Sell your car in Wasilla: running, wrecked or parked since freeze-up
Wasilla is one of three incorporated cities in the Mat-Su Borough, so a car sale here can touch city, borough and state rules at once. This page covers the local parts: the borough's free junk car removal program, what the city's sales tax means for a private sale, the DMV counters that serve the Valley, and how far pickup reaches.
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Where to go when the DMV needs you in person
- The state office is in Palmer. The Alaska DMV’s Mat-Su office is at 515 E. Dahlia Avenue, Suite 230, open 8:30 to 4:30 on weekdays; on the first Tuesday of the month it opens at 9:30. Vehicle inspections there run 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wasilla itself has no state DMV office on the DMV’s office list.
- Business partners in town. The DMV’s business partner list shows three in Wasilla, and all three handle vehicle records. Partners are privately owned businesses that charge a fee for service, the services vary from one to the next, and they also handle transactions by email and mail.
- Talkeetna has a contract agent. A DMV contract agent on Talkeetna Spur Road is open Tuesday to Friday, noon to 5 p.m., and closed Saturday through Monday. Vehicle inspections there are available during its normal business hours.
Where we pick up around Wasilla
Pickup covers the whole Mat-Su Borough, not just Wasilla’s city limits. If there’s a road to the vehicle, we’ll schedule the pickup; if it’s parked down a long gravel drive, say so when you call so the right truck comes out. That includes Knik-Fairview, the borough’s largest community in the state’s 2022 population figures, plus Palmer (99645), Meadow Lakes, Big Lake, Willow and Sutton.
Clearing a path to the car in winter? Keep the snow out of the street. Inside city limits, the City of Wasilla prohibits pushing or blowing snow into the roadway or public right-of-way, and doing it can bring a fine. The city’s live winter operations map, run through the borough’s mapping system, shows where city crews are plowing and sanding.
Cash for your car in Wasilla
A car that hasn’t moved since freeze-up, or one that came home on a hook after a wreck, has a free way out in the Mat-Su. The borough’s Free Junk Car Removal Program pays a hauler to take a junk vehicle off a resident’s private property, and the owner pays nothing. Its limits are in the box further down this page.
Free removal also pays you nothing. Thinking of selling your junk car in Wasilla instead? Get a number for it as it sits before you book the borough tow; pickup gets booked just as it would for a car that runs. If the number is worth it to you, sell the junk car for cash and save your parcel’s yearly allowance under the borough program for a vehicle nobody will pay for.
If the wreck ended with the insurer calling the car a total loss, selling a totaled car explains the payout, the buyback and the salvage title that comes next, and selling an accident-damaged car covers one that wasn't totaled. If it's been parked since the engine blew, start with selling a car with a blown engine or head gasket.
What the free removal program covers
- •Any borough resident can ask to have a junk vehicle removed from their own private property. You call the program’s contractor, who sets the pickup time and brings a form to fill out (Mat-Su Borough)
- •Up to three vehicles per parcel each fiscal year, as the budget allows, and that allowance can’t be transferred (Mat-Su Borough)
- •Passenger vehicles and pickups only, up to 15,000 pounds, cleared of debris and garbage. Free drop-off is also offered; the borough asks you to call ahead (Mat-Su Borough)
- •The program runs through June 30, 2027, or until its funding runs out. Questions go to the borough’s Purchasing Department at 907-861-8601 (Mat-Su Borough)
Asked by Wasilla sellers
Does Wasilla's city sales tax apply if I sell my car?
Not for a one-off sale of your own car. The city's 2.5% sales tax covers sales, services and rentals inside city limits, but Wasilla Municipal Code 5.16.050 exempts casual and isolated sales that aren't made in the ordinary course of business, under a business license, or by someone presenting themselves as being in that business. Where the tax does apply, the city collects it only on the first $500 of a sale, so it tops out at $12.50 per transaction.
I live outside Wasilla's city limits. Which local rules on this page apply to me?
The borough's. Its junk car program is open to any borough resident, anywhere in the Mat-Su. The city's sales tax applies only inside city limits, and a Wasilla ZIP code doesn't prove you're in them: the city notes that its sales tax is sometimes charged in error on deliveries outside city limits because of a Wasilla ZIP. A location verification letter from the city's Finance Department, or a tax lookup report, can confirm which side of the line you're on.
Is there a Mat-Su Borough car tax to settle when I sell?
Not as a separate bill. The borough's vehicle registration tax is collected as part of the standard state registration through the Alaska DMV, so it travels with registration rather than with the sale.
How do I get the police report for a wrecked car I'm selling in Wasilla?
If Wasilla police investigated the crash, ask for the report through the department's public records request process. Police reports, including collision reports, cost $10, and photos, audio or video add $20 when they exist. At the counter the department takes only cash or check; the online portal is the other way to request it. The station is at 801 N Wasilla-Fishhook Road, and its administrative offices are open weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Our Alaska page covers the parts every Alaska seller shares: the title signature and the notice of sale.