Sell your car in Juneau: running, rusty underneath or not running
Get an instant cash offer online, and the car is picked up at your address anywhere on Juneau's road system, so you never have to book a ferry or wait for the right local buyer to turn up. Below are the parts of a sale that work differently here: buyers from other towns, cars that no longer run, the city sales tax, and the DMV counter's hours.
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What the ferry asks before a sold car can board
- Check-in is at Auke Bay. The Juneau ferry terminal is on Glacier Highway at Auke Bay, 13 miles from town. If the buyer tows a car that doesn't run, the fare is based on the overall connected length, width and height.
- EVs and plug-in hybrids: two per sailing. Each ship carries at most two of them per sailing, and the make, model and powertrain have to be declared when the space is booked. Wrong or missing details can get the car refused at boarding, and once the limit is reached, reservations can be moved or canceled in booking order.
- A damaged hybrid or EV needs a completed form. A damaged or recalled EV, plug-in hybrid or hybrid, driven or towed, is denied boarding unless it arrives with the ferry system's transport form, on which a technician confirms the high-voltage system is stable, no battery warning is showing, the battery pack and charging parts are undamaged, and nothing leaks. Even then, the captain can refuse any vehicle deemed unsafe. The details are in the Alaska Marine Highway travel policies.
Where we pick up around Juneau
Juneau's road system is the pickup area, from Thane in the south, through downtown, Lemon Creek and the Mendenhall Valley, and out past Auke Bay to the end of the road. Douglas Island is in range too, across the bridge in 99824; almost every other street address in the borough is 99801. If you can drive to the car from downtown, it's covered.
Parking on a downtown garage permit? City permits for the Marine Parking Garage and the Downtown Transit Center have no hangtag. The license plate is the permit, and cameras read it as cars come and go. Up to three vehicles can share one permit and you change them online, so remove the sold car from your permit and add your next one. Both garages have a waiting list, which is a good reason to keep the permit itself.
A car sold out of Juneau leaves by water
The Alaska Department of Transportation calls Juneau the largest community on the North American continent that isn't connected to the continental highway system. The only public way in or out on the surface is the state ferry, the Alaska Marine Highway. So if you sell privately to a buyer in Haines, Skagway or another Southeast town and they take the car home on the ferry, the ferry's booking rules, listed further down, are theirs to meet. Those rules add extra steps for electric cars, plug-in hybrids and damaged hybrids.
Cash for your car in Juneau
If a car is past fixing, the city's RecycleWorks division runs a free, year-round junk vehicle program. Juneau residents can bring cars, pickups, vans, motorcycles, RVs, travel trailers and licensed trailers that were registered in Juneau, and aren't owned by a business, to 1725 Anka, off Old Glacier Highway. The vehicle has to be empty of garbage and scrap metal, with no more than one spare tire, but the fluids and gas tank can stay in. You sign an Ownership Responsibility Form there, which also commits you to sending the title to the DMV with "Junked" written across it. That route is free, but you bring the car in. If you would rather sell a junk car in Juneau, you can get a cash offer and have it picked up where it is parked on the road system.
Not sure it's past fixing? Selling a car with a blown head gasket or a knocking engine and selling a car with a slipping transmission or no reverse help you answer that before you pay a shop, and selling a car after an accident covers crash damage.
Does Juneau's sales tax touch a private car sale?
- •The City and Borough of Juneau charges a 5% areawide sales tax, which merchants collect on sales that aren't exempt (CBJ sales tax forms and rate chart; CBJ Sales Tax Office)
- •Casual and isolated sales are exempt, and the city's guideline lists individuals selling property they owned and used as nonbusiness personal property, "such as cars, boats, and aircraft." A seller who needs a business license and sells to the public doesn't qualify (CBJ guideline 401, Casual and Isolated Sales)
- •If your next vehicle comes from a Juneau merchant on or after October 1, 2026, one priced at $50,000 or less is taxed only on its first $15,000. Above $50,000, the first $50,000 is taxed. Both caps are set to adjust for inflation starting January 1, 2028 (CBJ sales tax code changes; CBJ guideline 421)
Asked by Juneau sellers
Is there a DMV counter in Juneau that's open on Saturday?
Not the state's. The Juneau DMV office, at 2760 Sherwood Lane, Suite B, is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and closed on state holidays. On the first Tuesday of each month it opens an hour late, at 9:30. The Alaska DMV's list of business partners includes one privately owned office in Juneau that is open Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Business partners can do most of what the state office does, for an added fee.
My car died on a Juneau street. How long can it stay there?
The Juneau Police Department can impound a car left unattended on public property for more than 48 hours as abandoned, and one that is a safety hazard right away. JPD suggests calling Dispatch at (907) 586-0600 to say when you will move it, and leaving a note on the car. That helps the officer decide, but it is no guarantee. To get a car back from impound you need current registration, proof of insurance and ID, plus a $305 towing and release fee, a $25 processing fee and $12 a day in storage, and cars held past 21 days are auctioned. Owners of abandoned cars can also be fined up to $500. If you plan to sell it, say where it is parked when you ask for an offer.
Will the city tow junk cars in Juneau for free?
The year-round program is built around bringing the car in: the form you sign at the site covers "the vehicle you bring in." The city has offered free towing as a one-time event. Its April 2022 junk vehicle roundup towed for the first 50 people to register, one car per household, and only cars on the registrant's own property, easy to reach from a public road, with rolling wheels and inflated tires.
What if the dead car is sitting in a lot that isn't mine?
JPD doesn't impound cars left on private property. Once a car has been there more than 24 hours, a JPD community services officer can help the property owner by trying to reach you and asking you to move it. If you can't be found, or won't move it, the property owner is sent to the Alaska DMV to start a six-month forfeiture process, and you can still be cited for abandoning the car.
For the title and other sale paperwork, which work the same in every Alaska town, use our Alaska selling steps.