Portland also sits at the end of the line geographically. Steel from here travels farther to a shredder than steel from a Boston suburb does, and that haul is baked into every offer in southern Maine, ours included. A quote that ignores it is a quote that gets renegotiated in your driveway.

Title and paperwork rules in Maine

Maine titles are a state matter, so a Portland seller deals with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in Augusta, not a Cumberland County office. First check whether the car needs a title at all. Under the schedule on the BMV’s own form, as of January 1, 2026 vehicles of model year 2000 and older are title exempt, moving to 2001 and older on January 1, 2027. Separately, 29-A M.R.S. section 652(18) lets a vehicle at least 20 model years old be sold to a scrap processor without a title if the buyer records your name and address from a government photo ID and reports the destruction to the Secretary of State within 30 days. For a newer car, file form MVT-8, Request to re-issue a Certificate of Title (Rev. 10/2023). The fee is $33, or $43 with the $10 rush option, payable to Secretary of State and mailed to the Division of Title Services, 29 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333. Every owner on the record signs; the form has no notary block. If BMV records still show a paid-off lien, the lender must release it on form MVT-12 first. Online duplicates cost $46 when no lienholder is listed. The Portland branch is at 125 Presumpscot Street, 207-822-6400.

Portland abandoned and inoperable vehicle rules

Portland’s junked-vehicle rule is Chapter 12, Article V of the Code of Ordinances, sections 12-75 through 12-82. Section 12-78 makes it unlawful to deposit, leave or abandon any old, discarded, worn out or junked motor vehicle, or parts of one, on private property except in duly authorized locations. Section 12-79 is the clock. Once the city manager or a designee sends a written order, by hand or certified mail, to the property owner, the occupant, or the vehicle’s owner if known, you have not less than 30 days from receipt to remove the vehicle. You can appeal to the city manager under section 12-80 by filing written notice within 30 days, and the deadline pauses during the appeal; a hearing officer can affirm, modify or vacate the order. If the 30 days run out, section 12-81 lets the city remove the vehicle and dispose of it without any liability. Section 12-82 bills the cost, due within 30 days, to the person who kept the vehicle and the property owner jointly, presumes the vehicle’s last owner left it there unless shown otherwise, and lets the city lien the property to collect. The general penalty in section 1-15 is $100 to $500 per offense, each day a separate offense. Orders and complaints run through the Permitting and Inspections Department, 389 Congress Street, 207-874-8703. Vehicles on the islands follow the state procedure instead.

Who picks up a junk car in Portland, Maine?

We do, anywhere in Portland: you describe the vehicle on the phone, we price it, a flatbed meets you at the curb, and the cash changes hands there. Portland adds two wrinkles worth knowing before you dial. Registrations at the city’s Treasury Office are by appointment only, so the replacement car cannot be plated on a walk-in the afternoon this one leaves. And Cumberland County is the single Maine county whose annual inspection adds an emissions test, which is frequently the thing that finally retires a tired car here. Call 1-800-935-8652.

Areas of Portland we tow from

We pick up anywhere in Portland proper, on and off the peninsula. That means Munjoy Hill and the East End, India Street, the West End, Bayside, East Bayside and Parkside around Deering Oaks. Along Forest Avenue we cover Oakdale, Woodfords Corner, Deering Center, Morrill’s Corner and North Deering out to Allen’s Corner. Along Brighton Avenue and outer Congress Street we cover Libbytown, Rosemont, Nason’s Corner and Stroudwater, and along Washington Avenue we cover East Deering and Back Cove. Riverton and the neighborhoods along the Westbrook line are in range, and the truck runs I-295 and the Maine Turnpike to reach the rest of Cumberland County: South Portland, Westbrook, Falmouth, Scarborough, Cape Elizabeth, Gorham, Windham, Cumberland, Yarmouth and Freeport. Saco and Biddeford across the York County line are served as well.

• Munjoy Hill
• West End
• Bayside
• East Bayside
• Parkside
• Libbytown
• Deering Center
• East Deering
• North Deering
• Riverton
• Nason’s Corner
• Stroudwater

Frequently asked questions

Does my old car in Portland even need a title to be junked?

Often it does not. The Maine BMV’s title schedule makes vehicles of model year 2000 and older title exempt as of January 1, 2026, moving to 2001 and older on January 1, 2027. On top of that, 29-A M.R.S. section 652(18) allows a vehicle at least 20 model years old to be sold to a scrap processor without a title, as long as the buyer records your name and address from a government photo ID and reports the destruction to the state within 30 days. Bring the ID and we handle the rest.

What does a replacement Maine title cost and how do I file?

File form MVT-8, Request to re-issue a Certificate of Title. The fee is $33, or $43 with the rush option. Mail it with a check payable to Secretary of State to the Division of Title Services, 29 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333. All owners named on the record must sign, and nothing on the form requires a notary. If a paid-off lien still shows in BMV records, the lender has to file an MVT-12 release before the duplicate is issued. The BMV also offers an online duplicate for $46 when no lienholder is listed.

How long do I have after Portland tells me to remove a junked car?

Under section 12-79 of the Portland Code of Ordinances, the written order must give you not less than 30 days from receipt. It arrives by hand delivery or certified mail. You can appeal in writing to the city manager within 30 days under section 12-80, and the removal clock stops while the appeal is pending. If you neither remove the vehicle nor appeal, section 12-81 lets the city haul it away and dispose of it, and section 12-82 bills you and the property owner for the cost.

Can the city put a lien on my house over a junk car?

Yes. Section 12-82 of the Portland code makes the person who kept the vehicle and the owner of the private property jointly liable for the city’s removal cost, due within 30 days of the bill, and states that the assessment is enforceable by lien against the property where the vehicle sat. The code also presumes the last owner of the vehicle is the one who left it there unless you can show otherwise. A free pickup from us costs nothing and avoids all of that.

Can a flatbed reach a car on Munjoy Hill or in the West End?

Usually, but not into every shared driveway. On the peninsula the practical answer is a curb window: tell us where the car will be and when, and the driver loads from the street. If the car is wedged behind a building with no through access, say so on the first call so we send a truck with a long winch line rather than turning around at the curb. Off-peninsula neighborhoods such as Deering Center, Rosemont and North Deering rarely have this problem.

Do you buy cars on Peaks Island or the other Casco Bay islands?

We quote them case by case. Portland’s own ordinance, section 12-79.1, treats junked vehicles on the islands differently from the mainland and defers to the state procedure, and physically the car has to leave by ferry. If you have a dead vehicle on Peaks or one of the other islands, call with the details and we will tell you honestly whether the numbers work before anyone books a boat.

How much is a rusted-out Portland car worth?

Typically somewhere in the $150 to $700 range, with weight setting the floor. Salt takes the body first, so a Portland car with rotted rockers but a good engine and transmission is still worth more than the body suggests, while a stripped small sedan lands at the low end. The catalytic converter is the single biggest swing item; tell us up front if it is gone. Call 1-800-935-8652 with the year, make, model and condition for an actual number.

Is there any fee for towing, and when do I get paid?

No fee. The number you are quoted on the phone is what the driver hands you when the vehicle is loaded, whether that is at the curb on Congress Street or in a Stroudwater driveway. Nothing is deducted for the tow, the winch or the mileage. If a driver ever tries to change the price over something you already disclosed, keep the car; that is not how we operate.

Ready to get rid of it? Call 1-800-935-8652 and we will quote your car in Portland over the phone, tow it free, and pay you cash at pickup.

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Cash for junk cars across Maine