Sell your car in Fort Smith: running, flood-damaged or salvage-titled
A flood or salvage brand on the title doesn't rule out a cash offer, and there's no charge for pickup. Fort Smith's own code also sets rules for selling a car from your house and for keeping one that won't run.
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Fort Smith's limit on selling cars from home
- Under Sec. 14-53, a house can have one vehicle offered for sale at a time and no more than two in a calendar year. A sign, an ad or just telling people all count as offering it once the car is kept there, even briefly.
- Letting someone else sell their car from your driveway counts against you, even though the car isn't yours. A violation is a misdemeanor. The city starts with a 7-day notice, then a warning ticket, and then it can issue a citation to appear in court.
- Selling to us instead? Ask for the offer, book the pickup and sign at the handoff. It moves quickly, and the check or cash comes with the driver at pickup.
Where we pick up around Fort Smith
Pickup is free across Fort Smith, from downtown's 72901 out to the south side, and in the Sebastian County towns of Barling, Lavaca and Greenwood. The Arkansas River marks the county's northern edge, and the truck crosses it for Van Buren (72956) and Alma in Crawford County. It crosses the state line too, for Pocola (74902), Roland and Muldrow in Oklahoma. If orders or a move date change your plans, tell us and the pickup window can move.
Keep it off the grass while it waits. Sec. 14-52, which the city calls the Parking On The Grass Ordinance, bars parking on grass or dirt in a one- or two-family home's front yard, or in the street-facing side yard on corner lots. Each home is allowed one exempt space next to the driveway, up to 9 by 19 feet.
Cash for your car in Fort Smith
A car that isn't street-legal to drive counts as inoperable under Fort Smith's nuisance rules: unregistered, wrecked, partly dismantled or unable to move on its own. Sec. 16-4 forbids open storage of one at a home or on any other property. If the city finds one, it posts a notice on the property and gives you 30 days. Clearing it means showing Neighborhood Services that the car starts, moves forward and backward on its own power, carries current registration, and has no flat tires, broken windows or broken lights. Otherwise a local towing company takes it, and the towing and storage fees are the owner's. Neighborhood Services (479-784-1025) says it will work with owners who need more time and are making a valid effort.
If fixing it costs more than it's worth, junk cars in Fort Smith get a cash offer too, and we haul them away free. So does a work truck with bed scars and high miles. With a notice already posted at the house, a junk car sale before the deadline spares you the tow bill.
For a car with a flood brand on the title, selling a car with flood damage explains how a buyer prices water damage and what you have to tell them, and if the insurer paid it out as a total loss, selling a totaled car covers the salvage title that follows. For a work truck whose engine or transmission quit, see selling a truck with a blown engine or selling a truck with a slipping transmission.
Selling a car with an Oklahoma title
A car titled in Oklahoma follows Oklahoma's rules. Since July 1, 2025, Service Oklahoma has issued titles in electronic form by default, and paper titles already out there stay valid until the next sale, transfer or lien. A paper title is signed over in front of a notary. An electronic one has nothing to sign, so the seller completes Form 718 before a notary instead, and that form takes the place of the title (Service Oklahoma, checked September 2026). Keeping an Oklahoma-titled car on the Arkansas side? The out-of-state title guide is written for that.
Where Fort Smith's titles and tags are handled
- •The Arkansas DMV work of titles and tags is done at a State Revenue Office, and DFA's Office of Motor Vehicle writes the procedures it follows. The city has one downtown at 616 Garrison, Room 106, and one on the east side at 6515 Phoenix Avenue (DFA Fort Smith office)
- •Greenwood has its own office at 804 B West Denver, and the Van Buren Revenue Office at 221 Main Street serves Crawford County (DFA Van Buren office)
Asked by Fort Smith sellers
Is there a Sebastian County tax office in Greenwood, or only in Fort Smith?
Greenwood has one too. Sebastian County has had two county seats, Fort Smith and Greenwood, since the legislature split it into two judicial districts in 1861. The County Assessor has an office in the Greenwood Courthouse at 301 E. Center, Room 113, with a personal property line at 479-996-6592, and the Collector is in Room 112 of the same courthouse.
I sold my car and bought another. What does Sebastian County need from me?
Call the Assessor's Office at 479-783-8948. The county's tax FAQ says to notify it when you have a different vehicle, and you must assess the new car before you tag it. In Fort Smith the Assessor is in the courthouse at 35 South 6th Street, Room 105, and its Phoenix Avenue East office takes personal and business property only. Tax on each year's assessment is collected March 1 to October 15 of the next year.
Which county handles car tax in Van Buren and Alma?
Crawford County does. Its Assessor works from the county courthouse at 300 Main Street in Van Buren, Rooms 8 and 8-B, and the personal property number is 479-474-1751.
Can Service Oklahoma give me a paper title instead of an electronic one?
In some cases. Service Oklahoma allows a paper title when, among other exceptions, the vehicle is sold or registered out of state. You ask with a Title Print Request Form at a licensed operator location or through your OkCARS account, and standard statutory fees apply.
For a car with an Arkansas title, follow our Arkansas selling page.