Cash for Junk Cars in South Carolina | Free Towing Statewide
1-800-We-Junk-Cars buys junk, damaged, and non-running vehicles across South Carolina. We serve Columbia, Greenville, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Spartanburg, and every town from the Upstate mountains to the Lowcountry coast. Free towing, same-day or next-day pickup in most areas, and cash when we pick up your vehicle. Call for an instant quote on any car, truck, van, or SUV in any condition.
How Selling Your Junk Car Works in South Carolina
Get Your Quote
Call 1-800-935-8652 or fill out our online form. Tell us the year, make, model, mileage, and condition. We’ll give you a guaranteed cash offer within minutes. Quotes are free and you’re not obligated to accept.
Schedule Free Pickup
Accept your offer and pick a time that works for you. We offer same-day service in Columbia, Greenville, and Charleston metro areas, with next-day pickup available throughout South Carolina. Our tow trucks come to your home, workplace, or wherever the vehicle sits. No charge.
Get Paid Cash
Our driver verifies the vehicle matches your description, collects your signed title, and hands you cash on the spot. The whole thing takes about fifteen minutes. We handle the paperwork and tow your car away while you pocket the payment.
What Is Your South Carolina Junk Car Worth?
Most junk cars in South Carolina sell for $150 to $800. Complete vehicles in fair condition bring $500 to $1,500 or more. Your offer depends on the year, make, model, weight, and current condition. South Carolina’s humid subtropical climate speeds up rust and corrosion, especially in coastal areas like Charleston and Myrtle Beach, which can lower values. But popular domestic trucks and SUVs still command premium prices because parts demand stays strong. Catalytic converters, working transmissions, and intact engines boost offers whether the vehicle runs or not.
Scrap steel prices set the baseline value for any junk car. When metal markets rise, even non-running vehicles with no salvageable parts bring higher offers based on weight alone. A typical sedan weighs 2,500 to 3,500 pounds while trucks and SUVs range from 4,000 to 6,000 pounds. The live scrap price tracker below shows current regional rates that directly affect what South Carolina junk car buyers pay.
South Carolina Junk Car Laws and Title Requirements
Last reviewed 2026-10-05 against South Carolina state sources. Fees and forms change; the official links below are authoritative.
| Who issues titles | SCDMV, mailing from PO Box 1498 in Blythewood. Your county office only generates and collects the property tax bill. source |
|---|---|
| Duplicate title form and fee | Form 400, the Title and/or Registration Application, with the Section 1 duplicate box ticked. $15, or $35 for same-day branch issuance. source |
| Can you sell without a title? | Only to a demolisher or recycler, on Form TI-014A, and only if all five of the subsection (E) conditions hold. source |
| Notary required? | No. Form 400 carries no notary block, and the form accepts signatures made electronically or digitally. source |
| Odometer disclosure required | Yes, in the first assignment on the back of the title, alongside the purchase date, the selling price and both signatures. source |
| Who keeps the license plates | The seller. S.C. Code 56-3-1260 gives you thirty days to transfer the plate or hand it back with the registration card. source |
| Deadline to report the sale | Immediately and in writing under 56-3-1260: Form 416 plus Form 452 and the plate to PO Box 1498, Blythewood. source |
| Abandoned / inoperable vehicle statute | 56-5-5810(b): forty-eight hours unattended on a highway, or seven days on private or other public property without consent. source |
| Salvage or junk title trigger | Repairs at 75% or more of fair market value, on Form 400-S. 56-19-485(B) exempts antiques and vehicles worth $2,000 or less. source |
| Catalytic converter sale limits | 16-17-680(I)(2): recyclers only, and the seller hands over six items including the donor VIN and its title or registration. source |
Signing the Title Over
South Carolina titles come from the SCDMV in Blythewood; counties only bill the property tax. If you hold the title, SCDMV requires you to sign it over and complete the first assignment on the back: buyer’s name and address, the odometer reading at the time of sale, the purchase date, the selling price and both signatures. The agency publishes no bill of sale form, yet requires one on every title transaction: a signed Bill of Sale or Buyer’s Order showing the sale price less trade-in, signed by the buyer, and required whenever the assignment has no price field. S.C. Code 56-19-420 charges $15 to issue, transfer or duplicate a title. The buyer then has forty-five days to register, with penalties printed on Form 400.
Replacing a Lost Title
There is no separate duplicate form. You file the Title and/or Registration Application again, ticking the Section 1 duplicate box, with acceptable identification and $15 made payable to SCDMV, ATTN: Titles, PO Box 1498, Blythewood, SC 29016-0024. A company sending an agent uses Form MV-80, a third party collecting for someone else MV-80A. A branch will hand you the title the same day for $20 more, which no mail-in request can buy. Clear any lien first: while one is open, the replacement goes to the lienholder instead.
The Five-Part Affidavit
S.C. Code 56-5-5670 starts from a flat prohibition, then names three stand-ins: a sheriff’s disposal authority certificate, a magistrate’s order of sale, or the subsection (E) affidavit, published as Form TI-014A. It prints five conditions, not four. Condition (a) is the gate: the car was abandoned onto your property or into your possession, or you own it and the title is faulty, lost or destroyed. The rest are lawful possession, twelve model years or older, no valid registration plate, and no engine or total inoperability. The yard runs a stolen-vehicle check and waits three business days before cutting. A false affidavit is a felony, so Upstate yards near Greenville police it.
Plates, Notice of Sale, and the Tax Clock
S.C. Code 56-3-1260 leaves the plate with you and gives you thirty days to transfer it for $10 or surrender it with the registration card. SCDMV then wants Form 416, Notice of Vehicle Sold, Form 452 with the plate, and your liability coverage cancelled. That also stops the county bill. Under S.C. Code 12-37-2610 the vehicle tax year tracks the registration, so a scrapped car keeps billing until the plate is cancelled, and 12-37-2725 refunds the whole months left. Ignore the bill and 12-37-2740 has the treasurer warn you, allow thirty days, then refer you to SCDMV, which does the suspending; reinstatement is $50.
Abandoned and Derelict Vehicles
Under 56-5-5810 a vehicle is abandoned after forty-eight hours unattended on a highway, or seven days on private or other public property without consent; derelict is a separate list that reaches any car over eight years old with no current registration. Operators report one on Form TR-2, $10 with an owner lookup, and 56-5-5630 gives the owner thirty days from the mailed notice. Reclaiming means paying towing, preservation, storage, notification, publication and court costs. In Columbia, an unregistered or inoperable car is a nuisance the moment it sits outside a fully enclosed building.
Salvage, Junk and Odometer Brands
S.C. Code 56-19-485(B) brands a title salvage at repair costs of seventy-five percent or more of fair market value. It skips vehicles worth $2,000 or less and antiques under 56-3-2210. The application is Form 400-S. Section 56-1-10(36) reserves Junk for an insurer’s finding that a vehicle cannot be repaired for operation, or is only of value as a source of parts or scrap metal. Section 2 of Form 400 warns that a false mileage statement risks fines or imprisonment, and under 49 CFR 580.17 the exemption today is model year 2010 and older.
Official South Carolina sources
- SCDMV — Buying or Selling a Car
- SCDMV — Titles
- SCDMV — Replace a Title
- SCDMV — License Plate Return
- Form TI-014A — Affidavit of Disposal of Vehicle to a Demolisher/Secondary Metals Recycler (SMR)
- S.C. Code of Laws Title 56, Chapter 5 — Section 56-5-5670, disposal of vehicles to demolishers and recyclers
Cities We Buy Junk Cars in South Carolina
South Carolina has forty-six counties by statute, and we buy in all of them. The Upstate runs along I-85 through Anderson, Greenville, Spartanburg and Cherokee counties; the Midlands sit where I-20, I-26 and I-77 cross in Richland and Lexington; the Pee Dee spreads east from Florence and Darlington toward the I-95 corridor; and the Lowcountry and Grand Strand cover Charleston, Berkeley, Dorchester, Georgetown and Horry. The Savannah River counties around Aiken and Edgefield are on the route too. Columbia and Greenville have their own pages with branch addresses and local ordinance detail. Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Spartanburg, Rock Hill, Mount Pleasant and Summerville are served the same way, by phone quote and scheduled tow.
Two things shape a South Carolina sale more than distance does. The first is salt, which arrives here on the wind rather than behind a plow. A car parked within sight of the Atlantic from Little River down to Beaufort gives up its rockers and exhaust to airborne salt, while an Upstate or Midlands car the same age usually still has brake lines and suspension parts worth pulling. The second is the county tax bill, which keeps running on a dead car until the plate is cancelled, not until the car leaves the driveway. Pickups off two-lane state routes in Marlboro, Bamberg or Hampton County are ordinary work for us, and the offer does not change with the mileage to the nearest shredder.
🏙️ Greenville
Don’t see your city? We serve all of South Carolina. Call 1-800-935-8652 to confirm pickup at your location.
Frequently Asked Questions — Selling a Junk Car in South Carolina
Do I go to my county office to get a South Carolina title?
No. SCDMV handles titling, and branch offices are the only counter involved. Your county auditor and treasurer generate and collect the vehicle property tax, which is a separate bill from a separate office. That split catches out people who moved here from a state where the county clerk of courts prints titles. On a junk car the only county step is cancelling the tax once the plate comes off.
What does SCDMV want from me to replace a lost title?
Form 400 with the Section 1 duplicate box ticked, acceptable identification, and $15 by check or money order. Nothing needs notarising, and the form accepts electronic or digital signatures. A company sending someone to collect the title uses Form MV-80; an individual collecting for someone else uses MV-80A. Same-day issuance adds $20 and only happens in a branch, so mail and online requests cannot be expedited.
My car is fourteen years old with no title. Can a yard still take it?
Possibly, but age alone does not do it. S.C. Code 56-5-5670(E) sets five conditions. The first is that the car was abandoned onto your property or into your possession, or that you own it and the title is faulty, lost or destroyed. Then it must be lawfully in your possession, twelve model years or older, carrying no valid plate, and engineless or otherwise totally inoperable.
Will my county keep taxing a car I already scrapped?
Yes, until you cancel the plate. The South Carolina vehicle tax year is tied to the registration, not to whether the car exists, so a scrapped vehicle keeps generating bills while the plate is active. Return Form 452 with the plate, file Form 416, and ask your county auditor for cancellation. S.C. Code 12-37-2725 then refunds the whole months left in the tax year. Ignoring the bill can suspend your licence.
Does a 2004 car need an odometer reading written on the paperwork?
No. Federal rule 49 CFR 580.17 exempts a vehicle built in model year 2010 or earlier once ten years have passed, which covers everything through 2010 today. Anything rated over 16,000 pounds GVWR is exempt at any age. Model year 2011 and newer cars each stay covered for twenty years from January 1 of their model year, so 2011 drops off in 2031 and 2015 in 2035.
How long does the buyer have to put a South Carolina title in their name?
Forty-five days from the purchase date. Form 400 prints the late penalties right on it: $10 at 46 to 60 days, $25 at 61 to 75, $50 at 76 to 135, and $75 past that. Those fall on the buyer, not you, but an unregistered car still showing in your name is a liability, which is why Form 416 exists. Call 1-800-935-8652 if you are unsure what you still hold.
Columbia, Charleston and Greenville anchor the three corners of our South Carolina coverage, tied together by I-26, I-20 and I-85 through the Upstate. Coastal humidity and salt air work on parked cars from Myrtle Beach to Hilton Head, which makes the Lowcountry the part of the state where waiting costs the most. The Midlands and Pee Dee run on the same terms, rural pickups off two-lane state routes are normal dispatch work, and free towing with cash at pickup applies statewide — there is no drop-off yard anywhere you would need to reach.