The end of the road, on one page. A junk certificate of title says the vehicle is not coming back - and the line under the heading is the one to read first: when applicable, the original certificate of title must accompany this application for the issuance of a New Jersey junk title.
Written against OS/SS-61A (R7/19), issued under the Commission's Salvage Title Unit procedure for junk titles.
A junk certificate cannot be undone. If there is any prospect of the vehicle being rebuilt and retitled, the salvage application is the one to use.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank OS/SS-61A from the nj.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual OS/SS-61A, rendered from the PDF the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission 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
The actual OS/SS-61A. It looks like its salvage sibling and is not laid out the same way: the vehicle description here is two wide lines rather than separate boxes, which is the first sign you have the right one of the two in front of you.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Vehicle identification number and body type
One wide line carrying both, unlike the salvage form where they are separate boxes.
Watch out: That difference in layout is the quickest way to check you have downloaded the right form of the two.
2
You fill this in
Year, make, model, colour
The second wide line, all four together.
Watch out: Write them in that order and separate them clearly. The Commission is reading one line where the other form gives it four columns.
3
You fill this in
The odometer row
One digit per printed cell, tenths in the box at the end.
Watch out: Yes, on a car going for scrap. The reading is part of the record being closed.
4
You fill this in
Owner name, address and licence number
Three wide lines: name, address, and the New Jersey driver licence number or corpcode.
Watch out: Everything on this form is a single line where the salvage version gives you columns. Write smaller than you think you need to.
5
You fill this in
Co-owner and lienholder
The same lines again for a second owner, then the lienholder's name, address and fifteen-digit corpcode.
Watch out: A recorded lien on a car you are junking still has to be dealt with. Scrapping does not extinguish it.
6
You fill this in
How it was acquired and the loss
Three ruled lines, the same question as the salvage form: fire, collision, and how the vehicle came to be yours.
Watch out: This is where you say the vehicle is beyond rebuilding. It is the sentence that explains why you are asking for a junk title rather than a salvage one.
7
You fill this in
Sign and date
Owner signature and date, co-owner below, under the certification about the identification number.
Watch out: The stamp box beside the signatures is for the sales tax stamp and is not yours to write in.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Vehicle block
Vehicle identification number and body type on one line, then year, make, model and colour on the next - both printed as single wide fields rather than the separate boxes the salvage version uses.
Odometer
The same row of separate cells headed actual present true mileage, with a tenths box.
Owner and co-owner blocks
Name, address and New Jersey driver licence number or corpcode, twice.
Lienholder block
Lienholder name, address, and the fifteen-digit corpcode.
The acquisition-and-loss statement
Three ruled lines asking the same question the salvage form asks, with the same parenthesis after it - fire, collision, etc.
The certification
Identical to the salvage form: the information is true, and you have compared the identification number on the application with the one on the vehicle.
Affix Stamp
The sales tax stamp box at the foot.
Signatures
Owner and co-owner, each with a date.
What gets this one rejected
•Sending it without the certificate where you still have one. The line under the title says the original must accompany the application when applicable.
•Using it for a car somebody intends to rebuild. A junk title is not a salvage title, and the Commission issues them from the same unit under different applications precisely because they mean different things.
•Leaving the loss statement empty on the theory that scrap is scrap.
•Writing the mileage as a single number across a row of printed cells.
•Assuming the fee is the same as a salvage title. It is not - this one is printed on the form as $2.00.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•It costs $2.00. Printed at the top right of the page. The cheapest document in the whole New Jersey set, and the most final.
•It goes to Trenton, not to an agency. The address block at the head is the Salvage Title Unit, PO Box 017 in Trenton, with its own phone extension.
•The odometer still matters. Even on a vehicle going for scrap the mileage row is there and is meant to be filled in - the reading is part of the record the Commission is closing.
Every line here was read off OS/SS-61A (R7/19) itself —
the PDF is here — and off the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission pages.
This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ,
theirs governs.
