Thirteen boxes for the end of a car's life: an owner handing a vehicle to a licensed salvage dealer where the title has been lost, or has already gone to Madison marked JUNKED. It is the shortest form in Wisconsin's seller set and the most final - no certificate of title will be issued for this vehicle, printed on the sheet in the department's own words.
Written against MV2459 (3/2008), issued under s. 342.34, Wis. Stats..
This is the one Wisconsin form on this site that cannot be undone. Before signing it, be sure the vehicle is genuinely finished - a junked record is permanent, and no certificate of title will ever be issued for that VIN again.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank MV2459 from the wisconsindot.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is the actual MV2459, rendered from the PDF the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Division of Motor Vehicles 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
Two columns and one tick that decides whether the form works at all - the certificate has to be lost, or already surrendered marked JUNKED. The identity and signature lines at the foot are printed rules rather than boxes, so nothing is written into them here. Note the sale price box is labelled optional on the form itself. Names invented for the sample; this is a different vehicle from the sale followed elsewhere in this section.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Owner Name - Seller
You, at the head of the left-hand column, with your address and telephone number beneath.
Watch out: Everything on the left of this sheet is yours and everything on the right is the salvage dealer's. The two columns look symmetrical and are not.
2
The buyer fills this in
Purchaser Name and address
The licensed salvage dealer taking the vehicle, in the right-hand column.
Watch out: Licensed is the operative word. This form transfers to a licensed salvage dealer, not to a neighbour with a trailer.
3
You fill this in
Sale Price - Optional
What you were paid, in the right column, and the form says it is optional.
Watch out: Fill it in anyway. It costs nothing, and it is the only record of what changed hands on a transaction with no title behind it.
4
You fill this in
Vehicle Year and Make
Two boxes at the foot of the left column.
Watch out: Model has no box on this form. Year and make are all the department needs alongside the identification number.
5
You fill this in
Vehicle Identification Number or Engine Number
One box, and for cycles, mopeds and 1954-or-earlier vehicles an engine number is accepted instead.
Watch out: That engine-number allowance is why this form still exists in its 2008 shape. On anything modern, use the VIN.
6
You fill this in
The certificate of title has been either
Two exclusive ticks: lost or destroyed, or marked JUNKED and surrendered to the department.
Watch out: If you still hold the certificate and have not surrendered it, neither box is true yet. Write JUNK across it, send it in, and then this form fits.
7
You fill this in
Driver License Number or Photo Identification Number
One or the other, with the agency that issued the photo identification named beside it.
Watch out: The form requires identity to be verified. A salvage dealer who does not ask for it is a salvage dealer filing an incomplete form.
8
You fill this in
Both signatures
Owner and purchaser, each with a date, at the foot of their own column.
Watch out: Keep a copy, and file the seller notification within thirty days - s. 342.41 covers a junk vehicle transferred by bill of sale by name.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Owner Name - Seller
You. The left-hand column of the form is yours throughout.
Address / City, State, ZIP Code
Your address, under your name.
Area Code - Telephone Number
A contact number in the left column.
Purchaser Name, Address, City, State, ZIP Code
The right-hand column, for the licensed salvage dealer taking the vehicle.
Sale Price - Optional
The form labels it optional in its own printed text, which is unusual on a WisDOT document.
Vehicle Year / Vehicle Make
Two boxes at the foot of the left column.
Vehicle Identification Number or Engine Number
One box, and the label allows an engine number for cycles, mopeds or 1954 and earlier models.
The certificate of title has been either: Lost or destroyed
The first of two exclusive ticks.
...OR Marked JUNKED and surrendered to the Department of Transportation
The second. One of the two has to be true for this form to work at all.
Driver License Number, or Photo Identification Number and issuing agency
The form requires the owner's identity to be verified by one or the other.
Owner - Seller Signature and Date, Purchaser Signature and Date
Two signature rules at the foot, one to each column. No notary.
What gets this one rejected
•Using it to sell a running car to a private buyer. It is for transfer to a licensed salvage dealer, between licensed salvage dealers, or from an insurance company whose title has already been surrendered.
•Neither title box ticked. The affirmation only makes sense if the certificate is lost or has already gone to the department marked JUNKED.
•No identity number. The form states the owner's identity must be verified by either driver license number or photo identification number.
•A lien still showing on the record. The first affirmation is that no liens are outstanding against the vehicle.
•Expecting to change your mind. Once a vehicle is junked it can never be titled or licensed again, even if somebody repairs or restores it.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•Junking still triggers the seller notification. s. 342.41 names it: including transferring a junk vehicle by bill of sale. The thirty-day report applies to a scrapped car exactly as it does to a sold one.
•You do not need a replacement title to junk a car. WisDOT's seller page says so directly, which is what makes this form useful at all.
•Write JUNK across the title if you still have it. The department's instruction where the certificate exists: write the word Junk across the title before you give it to the buyer or salvage dealer, and the title goes back to the department under s. 342.34.
•Three affirmations, all on the seller. No liens outstanding, the legal right to sell, and the state of the certificate. There is nothing for the purchaser to affirm at all.
•The plates come off a junked car too. WisDOT's wording covers both cases in one sentence: never leave the plates on an auto or light truck when selling or junking the vehicle.
•It is a 2008 revision and it is still the current form. Nothing has replaced it on WisDOT's index.
