How to fill out Kentucky TC 96-351

The end of a vehicle's life on paper, and a decision that is very hard to walk back. Most of this sheet is not a form at all - it is a warning and four things you must NOT junk a title for, each with an instruction to the clerk sitting under it. There is exactly one reason the Cabinet accepts: that the vehicle is damaged beyond the resale value and will be sold to a junk yard and crushed, or kept and used for parts only.

Written against TC 96-351 (Rev 05/2020), issued under KRS 186A.295 and KRS 186A.090(1)(b). If the car has any value at all as a whole vehicle, junking the title destroys most of it. Get an offer on the car as it stands before you sign this, because the difference between a running wreck and a junked title is usually larger than the scrap price.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank TC 96-351 from the transportation.ky.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank TC 96-351 — Application to Junk a Vehicle Title PDF at transportation.ky.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is the actual TC 96-351, rendered from the PDF the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Division of Motor Vehicle Licensing publishes and completed end to end: letterhead, every field, and the blocks at the foot.

Amber — you write it
Grey — not yours to fill
Numbered — explained below

Kentucky form TC 96-351 filled in: the single eligible reason ticked, Delphine R. Hoskins as current owner of a 1998 Ford F-150, vehicle identification number 1FTZX1762WNB48035 written one character to each of seventeen boxes, being sold to Rolling Fork Salvage and Metals, signed and sworn before notary Wanda C. Skaggs on 14 October 2026, with the clerk acknowledgment left empty. — The seventeen-square identification row is the part to slow down on - one character per box, and a clerk who cannot read it cannot cancel the right title. Everything above Section 1 is warning rather than form.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
Work down the four ineligible reasons first
Four situations, each with a clerk instruction saying DO NOT JUNK THIS TITLE and naming what to do instead.
Watch out: If any of the four describes you, stop. Three of them have a cheaper answer and one of them is somebody else's job entirely.
2
You fill this in
Tick the one eligible reason
Damaged beyond the resale value, going to a junk yard to be crushed, or kept for parts only.
Watch out: Beyond the resale value is a judgement about the whole vehicle, not about whether it currently runs. A non-runner with good parts is still worth pricing.
3
You fill this in
Section 1: name, vehicle, and seventeen boxes
Your name as it appears on the title, then year, make, model and the identification number one character per square.
Watch out: Write the number from the certificate, out loud, one character at a time. There is no room to correct a square once it is filled.
4
You fill this in
Name the yard
The salvage or junk yard's full business name, or nothing at all if you are keeping the vehicle for parts.
Watch out: Full business name, not the name on the sign. It is what the clerk matches against the Secretary of State's register.
5
You fill this in
Sign it, and have it sworn
Signature of the 1st owner as listed on the title, plus the 2nd owner where there is one, then the notary's block.
Watch out: You are signing the warning at the top as much as the affirmation - the form says so, in the sentence immediately above the line.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
The warning	A boxed paragraph at the top: only the owner named on this title will be able to reactivate it, junking applies a permanent SALVAGE brand which may decrease the resale value and cause the vehicle to be ineligible for registration in some states, and if it is ever reactivated it must go through the rebuilding process, receive a Kentucky-assigned identification number, carry a permanent REBUILT brand and pay up to five years of taxes.
Four ineligible reasons	Ownership transferred to an insurance company after a claim payment; a damaged vehicle being sold by a salvage or junk yard for parts or rebuilding; a vehicle sold but not transferred completely, resulting in tax liability; and a vehicle still owned but no longer driven. Each carries a clerk instruction beginning DO NOT JUNK THIS TITLE.
The one eligible reason	A single tick box: the vehicle is damaged beyond the resale value and will be sold to a junk yard and crushed or kept and used for parts only.
Section 1, the attestation	I, [name] and/or [name], current owner(s) of this [year], [make], [model], [vehicle identification number] - with the identification number ruled as seventeen separate squares, one character to a box.
The affirmation	That the vehicle is being retained for parts only or being sold to [salvage or junk yard full business name], and that the owner will receive a cancelled registration receipt showing the title has been junked.
Two owner signatures with dates	Signature of 1st Owner as listed on title, and Signature of 2nd Owner.
The jurat	A day, a month and a year after the words subscribed and attested before me on this, then a commission number, an expiry date, and the notary's printed name, title and signature.
Section 2, clerk acknowledgment	Clerk printed name, county and signature - completed at the counter.

What gets this one rejected

•Junking a title to escape a tax liability. That is the third ineligible reason in as many words, and the clerk is told to send you to an incomplete transfer instead.
•Junking a title because the car is parked up. The fourth ineligible reason says the owner remains responsible for the taxes until the vehicle is no longer in their possession.
•Junking a title an insurance company should be taking. The first ineligible reason sends the customer to transfer ownership to the insurer.
•An owner who is not on the title. The warning at the top ties reactivation to the owner named on this title, and the signature lines say as listed on title.
•A vehicle identification number crammed into the boxes. Seventeen squares, seventeen characters, one each.
•Arriving without the paper certificate. The clerk instruction under the eligible reason says the customer must have a paper title in hand.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•Read the four ineligible reasons as a diagnosis. Three of the four describe situations people actually arrive with, and each one points at a different, better route. The form is doing triage before it does anything else.
•The brand is permanent and it is not local. The warning says the salvage brand may make the vehicle ineligible for registration in some states, which is a national consequence recorded against the identification number.

Every line here was read off TC 96-351 (Rev 05/2020) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Division of Motor Vehicle Licensing pages. This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ, theirs governs.

Back to all Kentucky seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Kentucky involves.

How to fill out Kentucky TC 96-351

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Work down the four ineligible reasons first

Tick the one eligible reason

Section 1: name, vehicle, and seventeen boxes

Name the yard

Sign it, and have it sworn

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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